Jan 17, 2004 01:42 PM
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(Updated Jan 17, 2004 01:43 PM)
This is to rebreak another of my already-broken resolutions ….
Why am I writing this review? I bought this album itself basing on recommendations from a couple of other reviews on MS, so definitely I’m not the first. Then why bother taking the trouble?
Because I couldn’t help.
Generally, I’m not a great music buyer, especially if it’s Hindi music. I won’t buy an album as long as I can download it (or at least the best tracks it contains). Makes a point that the never-ending tracks of Paap are next to undownloadable, especially if you’re blessed with a dial-up connection like me.
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Coming to the soundtrack of Paap.
Have you ever felt the presence of the immense power that’s hidden in the most ordinary matters in life? … the power of mere words … the power of a simple tune that rises from the rawest instincts of human nature … the great mystery of life and death … the reason why people fall in love … a great system that keeps on working in the obscure terrain of what’s above and beyond human knowledge and perception, whose presence is an eternal truth … but whose exploration is forbidden … paap …
That’s what the soundtrack of Paap is all about. Through its simple yet haunting tunes, it evokes a feeling of the ethereal… something that’s so down-to-earth that it’s beyond our reach…
Yet another musical masterpiece from the stable of Pooja Bhatt (who debuted as a producer with last year’s Jism, which boasted of a breathtaking soundtrack as well), the Paap album is a celebration of Pakistani Sufi-inspired music for most of its duration, although Anu Malik does justice to his name as the music director with the brilliant Intezaar which opens the album.
His other track Sun E Mere Dil however, in spite of a promising start, falls flat midway and drags on monotonously for the rest of its more than 7 minutes’ duration.
Pooja Bhatt has always proved to excel at bringing out the best in obscure vocal talents in the music industry. If in Jism it was Shreya Ghoshal, Paap rediscovers the long-unnoticed Anuradha Paudwal in one of her career-best performances, as she sings her way to flawlessness in both of these tracks.
The music from our long-alienated neighbours is a treat to the ear. Mann Ki Lagan, the second track of the album is undoubtedly the best song in it. One has to hear it to believe that such a mesmerizing effect can be created by simply the harmonium and the tabla in the background.
Garaj Baras is a rock song by the popular Pakistani Sufi rock band Junoon, performed marvellously in the soundtrack and the music video by the band’s lead singer Ali Azmat. It appears twice in the album, and thank god for no sad version or such weepy stuff. It’s the same song both places.
The track Laal is an alaap. I decline to comment on this song as I have very much respect to the classical genres of music and am equally aware of my total ignorance about them. I’d also like to add that connoisseurs seem to have judged this track wonderful, as I’ve found out from different reviews I’ve read.
There are 5 instrumental tracks on the album (which I admit I didn’t have the perseverance to give a patient listening – you can’t blame me when they vary in length from 1 minute to 7:12 minutes!). Probably they’re a part of the movie’s background music, but I really don’t understand the point of including them in the soundtrack. I’ve always been against this instrumental a.k.a. theme of the movie thing; when will our filmmakers realize that the soundtracks could well do much much better than these rubbish that’s even more headache-inducing than my reviews?
Admitted that sometimes they’re really good, but they’re just not the soundtrack thing! You could as well include the best dialogues in the soundtrack, and then why not a whole promo? Those are really good sometimes too!
Leave alone the instrumentals, this is really an album to possess. Virgin, unadulterated music at its shocking and revealing rawest – it’s undoubtedly the best release of the time.
