Old wine in new bottle. Review on Don Songs

The problem with this album is that it suffers from the inevitable comparison with the original at every stage and falls flat in most cases.

Don-The title song is slickly packaged by Shankar Ehsaan Loy. To Shaan’s credit, he renders the number in his unique signature style enabling us to forget evaluations with the old rendition by the legendary Kishore Kumar. Also, SEL have replaced the original’s disco beats with an eerie and haunting rhythm to make it more in tune with the present.

Don Func International Mix-The album seems more focused on being a DJ favourite rather than an audience favourite. One can just visualise this rhythmic number becoming a great hit at all the hot discotheques in the days to come.

The theme music-The trio brilliantly crafts the theme music, bringing forth the element of suspense and thrill.

Don Revisited is also a great composition by the Midival Punditz interspersed with monologues by SRK. It will set the pace of the movie, especially in the action sequences.

Yeh mera dil-This is just a remix version of the old Asha hit number. Although Sunidhi makes a great effort she cannot quite bring into the song the sultry sexiness that Ashaji did. I wonder why the music director trio did not rope in Queen Asha herself. Would have done wonders for the song. Kareena, however, packs quite a punch and matches Helen ji in moves and sensuality. The number will have a greater impact visually than auditory.

Mourya Re-The rustic “Ee hai Mumbai nagariya” gives way to this song worshipping Lord Ganapati. Sung well by Shankar Mahadevan, it is probably the only original piece of the album and holds its own. The jhankaar beats augur well for the success of the song.

Khaike pan banaraswala-The million dollar question is “Will the song that catapulted Amitabh to the echelons of cinema history do the same to ShahRukh Khan?” And the answer seems to be a resounding no. Udit-SRK combo does its best and would have emerged triumphant had it not been the competition faced from Kishore da’s ultimate tapori number. Give us the original any day.

Aaj ki raat-Alisha Chinay teams up successfully with Mahalaxmi and Sonu in Aaj ki raat. Although it does not seem to be a chartbuster it does have feet tapping elements. Worth a listen!