Music Review - U ,Bomsi and Me

By Joginder Tuteja, October 20, 2005 - 14:02 IST

 

U Bomsi N Me belongs to the genre of Hinglish movies that invariably have a fresh subject and try to be as near to real life as possible. A romantic comedy, the movie stars Bobby Bahal, Gautam, Vivek Madan and Vidya Malvade in principal roles. Produced by Bobby Bahal and directed by Jairaj Padmanabhan, the movie has music by Deepak Pandit with a song apiece by Neeraj Shridhar and Josh as well. Generally such movies do not have all the songs during their narration and at most have them as a part of the background score. Now it has to be seen if the narrative of UBNM also follows a similar trend.

Neeraj Shridhar a.k.a 'Bombay Vikings' comes up with a painful romantic track 'Kahan Ho Tum' to begin the album. It's a one man show here with him being the composer and the lyricist as well. A soft pop track, it makes for quite a smooth listening with good thoughtful lyrics supported by pleasant music. Though the number is about a man searching for his beloved and love, it still has a positive feel to it and doesn't drag at all. A fine beginning!

Singer/composer Josh comes next with a namesake song 'Josh Naal' that is written by Heer. A fast paced 'bhangra-pop' Punjabi track that has a retro feel to it, it is [as are most of the bhangra-pop tracks] quite vibrant and flashy and is an easy pick for a DJ in a discotheque/pub. You just can't help but dance to its beats on a dance floor. Yet another good track in succession!

First track in the album that uses a conventional Bollywood pairing is 'Aankhon Mein' that is sung by Sonu Nigam and Shreya Ghoshal. A pleasant sounding track with a strong melody for support, it is moderately paced with a constant rhythm throughout and is about hope and togetherness. From this song on, it is composer Deepak Pandit all the way for the rest of the tracks in the album. 'Aankhon Mein' has good meaningful lyrics by Manoj Muntashir while both the singers seem to have thoroughly enjoyed while singing this track as the effort shows. This song may not be your idea of conventional Bollywood score but it's the feel of the number that impresses most.

Aseem Arora writes the number 'Yeh Zindagi Hai' about living and enjoying life. The underlining message of the song is clear - "Enjoy life till it lasts as you didn't bring anything from you and won't take away anything either when you are gone!" Yet another song with a strong pop feel to it, it maintains a good pace and has Vasundhara Das behind the mike. This is a number that would be loved by those who consistently hear Indi-pop.

While 'Chocolate' had 'Halka Halka', UBNM has 'Halki Halki' that is sung by both Kay Kay and Shreya Ghoshal as solos. Written by Manoj Muntashir, it is about the subtle feeling of love and realization of love for the one close to your heart. The song is not path breaking and neither does it aspires to reach the top spot but there is something about it that makes you want to hear it repeatedly. Yes, you may have heard a tune belonging to the same style in a few non-film albums before but its sweet outcome gives you a satisfying end result. Kay Kay is quite subdued in his version while Shreya continues to sound better and better as the weeks progress. This girl has indeed created a good space for herself in the world of playback singing and is now a force to reckon with!

Written by Manoj Muntashir, 'Dil Kahin Kho Gaya' is about one getting lonely with only the past moments of togetherness with him. The song first appears in a rendition by Hariharan followed by an instrumental. There are limited set of instruments used for this song and such is the flow of the song that it is hard to imagine any lesser singer able to do justice to this very well written song. Soft music with an extremely slow pace, the focus is completely on words and rendition rather than any unrequited instruments in the background that could have negated the impact of this soulful number. Shreya Ghoshal comes up with yet another version of the same song – 'Tu Kahan Kho Gaya' – and does a good job herself. She is getting some of the best songs to sing these days and is not letting the composers down. This tune by Deepak Pandit is indeed the best tracks of the album!

UBNM is one of those albums that go unnoticed due to zero publicity. But listening to the album is indeed a soulful experience and is highly recommended for those who love to hear soft music. Yes, there is a 'bhangra-pop' track as well and though it is good, looking at the end results it seems that the album could have done without it as rest of it maintains a consistent pace. Grab a copy and you may soon find yourselves hearing to it for next few days to come!