Bhool Bhulaiyaa: The album impresses in entirety
It's a season of remakes. Barely has one moved out of remakes of 'Sholay' and 'Victoria No. 203' comes yet another remake, this time that of a South Indian film. 'Bhool Bhulaiyaa' is the remake of a Malayalam film which was later made into Rajnikanth starrer blockbuster 'Chandramukhi'. Enter Akshay Kumar and Priyadarshan into the enterprise and the film takes a completely different shape and theme.
Bearing a comic touch which is poles apart from a rather dramatic 'Chandramukhi', 'Bhool Bhulaiyya' with lyrics by Sameer is poised to be yet another success for Akshay this year after 'Namaste London' and 'Heyy Babyy'. One expects the same from the film's music by Pritam too who has earlier given a chartbuster soundtrack of Priyadarshan's 'Garam Masala' followed by a decent 'Bhagam Bhag'. Well, the album is leaps and bounds above 'Bhagam Bhag' and would certainly give 'Garam Masala' some competition when it comes to popularity.
Neeraj Sridhar, who today is quite easily the Sunidhi Chauhan of male item songs, gets to croon the opening title song 'Bhool Bhulaiyaa'. A song which brings with it a unique mix of mystic, naughtiness and a peppy flavor, 'Bhool Bhulaiyaa' has a mix of English and Hindi lyrics, all of which comes together to make it an irresistible hear from the word GO!
An absolutely rhythmic-n-catchy number that reaches an all time high whenever the chants of 'Hare Krishna Hare Ram' come, 'Bhool Bhulaiyaa' is one of those tunes from Pritam that inadvertently make you tap your feet and croon it all day.
The 'remix version' which comes later is absolutely zany since it wins in one crucial department i.e. not letting the listener know what to expect for a good part of the track's build up! There is an elaborate piece at the beginning which leaves the listener guessing hard which way the remix version would move and it is only after a while that the proceedings start getting clearer. Expect a music video soon!
The moment you hear 'Labon Ko', you get your 'paisa vasool' there and then. A kind of melody that you have always enjoyed in a film coming from the house of Bhatts, it has slight sufi-rock shades to it even though Pritam does well to get his own stamp right on this K.K. rendered track. The song moves at a decent pace with the arrangements deserving special mention for making the song stand out from dozens of other songs that have released in the recent times.
For an Akshay Kumar, the song seems like an unlikely choice (since it seems to be tailor-made for Emraan Hashmi) and this is what makes 'Labon Ko' a special track. The 'remix version' only helps the song in further staying on in your memory due to it's club house feel and turns out to be yet another winner.
45 seconds into the song and the beginning of 'Lets Rock Soniye' makes you remember the way Lakshmikant-Pyarelal used to create a build-up for their peppy romantic tracks. 30 seconds more and the listener gets into a Karan Johar domain with the Punjabi flavor coming into play. But hold on, there is more. Because no sooner one is mid-way into the song, what you end up exploring is a certified Yash Chopra track with a Vishal-Shekhar styling to it even if the theme tune in the beginning does come quite close to that of Pritam's own 'Ada'!
Bring on Shahrukh Khan and Kajol - 'Lets Rock Soniye' is simply tailor-made for them! Shaan continues to do an excellent job as he always does for a celebration track like this while Tulsi Kumar also gets her first certified BIG track which could now take her away from the numerous romantic duets and solos she has done in last one year or so. This track belongs to chart topping variety. The 'remix version' has a 'dhol' effect to it which makes it a DJ favorite for the marriage and other celebratory occasions.
Later in the album, Tulsi Kumar gets a solo for herself in the form of 'Sakhiya' which instantly reminds one of innumerous Anuradha Paudwal songs from the early 90s. Even the lyrics by Sameer which go like 'Na Jaane Tun Naa Jaane Yaar, Mujhe Tujhse Kitna Hai Pyaar' which takes you on a nostalgic trip.
It is not a bad hear though and Pritam does his best to add on the modern day arrangements to make it sound peppy in spite of the tune being basically melody based. 'Sakhiya' doesn't add much to the album but doesn't take away from it either, hence avoiding any damage to the entertainment quotient of 'Bhool Bhulaiyaa'.
Those who have seen the original film would be aware about the fact that the story takes the viewer centuries back into the times of kings and their in-house dancers. For one such sequence in the film, a song 'Mere Dholna' has been created which has a classical base to it. While M.G. Sreekumar mainly remains in the background while giving 'alaap' and giving 'taal' to the dance that follows, it is Shreya Ghoshal who is on the forefront.
A track which extends to as much as 7 minutes, it is completely uncharacteristic to the kind of music that one has heard of Pritam and brings on a different dimension altogether. 'Mere Dholna' is not the kind of number that holds much mass appeal due to it's classical flavor but should do well on screen since it has a kind of rhythm and arrangements that paves the way for an elaborate dance sequence.
After 'Labon Ko', K.K. gets another solo to his name with the arrival of 'Allah Hafiz' From the song's title it would have seemed like yet another 'qawalli' but that's not the case as what is presented is a peppy-n-youthful track which seems like an introduction song for Akshay Kumar.
With Pritam's touch being quite apparent all over, just like it did in Halka Halka' [Chocolate] and 'Kahan Kho Gaya' [Hat Trick], the song makes for an enjoyable hearing and has a potential of going a very good distance if picturised and promoted well. One has an intuition though that it will certainly be the case given the music company's reputation of making it's songs stand out coupled with Akshay's energetic presence.
K.K. continues to enjoy his presence in the album with 'Sajda' which again follows the young-n-spirited feel of the film. The song is yet another instant-coffee kind of a track that Pritam and Sameer have churned out in recent times. Yet another easy to remember tune that comes with a foot tapping effect and will-come-on-your-lips instantly strength, it makes for a good inclusion in the album.
'Sajda' has a campus feel to it and though it won't add on to be the USP of the album, it still is good enough to find it's place not once, but twice in the album, when it later arrives in it's 'remix version'.
If the title song is an out and out winner, 'Labon Ko' is for the hearts truly in love. 'Let's Rock Soniye' fits to the T when it comes to music for popular cinema while 'Allah Hafiz' and 'Sajda' can breath quite comfortably as long as they are picturised on Akshay. It is after quite a while that one finally gets to hear an entirely good album. After 'Cash' [Vishal-Shekhar], 'Heyy Babyy' [Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy] and 'Darling' [Pritam/Himesh Reshammiya] in the month of July, one was starved of any album that managed to impress in entirety. Well, 'Bhool Bhulaiyaa' certainly does with number of songs getting thumbs up.
Anupamaa
22