..Silent killer... Review on Ankahee Songs

Hi friends,

After a pretty long time, I’m back (atleast I can claim so!) to reviewing what I love most - music albums. Though results not guaranteed, the least you can do is to try and find some logic in this. Surprisingly, at times, you will. Anyways, discontinuing the tradition of writing nonsense in the introduction para (which I’ve already done, April Fool!!!) I will straight move on to the topic here on. Except in case of No Entry, I’ll have to take turns here and there. Now I can sense (well, I have a good power of sense, mind you) that you are getting bugged off by this unnecessary stuff, so will start here. Read on if you please, and even if you don’t.

For a film starring three un-happening names (Aftaab Shivdasani, Esha Deol, Amisha Patel), an un-happening production house (PNC), and an un-happening director (Virkam Bhatt - though I still feel Deewane Huye Paagal should have been a hit), the most important factor that would need the film to carve a niche would be the music. For a change, the music director Pritam is a happening one on the block. So does he manage to churn out extraordinary music for the slick-appearing film? The answer is ankahee till you decide to read the review!

A unique thing about the album is that it has while it has four original songs, all the eight of them (other four being repetitions) are solos. Not a single is a duet. But with names like K.K., Shreya Ghosal, Kunal Ganjawala, Sonu Nigam, Shaan and Babul Supriyo, all of whom have a knack of delivering the best in solos, rest assured, all the tunes do leave a mark. Let’s find out what they are all about!

Ek Pal Ke Liye:

You love her and just can’t live without her. A moment with the special one is something you will cherish more than anything in your life. So finally, you do happen to meet. Won’t you just feel the need for time to stop for the while? Wouldn’t you like to live that life to the fullest, because who knows, will this day come again, and what will happen tomorrow? This simply romantic event has been beautifully conceptualized by lyricist Amitabh Verma with meaningful words that have a soul. Music is smooth and melody-soaked, which soothes your diligent ear right through, which still leaves you thirsting for more and more!

Did I say more? And am sure, once you do listen to it, you will want more. That’s aptly what is provided. If the two male versions by K.K. [excellent] and Sonu Nigam [awesome] incite passion within you, the female one by Shreya Ghosal is outstanding to say the least. Seducing and enticing, it’s impossible for you not to fall in love with this one.. Simply go for it!

Tumse Yu Milenge:

Kunal Ganjawala appears for this Subrat Sinha written song, which talks about meeting back his long-lost beloved. The music is soft and flows smoothly, and while its Kunal’s vocals that does the trick primarily, the feel-good factor of the number undoubtedly are the lyrics combined with the musical arrangements by Pritam. It carries forward the good impression created by ’Ek Pal’, though is unable to match the ecstasy of the former one.

Lamha:

A rehash of ’Tumse Yu Milenge’ crowned by Babul Supriyo, with different lyrics though. Otherwise, just the same as the afore-mentioned number with another singer. It conveys the feelings of a lover being happy in the company of his beloved, with the lamha looking new with her. Babul does a good job, and it counts for a decent listen overall. Both the tracks appear situational, and should fit well in the narrative.

Ankahee:

The opening violin piece remains the same as in ’Tumse Yu Milenge’, and much like the others, this one’s a slow paced song with tends to get a bit monotonous midway due to lack of variety in music. The lyrics by Sameer expresses a gamut of emotions experienced by a person. The music doesn’t disappoint but fails to carry on the indelible impression created by the former songs in the album.

While the one sung by Kunal Ganjawala tends to drag at times due to minimal usage of background music, things do pick up with a bit fast-paced version of the same by Shaan. Overall, both the tracks are just slightly above average, and audio-wise, are passable, with no great shakes.

Aa Paas Aa:

Listeners’ involvement re-surfaces with this Shreya Ghosal crooned number which deals with the protagonist talking about her dear one to rub all the dooriyaan and come back to her. While the song has a typical 1990’s feel to it, it does leave an impact due to two factors - the musical arrangements by Pritam which are above-ordinary, and Shreya’s mesmerising vocals. Lyrics by Sameer are not substandard as his routine ones, but have something silent to do to make this one an overall success!

Ordinarily, one wouldn’t have expected much from the film that is destined to live to its title, but Pritam, after the hi-tech tunes in his earlier films, does a complete turnabout and is sure to make the industrywallah’s take notice of the new talent on the block. Though most of the songs have a typical Nadeem-Shravan touch to them, it cannot be denied that its Pritam’s hardwork that pays off in the end. Besides being worth your music collection, it will tremendously help the film carve a niche for itself, if promoted aggressively.

’Ek Pal Ke Liye’ is a reason good enough for you to rush to the stores to grab a copy of the album. Otherwise, you may just sit in seclusion and put on the audio of the same in slow volume. You’ll love it, I tell you. However, if you have a knack for foot-tapping tracks, stay kilometres away from this one. Ankahee is no Rahman material, but indeed, you need to listen to it repeatedly to love it. It works as poison, which shows its effects slowly over a long period of time.

But as said, the promotion of the film has been pretty low key at present. So will the music sans promotion climb up the charts in the coming days? The answer is Ankahee !

Quality music rulz !

aLi.

© Aliasgar Poonawala, 2006