music review: jigyasa
Some time back a movie came in the limelight that was rumored to be the life story of none other than Mallika Sherawat. The movie was titled 'Jigyaasa' and starred Hrishita Bhatt in the lead. The rumors did die down in due course of time and now this Faisal Saif movie is being simply projected as a movie about an innocent girl who makes her way to the top in Bollywood in spite of all the hurdles that come her way. In her journey she comes across various characters from different segment of society and this is what forms the crux of the film. With the publicity primarily revolving around the movie's subject, there is little or zero promotion about the music that is composed by Ram Shankar. With absolutely zero hopes, one plays on the album.
The very first surprise comes in the form of credits on the inlay card that reads as Rahul Vaidya. Well for starters, he is one of the top 3 finalists of Indian Idol show that eventually had Abhijeet Sawant as a winner. Written by Ravi Chopra, 'Saansein Meri Saanson Mein' is the kind of song that Sonu Nigam has expertly sung over the years. And doesn't Rahul do a wonderful job in emulating his own 'idol'? A melodious love song with a quite feel to it, it is not a pushover at all and marks a good beginning to the album. Rahul is quite lovable in this song that may be a typical Bollywood love song but comes as a pleasant surprise in 'Jigyaasa' when one didn't have any expectations from the music department at all. The song gets repeated, this time as a 'Breathless remix' [quite innovative indeed]. Don't expect another 'breathless' act on the lines of Shankar's namesake song because in this case it is just the music accompanying the song along with some rap-n-reggae thrown in that makes the song move on a continuous beat, hence giving it a breathless feel.
Again rap-n-reggae marks the beginning of the title song 'Jigyaasa' that is sung by composer Ram Shankar himself. Written by producer Raj Chand, actually the song turns out to be one of those trademark Ram Shankar compositions and is about the thirst and desires of every individual. A theme track, expect the song to be coming at number of crucial junctures in the movie. Obviously the song doesn't have anything in it to be sung around loud and sticks to being purely situational. This number too appears in a remix version, this time in the vocals of Tarannum who attempts at making the song sound peppy and more energetic. Nothing much to really cheer about in this version.
Sadhna Sarham sings the lullaby 'Meethey Meethey Sapnon Mein Kho Jaa' and belongs to the 60s era. Written by Jagdeesh Anand, this lullaby sung by a mother to her girl child is an okay track with good lyrics, though one wonders how many would actually be excited about the idea of buying an album to hear a lullaby? Also, in the movie it is absolutely essential for the song to be plugged in well in the narrative lest it threatens to break the proceedings.
S.H. Chauhan writes 'Khatiya Toot Gayi' that belongs to the 'khatiya-bistar-takiya' genre. Completely avoidable, this one makes the album nosedive by a great degree and is just unwanted. Sung by Sonu Kakkad, the song has a cow-belt feel to it and is just not made for the city audience. Skip it.
'Baaton Hi Baaton Mein' brings the album to a yawning end as it is a kind of love song that would appeal to no one â neither the singers nor the people on whom the song would have been picturized. A drag of a number, this Ravi Chopra written number has nothing in it that would make someone express the feeling of love. One wonders what inspired Udit Narayan and Sadhna Sargam to be a part of such a listless number!
The little excitement that had built up with Rahul Vaidya's 'Saansein' disappears with the follow-on songs and gets the expected results â an album that doesn't have much in it to cheer about.
Shiv Shakti
