Ghajini — Music Review

The last one out of the five albums of ARR this year , Ghajini, is out now and the stakes are even higher since it is one of the most anticipated film of the year starring Mr. Perfectionist Aamir himself . The last album Yuvvraaj of ARR didn’t impress me that much and neither did the film impress the audience . This one is an adaptation of South film by the same name hence there would be southern influences not only in the film but also in the music . Last time ARR worked for a Hindi album with a southern director except Mani Ratnam was in Nayak when he worked with Shankar who directed the film . And clearly in some of the songs we could observe the southern influence .

In the similar fashion the music of Ghajini also has some amount of southern influence . First let me clear my feelings as a writer which are not excited and amused as they should be . So I might sound a little mechanical since the music of the film didn’t excite me that much apart from of course Guzarish which is a brilliant track . One thing that struck me clearly is the amount of work ARR has done this year . He has released five albums this year none of which is a complete album as compared to the one album released in 2007 (Guru) and the one in 2006 (Rang De Basanti) . What is the need to do a leap from one album a year to five albums a year ? Quality as a result has suffered to some extent .

Talking of this one , it opens up with Guzarish which is the best track on the album and also the only one to look forward to . The lyrics in this song in specific are great and this is probably one of the best track out of all the five albums that ARR has released this year . Complementing the great piece of writing is the beautiful piece of music by ARR with a nice slow beat that he often uses . Some fine use of Mandolin in it by Seenu makes it even more beautiful . The vocals by Jaaved and Sonu are also impeccable . Jaaved sings the song in his own style and the small humming pieces by Sonu are just great . Since I am a hardcore fan of Sonu , I found the humming and small pieces that Sonu sung much better than the whole song that Jaaved sung . Though Jaaved does deliver his best , I would have loved an another full version of the song sung by Sonu alone . ARR and Prasoon , the lyricist , show their brilliance in this track . Overall , it is a treat for music lovers and a great start to the album .

Sadly the good start gets a hit by the second track itself , Aye Bachchu , by Suzanne . Talking of the music of the song first , it sounds pretty much usual and the tune doesn’t sound very new and probably you would feel that the tune is inspired in bits and pieces from here and there . Can’t talk of lyrics because in any case they are in a scarcity in this track and also something that don’t make much sense . Overall , its quite a commercial track that anyone like a Pritam or a Vishal-Shekhar could have composed effortlessly . And the singer Suzanne who got popular with Mahiyaa of Aawarapan sings in a good way but the track is not as good as the previous one .

The third track , Kaise mujhe , by Benny Dayal and Shreya Ghoshal is a nice slow track that frankly speaking didn’t impress me as much as it could have. I know a lot of you would disagree with me on this one . Though I liked the tune but still I felt that Rehman didn’t do full justice to the nice lyrics by Prasoon . I am sure this track would make even more sense and gain more popularity after the film releases just like “Kahin To Hogi woh” did after Jaane Tu .. . But still I felt that something was lacking in the song and probably it won’t work that much . The singing by Benny Dayal is almost like that ARR does himself and sometimes it is difficult to differentiate . Shreya has been singing such songs since the starting of her career so she won’t get any praise for this one in specific . In all , it is a nice track that could have been much better .

Next comes , Behka , by Karthik whose voice sounds very novel and his singing is the only thing that impresses . It has some fine use of Saxophone by Martin which sounds very nice . The song has some Jazz in it in ARR’s style . The song in totality has nothing much to offer though some of the pieces in between are great . The lyrics are also quite average and overall the track doesn’t impress that much and it is only the singing of Karthik that stands out .

Then comes yet another commercial track , Latoo by Shreya Ghoshal who at least for a change sings a club number and something that is not classical . The track though is not a good one and has neither good lyrics nor a good tune . So Shreya gets stuck with an average track that could have sung by any singer round the corner who is probably waiting for her big break .

At last comes an instrumental version of Kaise Mujhe which has some fine guitaring by Neil Mukherjee and some nice use of flute by Kiran . This one makes you realise that the tune is a good one but it is probably the lyrics that don’t match with this tune . Overall , some nice piece of music that you might love to listen at a lower volume .

The album in whole is not that good and only Guzarish and Kaise Mujhe are worth listening . After watching the first trailer and now after listening to the music , my feeling that this film might be a commercial film at its core wrapped around with a different kind of story , has got much more stronger .

Album Rating : Two and Half out of Five Stars ; only Guzarish being the track that can be listened to again and again .

Dostana — Movie Review

Dostana , the last film for Abhishek and Priyanka this year brings a lot of expectations along with its release and the expectations are also from Dharma Productions who are also back after a long time . So do we get what we expect from the team ? The answer would be a Yes and a slight no along with it . Yes because it is entertaining enough to get your money worth and no because it is not a flawless product . Dostana as the name suggests is about friendship and its different avatars. The film addresses that central theme effectively to an extent but in a little different way . By now everybody knows that the film has Abhi-John playing a gay couple and the film as a result focusses majorly on the homosexuality that they act out in front of Priyanka . The title of the film is Dostana yet the film focusses more on Gay Jokes for its length rather than the friendship part . The good part though is that the Gay jokes are at least funny enough to make you laugh throughout .

The film starts off with a Super-Hot song Shut-up and dance in which Shilpa sets the screen on fire with her hot bod and her dancing skills . She builds up a good youthful momentum in the beginning that makes it quite clear that the film is only for young blood . She probably looked hottest of them all and she is still a hot property . As soon as the song gets over we get to see the the two guys in the film flaunting off whatever they have to please the female audience or should I must also say even the homosexual male audience . Together they put up an image of the youth of today very effectively on screen that focusses more on enjoying the life as it comes in the best possible way . Both John and Abhishek become friends as a result of a co-incidence and then they act out their homosexuality to get an apartment to live which is actually owned by Priyanka . Priyanka allows them to live with her only because they are homosexuals . Then starts the whole sequence where both Abhishek and John hilariously act as a gay couple and also in the meantime keep hitting on Priyanka individually .

There is also a twist with a third guy , Bobby , that drives most of the second half . As I said earlier that the film’s first half majorly focusses on Gay jokes and hence the story gets a little side-lined . Yet the first half is very entertaining because it is quite well acted part and hilarious . It makes a lot of fun of the Homosexual’s which might offend them to an extent . The story is a sort of an extension to “Deewana-Mastana” story . Just like that one, this one also has a third guy , just the set-up has been updated and has been taken to Miami . One more common factor between both the films is that both are pure entertainers with very less emphasis on content . The film has some typical illogical things that any Entertainer has and sometimes we have to overlook them to enjoy the film . The film can be best called as a “Modern Entertainer” and though it follows the path of a typical entertainer the presentation is different and new .

The first half is brisk and has enough content to make it very much enjoyable whereas on the contrary the second half is a little slow and has very less to offer . It ends in a typical style and there is nothing unexpected about it . The entertainment quotient in the second half is a little less and it is just good enough and doesn’t spoil the show . The film ends on a comic note which makes the audience leave with a light heart in the end . Some of the songs in between are quite a turn off and they disrupt the film’s pace , especially “Ma Da Ladla” .

Talking of acting , the chemistry between Abhishek and John was much better than what Priyanka shared with any of the guys . Abhishek delivers a fine performance and has majority of the role . Priyanka and John serve as nice eye candy along with a little bit of acting . Priyanka looks great in the film and her looks attracted the most . She doesn’t have much of a role and her acting was also very typical . There was nothing romantic for her to act nor it had something comic for her . He role was very limited in the film and though her character is the central one yet it is the guys that have done most of the acting . John can very well take Salman’s position as a guy who knows a little bit acting and looks great . When everyone was showing some skin in the film Abhi was cladded with clothes , he just did the job of acting and that too was an average performance . Priyanka can do much better and she has struck a nice balance with Fashion being entirely focussed on her and this one being a commercial film . There is also a small cameo by Boman Irani and he does his job good . But I felt that the Director , Tarun Mansukhani , could have used him in a much better way considering his great acting skills .

The locations and art direction were good as any Dharma Film has and even the choreography of the songs was great . The cinematography was good but nothing exceptional about it and the background score was great . It uses the piece from the track “Jahan Teri Yeh Nazar Hai”(Kaalia) in a very nice and funny way in the background . The film’s music is good enough to hold the film and Desi Girl is a rocking song . The Direction by the debutant director Tarun Mansukhani is good and he pulls off a good entertainer in spite of the fact that it was a little low on content . He has created some good comic sequences and has done a fine job overall .

Overall , its a nice entertainer with a little different set-up . It would keep you entertained for its length and looking at the commercial elements of the film it looks like it will work a lot on the box office and would also get decent ratings . The Director makes a nice first attempt and can certainly do much better provided he has a better and stronger script . Go watch it and get entertained .

Movie Rating : Three and a Half Star out of Five ; Nice Entertainer with good Packaging .