Kurbaan

Salim-Sulaiman have been slowly yet steadily climbing the ladder of success. Starting from Kaal, they've struck gold with Chak de! India, Fashion and RNBDJ. Their last album this year, 8 x 10 Tasveer was a forgotten picture (pun intended). Hence the soundtrack also was majorly forgotten. They now have the opportunity to erase that bad memory with Kurbaan, presented by Karan Johar's Dharma productions and directed by debutant director Rensil D'Silva. Do they?

1. Shukran allah : Ever since the promo video of this song was out on TV, it has generated a lot of curiosity because the big question was if this was Kurbaan's answer to Subhan allah (Fanaa),as both films are based on terrorism. Let me get to the point right away. Shukran allah is no Subhan allah. Nevertheless, it's a beautiful romantic number rendered aptly by Sonu Nigam and Shreya Ghoshal and whose popularity would only increase due to the Saifeena factor and would possible be synonymous with Kurbaan in the long run.

2. Dua : Ace singers Sukwinder Singh and Kailash Kher team up for the second time this year after Fatak (Kaminey) and produce similar results. Raw and rusty, it doesn't sound all that impressive first but with time you realize Dua is not a bad song after all.

3. Ali maula : The album takes a serious turn with Ali maula, and this time it's Salim Merchant himself behind the mike. I couldn't make much out of the song due to the predominant urdu lyrics and thus am unable to appreciate it completely. Again, not a bad song tune-wise.

4. Rasiya : In an age where ragam based songs are a rarity, here's a complete stunner in Panthuvarali(or one of its janya ragams). Sung by Shruthi Pathak of Mar jawaan fame, Rasiya is pure bliss in an era of computer generated tracks. Sensuous, soft and brilliant!

5. Kurbaan hua : The title track arrives in true Salim-Sulaiman style and has Vishal Dadlani at his throaty best. His unique voice is the only one that could have done justice to this song. But a small problem lies in the song's structural similarity to Nazaara hai ( 8 x 10 Tasveer), which happened the last time these three combined. But never mind.

Kurbaan is one of the countable good albums that have slowly been coming in the second half of the year. Salim-Sulaiman can continue holding their heads high!

Jail

Coming soon!

Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani

If you claim to be a Bollywood fan, then you should've watched Andaz Apna Apna. As simple as that! There are people who watch the cult classic once a week. Such is the popularity of AAA, Rajkumar Santoshi's only attempt at comedy till date in his entire career. The veteran went ahead and did a lot of serious films later on. Now he's back with a romcom, Ajab Prem ki Ghazab Kahani.

Music-wise too, his films haven't been bad at all. AAA and Pukar had a few memorable numbers and of course, Khakee had the extremely popular Dil Dooba.

Pritam on the other hand has been kind of choosy this year. He's had 2 super hit soundtracks in Love Aaj Kal and New York and other albums weren't bad too. Nothing path-breaking is expected in APKGK too!


1. Main tera dhadkan teri : After Twist, here's another song from Pritam that's all set to burn the dance floor. With K.K and Sunidhi Chauhan at the helm with Hard Kaur chipping in with the rap, this song picturized on Ranbir is sure to be a nightclub favorite and would stay on top of the charts for the month, until Pritam comes up with another song like this!

2. Tu jaane na : Atif Aslam teaming up with Pritam has always yielded very good results, in the form of Tere Bin (Bas ek pal) , Pehli Nazar(Race) and Bakhuda (Kismat Konnection). Tu jaane na is no different. The song is so simple(yet effective) that 1 minute into it, you start singing with Atif. Definitely one of the few good romantic melodies to have come out this year. One line bears a startling resemblance to a line from Koi tumsa nahin (Krrish) though. Never mind, it's Pritam; it's expected!

3. Oh by god : The bum bum bole-ish start makes you curious but then this song turns out to be too noisy. Mika and Sunidhi try hard, but are unable to save the song. I don't think this will be used as a full song in the movie, maybe just here and there in the background.

4. Prem ki naiyya : Finally a song where Neeraj Shridhar doesn't sound hoarse, as he always does! Prem ki naiyya can be aptly called the Chor bazari of APKGK. It's a nice, fun track with a lot of cuckoos in the background

5. Aa jao meri tamanna : Javed Ali, who got his big break with Ek din (Naqaab), teams up with Pritam again after a super successful stint with ARR. This song isn't instantly appealing as have been most of the other songs in this album, but takes time for you to get familiar with it. Anyway it isn't that great a song; just above average. May catch up after the film releases.

6. Tera hone laga hoon : The trash English lyrics at the beginning of the song instantly put me off. Again, we have an average number here. But for Atif Aslam, the song is completely forgettable. Alisha Chinoy is hardly there, only her digitally enhanced voice is heard in whatever little we hear of her. But the excessive promotion has actually made many people like this song. Sad.

7. Follow me : Hard Kaur gets a whole rap track for herself. This track forms the base for song no: 1. Again, will be used only in the background.


It's Pritam's year. The soundtrack is more than sufficient for a film like APKGK. Nothing path-breaking, nowhere close to Love Aaj Kal or New York, but good enough to be played on for a few weeks, as long as the film survives at the box office.

London Dreams

Vipul Shah's affinity towards the city London continues. His previous ventures as a director, all of them starring Akshay Kumar, have had good music, with Namstey London being the best among the three. London Dreams also brings together Salman Khan and Ajay Devgn after a decade. They were last seen together in Hum dil de chuke sanam. LD is also Asin's 2nd film in bollywood.

Initially the makers wanted ARR as the music director, but due to some problems they didn't get him and have therefore settled for Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. They haven't been having the best of times lately and there can be no bigger platform to make a strong comeback than a grand musical like like LD.


1. Barson Yaaron : As soon as the song unfolds, you wonder if it's another Rock On from SEL. A true rock song, everyone would have believed had you told them that this was a deleted song from Rock On. Towards the end, a few lines of the Hanuman Chalisa are energetically fused and thus the song makes the prefect start for a musical like London Dreams.

2. Man ko ati bhavey : This song, shot in front of an extremely rare blue-lit Eiffel tower, is basically a fun song that you'd take to after the first hearing itself. It strongly reminds you of another SEL-Salman number, Tenu Leke from Salaam-e-ishq. But the song does appear too local to be shot in front of something sophisticated like the Eiffel!

3. Tapkey Masti : From the Eiffel tower, transport yourself to the fields of Punjab. An extremely earthy song blended with the electric guitar, Tapkey Masti isn't bad but would obviously be best received in Punjab thanks to the bhangra factor.

4. Khanabadosh : The song talks about the ambitions of the band (consisting of our heroes and herione) to make it big. Debutant Mohan gets to sing this average song that doesn't make that much of an impression.

5. Khwab jo : For a second I thought I was listening to Ikatra, because the start is so similar! A very slow song, this one's kind of boring too. It's always been bad whenever SEL have tried too hard to create melody. A line goes "Neend ko raag de", and that's exactly what the song does for you. Just as your eyes droop, the crowd roars in the background and you're shocked when you realize that this is intended to be a stage song!

6. Yaari bina : The hackneyed lyrics as soon as the song starts put me off again. Just as I think "Now here's another song going down the drain", the "Yaari Bina" part just about salvages the song thanks to the apt use of the electric guitar.

7. Jashn hai jeet ka : A song that celebrates victory in an album that majorly fails to impress! Again a very average song that you'll no way remember after a couple of weeks. By this time you eagerly wait for the album to be over. But hey, then there's song no:8!

8. Shola shola : A Shano shano [Yuvvraaj] like start raises your hopes of at least a decent finish but as expected, it doesn't happen. There's absolutely no point in a song like this. You won't remember this 2 days after you listen to it. Man, that songs are going to hamper the progress of the film when they're supposed to take it forward is saddening.

The London Dreams soundtrack is a nightmare (a little exaggerated for the pun). Atleast most of it is. A Barson Yaaron can't save the album. SEL, in their quest for experimentation over the last 2 years, are losing consistency and becoming average. Well guys, you do come with perfectly decent albums like Wake up Sid but then that's nothing compared to the phenomenal work you've done in the past. No problem guys, you've established yourselves and of course, you need to experiment. You have a lot of big movies coming up; bounce back!