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 .