Aladin : Music Review

First of all. Mind it!! That this is today's Aladin. It's not from Arabian Nights. No, not from the Golden Deserts. Or nor from Buena Vista studios. So Mind it [again]. Keep your expectations low key. Even in music, do not expect desert groove. The hot hot dancers [well, expect that :P ]. But yes, keep only one expectation. FUN!! That is guaranteed as Sujoy Ghosh is back with his regular Musicians : Vishal and Shekhar.

Said this before, for nth time. Again, I would repeat, this is my most awaited movie of the year. Reasons are in This post. And after seeing such fantastic promos, I can't wait for the movie. My demand to this OST was to have some fun, enjoyable tracks with a love ballad [cause in Disney's Aladin, we had immortal 'whole new world']. And that exactly is delivered by Vishal-Shekhar.

The album opens up with funky Anushka singing prelude of Genie Rap. Amitabh Bachchan is here with really cool rap written by Vishal himself. The beats remind me of Ticket to Hollywood [JBJ] but given genre of the song, its perfect. Addictive.

I like it when musicians sing for each others songs. While we've just heard Vishal grooving for SEL's London Dreams, Here comes Shankar Mahadevan for fantastic Tak Dhina Dhin. One can't stop himself but dance to this tune. It is heavily an RDBurman theme. But rather than 'copy' it seems 'dedication'. Shaan joins in later and make the song more worth.

Suddenly a sugary sweet voice hit your ears when Shreya starts cooing O Re Saawariya. which instantly taken up by BigB and Sudesh Bhosle. That thing disappointed me. Can't there be Shankar again? The Folksy song would have sound best with his voice. I am tired of BigB's voice everywhere, even in hair-oil ads. Also, if the opening lines 'laage laage' were used frequently in the song, that would be fantastic. But still, overall the track has 'stuck in my mind' kinda effect.

I was so excited when @V1sh4L and @sujoy_g were discussing [on Twitter] about the song 'You May Be'. Stating it as an anthem. Well, it IS. Sort of. Such a lovely song it is. And what more surprising is the duo, Vishal and Shekhar both lends their own voice for this oh so mushy song. In love with it!!

After this fun ride, here comes another one with fast beats. Bachke O Bachke. Sung by Shankar and Sunidhi. To me, it sounds quite situational, like 70's dance competitions. Which will look good on screens and sounds more better after watching the movie. Cause in audio, it is a little bit in mess with heavy orchestration.

And the unsung hero of the movie, is the Ringmaster. The Bad guy. Sanju Baba gives his voice to self introducing song 'Giri Giri'. A 'feel bad' song with interesting lyrics describing the baddie himself. See this 'mujhe har waqt chahiye Rakt pada, hoon sakht main bhaiyya'.

Overall, as promised Vishal, Shekhar and Sujoy Ghosh has come up with out and out fun soundtrack. Which won't let us down in the movie. A perfect to set the mood right, for the movie.

What's your Raashee? : Movie Review


Don't know why but there is a negative feeling in air, all around about Ashutosh Gowarikar's latest What's Your Raashee? I haven't read any reviews but from some tweets, I am feeling that response is very negative. Why??!! I am back from the show, just now, and without wasting much time, I straightly end up writing my thoughts about the movie, cause I liked it !!

As usual I won't go into the story as everyone knows it. An NRI Gujju boy looking for a perfect bride for him, under some unavoidable circumstances of course. There we get fantstic Priyanka Chopra in never before, 12 roles, avatars. Which is the biggest highlight of the movie. Despite of being 'Ashutosh's movie, I wasn't hoping much more from the movie. Cause I knew that this time its not going to be magnum opus as Ashu is used to make. Even, when I heard / seen music and promo in beginning, I didn't like it that much. But thats another story.

So, not hoping much from the movie made its point. And ofcourse, the movie is all about my community. Gujarati - Gujju families. So, I am bound to like it. :) He has got all kind of Gujjus. From Jhaveris, to Business Tycoons. From Farmers to Spice merchants, to working class living in Bhuleshwar Chawl. Fine Ashu. The only this you missed out on, is a to find a Gujju mom, the mom u've taken is so animated actor. :( Talking about that, most of the supporting cast except, Darshan Jariwala, are near average.

Right now I am batteling on Twitter with fellow Tweeple, about how crap the movie is. But I don't think its that much crap. The only thing people talking about is length of the movie. I too agree with that, Ashutosh needs a better editor in his team on high priority. He always ends up putting up all of his favorite scenes without thinking how audience will react to them. And there he always ends up with heavy running time. I mean, even this movie has running time of 3.5 hours!! Its always okay with a hopeless movie lover like me, but think about common people. Everyone will end up leaving halls man.

Okay, besides that everything, I liked it for the narration of all Raashee one by one. It was quite fun actually. And above all, the songs, the musical kinda format is what I loved. After much listening of OST, I started to loving the OST, which helped me ther. And what makes viewing more delightful is ofcourse, Priyanka Chopra. She's perfect except in her last avatar. I think the last one was done quite in hurry. But overall, Priyanka steals the show, screenspace, everything. She looks so so gorgeous. Now I have no doubts only Harman is suitable for this role. Cause no actor would do such role where 12 Priyanka are there, and Harman wanted to grab this opportunity to be with her !!! Though he doesn't have much to do but he is quite good in his act. And somewhat likable too. As a side note, why Ashu thinks all NRI should wear Jeans and Checkered shirts when they return in India??

But the film has its moments too for which I enjoyed it. The moments of Boy going to 'see' girl for marrige, the confusions, attachment, things like that made it worth for me. Also the music, which I loved as OST, also I loved it in the movie too. I think Rahman has missed an opprtunity here. [or Ashu didn't even offered this to him???] Cause there was a big scope in this movie to make it a perfect 'musical', by that way the movie could have been much better too.

All said, if you liked the dated soundtrack of the movie, and if you hopelessly love Priyanka Chopra, or lastly if you are Gujju, then go for the movie. You will enjoy it as I did.

My Rating : 3 / 5
Favorite Scenes : the Scooter ride with Dr., the reincarnation theory, suspenseful climax :P
Rewatch : Ah...maybe...No !!

Its Navaratri Fest...!!! : My Playlist

Its Navaratri Festival [wiki here] time in Gujarat and everywhere in India. But its very special in Gujarat as the longest Dance Festival, 9 days to be specific, is going on. Where people dance till late nights in traditional dance form 'Garba'. [Wiki here] The songs are also called 'Garba' which has this specific drum beats. As I am enjoying the festival, [its 6th night today], I will leave here some of my favorite 'Garba' songs from our very own beloved Bollywood. I know I have missed a lot of them, so suggestions are welcome as always.

1. Goonje Angna Mein : Life Partner > My latest favorite. Though the movie was quite above average, I loved this song very much. It features most common 'garba' tune, but its the Two fantastic beauties-Prachi and Genelia.



2. Ghoonghat Mein Chand : Khoobsurat > I don't like Kumar Sanu much, but he has sung this song quite well. And later Kavitha Krishnamurthy makes it more special, that too with 'Latka' of Urmila...Another movie with Gujju background. Here's Sanju Baba doing Dandiya with Urms..



3. Bani Bani : Main Prem Ki Deewani Hoon > Pardon me on adding this 'exaggerated emotions' by Bebo - song. But the song has such 'huge' sound, makes it so much perfect to dance on in Navaratri.


4. Chand Aaya Hai : Dil Hi Dil Mein > How Can one miss out a song by Rahman, in just any playlist?? So here's one fantastic 'Rahman'ish Garba. With Lovely Lovely Sonali Bendre dancing with rather 'kiddy' Kunal.



5. Main toh Bhool Chali : SarswatiChandra > And this one is the immortal one from classics. Nutan dancing to perfectly traditional Garba tune and steps. Love this since childhood.

Wanted : Movie Review


It was everywhere. Each channel each newspaper everyone, was telling Salman is going to make it big with 'Wanted'. Still I wasn't looking forward to it at all ! It happens to me many times that if the movie doesn't have good, my kinda music, I would never watch the movie. And 'Wanted' had very much above average soundtrack. So I wasn't thinking of watching it. Also, Action is not my favorite genre at all. Unless theBollywoodFan insisted me on watching it. And also, I found ajnabi, Louella and Nicki's views on Pokiri, made me watch this film. And want to thank all for direct/indirect recco. cause Wanted is such a fantastic experience !!

First and foremost, yes it is like a 90's movie, masala stuff full with action, emotion, comedy. But hey, wait, where was the Technical brilliance in 90's?? Or the thumping sound of action and brilliant screenplay + editing?? Similarity ends instantly. Its only the theme that is always a tried and tested one in Bollywood. But the treatment of the storyline and projection on screen is what makes Wanted worth ceetees and shout outs, and yes House Fulls!!! No doubt the original movies must be great in all senses, cause I think no movie can come closer to originals when they are remade [in that case, please don't argue abt Ghajini, as I still haven't replaced my broken DVD of Tamil Ghajini].

Wanted clearly goes to Salman for his full of arrogance, attitude filled act. He plays what he is. And that works best for his role of Radhey who is a careless, 'self employed' guy whose job is, well, to kill/thrash people but still he has his virtues. Being a 'Hero', he has his girl too. Swweeeet sugary Aayesha Takia playing Jhanvi. He has his own share of baddies. Mahesh Manjrekar as Inspector Talpade, is in a role, you will hate him like you used to hate Prem Chopra in older times. And biggest of them all, Don Ghani Bhai, played by Prakash Raj - unique character who makes you laugh even though he is THE villain !! A Perfect mixup for a Masala entertainer.

Salman carries the movie on his own. He is here, there everywhere, and wins ceetees and shouts from everyone. Director Prabhudeva makes him dance too, and man, He IS DANCING!! First song is fantastic [Jalwa]. Other songs are also not bad at all, all have the 'dhinchak' feeling, but works well only in the movie. I feel movie could have fared more than this if it had some memorable tracks. The romantic track is so lovely. Each and every scene between Salman And Aayesha is so cute, you would instantly fall for both. Ayesha is always a treat to watch. Also most of the scenes has a touch of humour which makes it more enjoyable. and hey, did I mention that both of them look great together?? :)

Supporting cast including Inder Kumar, Vinod Khanna and Govind Namdeo have acted quite well. Most interesting to me was Prakash Raj as Ghani Bhai. A Don who has great sense of humour and brutal strategies. [thanks @louella for reminding me about him]. I have seen him in only one movie [Bommarillu] so this took me surprised cause he is playing baddie in this one.

Technically the movie is near perfect. Everything is larger than life, a usual thing in a southie. Background score is great by Salim-Suleiman. And action is - mind blowing. Screenplay loses its pace a little bit after first half, but soon the movie gets a 'Fantastic' twist and audience gets on their edges of seat. Is this Prabhudeva???? The ace dancer who directs such fundoo movies !! Great work da...Keep it up. But yes, keep an eye on Music next time.

My Rating : 3.75 / 5 !! [thoroughly enjoyable]
Favorite Scenes : Lift scene between Radhey+Jhanvi, Shirtless Sallu :P, The Pasta treat

Dhamal NachGana + SweetRomance + FundooAction + Shirtless SALLU = CeeTee + Shout Out + HOUSE FULL = #Wanted Rocked! (LOVED @ayeshatakia :-)



Lastly, Here are some funny Tweets by @sakshijuneja a big Sallu fan, tweeted while watching the movie. :-) [Tweets in order of movie sequences]

  • Wanted Wanted Wanted Wanted Wanted Tonight Tonight Tonight Tonight Tonight Drooling Drooling Drooling Drooling Drooling
  • Teri maa ..... Kasam. Sal Man rocks!
  • B grade corny shit and I'm loving it!
  • Torn ripped jeans never looked this good. Salman I lub you.
  • When will he remove his shirt. Shirtless sallu is what I paid 300 bucks for me.
  • Okay now this guy is sexier villan than Gajni himself.
  • Sal Man Sal Man Sal Man Sal Man
  • Nikali nikali shirt nikali and WOW! There you Aamir takloo sucker!
  • Okay folks that's it for the night. B grade A class phillum. Sal is the Man!!!!

Tum Mile : Music Review


Pritam..a name that evokes many discussions, allegations and blames. His music has always been in news but in a wrong way. But if you put that all aside, his tracks are always fun to play on. One can't deny that he always makes/copies whatever, music- we like it at once. At first listen itself I like his tracks most of the times, which happend again in Tum Mile. [well, DBH is an exemption :P I 'still' dont like the OST].

After all, Tum Mile is a Bhatt camp movie starring Emran Hashmi, so the music 'has' to be good undoubtedly. And Pritam delivers a very good compilation with all tracks which are rather shallow in terms of Lyrics but great vocals makes the album worth it. Its an 'all male' outing here. Interestingly Pritam has used his regular voices in a different way that surprised me. Neeraj Sridhar, KayKay and Mohit Chauhan are used in songs which are totally different from their regular stuff.

So putting all doubts of ripped off tracks, I just enjoyed each track as it is. [Listen to songs here]

Tum Mile : The title song has 3 variants and is instantly likeable. This is an upbeat version. I was rather annoyed with overuse of Neeraj in most Pritam songs, but in this track he sounds so different. The 'antara' are so much identical to 'Yeh Dooriyan' [LAK] but so far it sounds good.

Dil Ibaadat : A standard KK+Pritam+Bhatt track. I fear KK is typecasted in such tracks, or on the other side maybe he is offered only this kind of tracks. But still, he delivers it with so much ease and makes a good listen.

Tu Hi Haqeeqat : It was surprising to see Javed Ali's name on credits of the album. So definitely I was looking forward to this track. This track is reminiscent of Qawwali [theBollywoodFan help me put in right word] as we heard it in 'Ya Raham [Aamir]'. With some Urdu words this is a lovely track. You can easily put this in your Valentine's Day Playlist.

Is Jahaan Main : After Neeraj's refreshing makeover in first track, here comes another. Mohit Chauhan !! When Rahman used him in Masakkali, it was really good change from his rather regular slow paced love ballads. In this one, he gets a rock based track with uplifting beats. And his humming makes it so so good. And use of Saxophone is fantastic. Reminds me of 90's pop songs. Lovely !!!

Tum Mile [Reprise] : Starting with astounding Saxophone and Javed Ali's voice together, this track gurantees a great outing. A subtle version of earlier bouncy track. Javed Ali awes you in this smooth ride.

O Meri Jaan : This has 3rd makeover. Now its turn of KK to sound different. A 'feeling sad' track with all - bewafa, dooriyan etc. Its KK who makes you hold on to this.

Dil Ibaadat [Rock version] : Now its turn for composers to put in their part. Earlier a soft version takes rock makeover with electric guitar and all. track is quite good, but I prefer the original.

Tum Mile [Rock version] : I can't remind if I have heard Shafaqat Amanat Ali in a rock based track. This 3rd version of title track is absolutely addictive. Shafaqat sounds perfect in pitch. And in totality, this soft rock variant wins among all three tracks.

Soul of Tum Mile : A purely situational instrumental piece.

So besides all blames, Pritam is churning out enjoyable soundtracks one after another. No doubt this is not an award winning stuff, but still it holds up interest and that's enough for a Bhatt camp movie. Which requires instant hit tracks rather than 'immortal' ones. Go for this, its completely enjoyable just because of the vocals.


BLUE : Soundtrack : Thoughts


So after Terabytes of reviews and thoughts about A R Rahman's first post-Oscar soundtrack... [oops, did I forget to put TM in Oscar?? :P] I finally declare that I am liking the soundtrack of BLUE gradually. Yes it sounds little odd cause most of the reviews / thoughts I've read, are boasting about the music. But I was dizzy when the promos started to pour in. Music did not sound quite 'Rahman'ish. But after getting the soundtrack on my Ipod, I am liking it with each listening.

Chiggy Wiggy : The song I was desperately waiting for. I love Kylie Minogue hopelessly :P So definitely this would be drooling experience to see her in a Hindi movie. First portion of track is obviously superb with silly silly words and singing of Kylie. But when I heard the Sonu part for the first time, I was annoyed ! Maybe cause he disturbed me and distracted me from Kylie. And the typical words, Heeriye, Jaaniye, Soniye were let down. But after some more listening I actually loving the portion much more than Kylie's portion. The way Sonu starts his 'antara' is so so much fun. And the line 'chiggy wiggy chiggy wiggy chig chig' got me stuck!!

Aaj Dil : What it reminds me of are two things : Daud and Baywatch ! Baywatch just for the piano pieces mixed in compositions. And the singing is so much like 'O bhaware' from Daud in First part of the song, which picks up immediately and whoa!! Shreya sprinkles her magical new voice. She overshadows Sukhvinder completely. Shreya here reminds me of Jism, when she stunned everyone who loved sweet singer of Devdas. In a same fashion of Jism, this song too ends up with giggles of Shreya. Love it!! Perfect for a beach outing.

Fiqrana: Rahman !! It has Rahman written all over it. Its a Yuva part 2 song. But a step ahead of it, just listen it LOUDER. Close your eyes and you can feel yourself standing at a cliff !! Or as @thebollywoodfan once tweeted, a perfect song to play in your car on a long ride at 2am !! The best part of the song is the techno portion - Hoon Junoon Sukooon Main Shararaaaa.... WOW!!! But still I want more from it. I wanted this song to be sung by A R Rahman himself. [and I think he will open up his next 'Jai Ho' concert with this song, Damn sure!!] [and thank God, Farhan Akhtar denied offer to sing this song]  Also loved lyrics of the song, its here.

Bhoola Tujhe [Mere Khuda] : My most favorite track !! A Guitar string track. And soothing voice of Rashid Ali. What else one need when Rahman composes a track for his beloved 'Khuda'!! Though the lyrics [by Rajat Arora] are tricky, I loved them. Such a soulful track. [Here's lyrics]. 

Blue Theme : Punjabi??? Oh no not again....but hey its Rahman. So i must watch out for this.  And man!! the song is Bombastic!! The sound 'Ba--loooo' makes it simply unique.

Rehnuma : A let down track for me. It sound so so much identical to the Bond series songs. No doubt Shreya sings it like never before. And sound is so Mysterious [which I usually love, remember 'Aaj ki raat' from Don] But the song fails to hold my attention even after numerous listenings. Lets see how it comes up on screen [did anyone said 'Scorching Hotttt !! :P]

Yaar Mila Tha :
Udit Narayan+Rahman. A combination which guarantee some refreshing and fun outing. This song features very limited sound of music. A funky tribal touch and Udit doing hip-hop'ish' act with Madhushree... Fun.

Overall, its a highly commercialized Rahman this time. But even with that tag, he lives up to expectations. This album surely will not end up in his own league of Best soundtracks ever, but still BLUE is commercial at its best.

My Picks : Bhoola Tujhe, Chiggy Wiggy & Fiqrana .



Little Terrorist : A short film with big heart

Never have I tasted the charm of a short film before. And what can be more appropriate than this..starting it off with commendable Little Terrorist directed by Ashvin Kumar. A less known name in Mumbai Film Industry, and much popular in Film Festival circuit. The movie was a huge critical success and a hot pick at numerous [103] film festivals after its release in 2005. Also it was nominated for Best Live Action Short Film at Academy Awards. Oh, okay, looks like promotional feature for the movie, isn't it?? :P But I was just trying to introduce newly found film-world.

The movie made by interesting crew who met for the first time on the sets itself. They all were selected through internet and all are from different countries, wrapped up shoot in 6 days flat. [given running time of 15 minutes, one may think its enough, but No !!]

Its a story about a Pakistani boy-Jamal -played by street child Salim [yes, way before Slumdog] who accidentally crosses Indo-Pak border which is fiercely filled with mines. Only to find out later, that he himself is in another country, with 'other' people.

While hiding from the army personnel, he meets a school master of nearby village - Bhola [Sushil Sharma] and his niece [Meghna Mehta]. I loved those tiny little moments involving cricket and feelings of post partition pain.

and How he does fare in this new in a place where he is unwanted.

Ah..there goes my favorite Rajasthani song : Kesariya Balam...

Actually, at first I didn't know that the movie is so short. I thought it would be an hour or so long. But its surprisingly short and yet makes its point perfectly. Lead actor Salim is just perfect for the title role. In the making section, it is shown how Director selected him from a little school. But he performs his part like he has already mastered the art of acting. Theater actor, Sushil Sharma has an interesting part in his hand. He is one of the victim when time parted a single country into two. Having watched the phase in front of his eyes, the enigma of past is visible in them. Scenes between him and kid Jamal, are most delightful. The girl Meghna, is a newbie to camera too. She also shows some really potential. As a typical Rajasthani girl, who is little bit fiery, little bit shy and a bit orthodox. She looks like promising actor in future.

At many points, movie leaves us thinking. Especially the one with 'Kesariya Balam' song. Its so intriguing. Similarly, the opening sequence leaves you speechless. Though the movie deals with quite common subject of cross border hatred, but neither it shouts out nor it preaches. Just smoothly story goes on , and suddenly you realize that the movie already has come to the end !

Lovely ! I surely want to see more from the director - Ashvin Kumar.

My Engagement & its Playlist

Finally, This 'maa da laadla' got Engaged with his girl. And is now back to Blogging. So how can I forget to share my happy moments with all you fellow Bloggers?? So here are some pics from the ceremony : dunkdaft and Kitu [Darshit & Kruti] :)

And yes, the Playlist for these beautiful moments is here too. As a music 'keeda' I am, nothing is complete for me without music. [and see below, who will deny that I don't look like Riteish Deshmukh??!!! :P LOL]

Fun 'n Dance Songs :


1. Mahi vey : Kal ho Na Ho
2. Ankh Ladiye : Neil 'n Nicki
3. Chor Bazaari : Love Aaj Kal
4. Desi Girl : Dostana
5. Dil Vich Lagiya vey : Chup Chup Ke
6. Emosanal Atyachaar : Dev D
7. Climax Title song : Jhoom Baraabar Jhoom
8. Jogi Maahi : Bachna Ae Haseeno
9. Mast Kalandar : Heyy Babbyy
10. Mauja Hi Mauja : Jab We Met
11. Mehndi Laga Ke Rakhna : DDLJ
12. Nagada Nagada : Jab We Met
13. Om Mangalam : Kambakht Ishq
14. Pappu cant dance : JTYJN
15. Raat Ke Dhai Baje : Kaminey
16. Sajna di vari vari : Honeymoon Travels...
17. Say Na Say Na : Bluffmaster
18. Tenu Le ke Main Jawaanga : Salam-E-Ishq
19. Say Shava Shava : K3G


Love is in the Air : Romantic Songs :


1. Yeh Rishta : Meenaxi
2. Title Track : U Me aur Hum
3. O Saathi Re.. : Omkara
4. Ek meetha : Welcome to Sajjanpur
5. Ishq Hua : Aaja Nachle
6. Is Pal : Aaja Nachle
7. Bol Na Halke Halke : JBJ
8. Is this Love : Kismat Connection
9. Tum Se Hi : Jab We Met
10. Khabar nahi : Dostana
11. Rehna Tu : Delhi 6
12. Teri Ore : Singh is King
13. Tum Ho toh : Rock On
14. Dil Gira : Delhi 6
15. Kahin To : JTYJN
16. Jab Se tere Naina : Saawariya
17. Hey Shona : Taraa Rum Pum
18. Suno Naa : Jhankaar Beats
19. Tu Jahan Main Wahan : Salam Namaste


And finally, for some ROFLing.... here's me Dancing to the tunes :)