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jammin'
Why you wanna trip on me?
The lethal duo of music director Vishal Bharadwaj and lyricist
Gulzar live up to expectations with the soundtrack of Kaminey
by delivering a rollicking and powerful ride of music. Instep
lends an ear…
By Saba Imtiaz
OST Kaminey****
Composer: Vishal Bharadwaj
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Considering the Kaminey soundtrack has been done by the man behind
the score of films such as Maachis, Maqbool and Omkara – Vishal
Bharadwaj – it's hard to not have sky-high expectations before
pressing play. But worry not. The talented director and composer's
latest film Kaminey, which stars Shahid Kapur, Priyanka Chopra and
Amol Gupte, boasts a soundtrack that lives up to his previous work.
The piece de resistance on this album is definitely 'Dhan Te Nan'
– a song that pulsates with an instantly identifiable hip-hop
beat and is coupled with the classic 'Dhan Te Nan' sound from Bollywood
films (usually signalling an action sequence). Vishal Bharadwaj
combines all of these with catchy, earthy lyrics and the song is
easily one of the best to have come out of the myriad Indian film
industry this year. Bharadwaj was featured speaking in a documentary
on the legendary Indian composer RD Burman that was screened at
the KaraFilm Festival this year about how Burman influenced his
music and the mix of contemporary western music and quissentially
Indian slang in 'Dhan Te Nan' is proof of that. |
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'Fatak'
reminds one of the Omkara soundtrack and features the doubly
powerful voices of Sukhwinder Singh and Kailash Kher. Pulsating
behind the vocals are the guitar strums reminiscent of Wild
Wild West /cowboy themed movies or even the Sholay background
score. Kaminey's lyricist Gulzar invokes the famous Jigar
Moradabadi couplet in 'Fatak' – but with a satirical
take on it: 'yeh ishq nahin asaan / a jee AIDS ka khatra hai
/ patwaar pehan jaana / hai... yeh aag ka darya hai.' Kudos
for the irreverence!
'Pehli Baar Mohabbat' is the only out-of-place song on the
Kaminey soundtrack since it's a romantic ballad but it does
slowly grow on you after repeated listening.
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On
the other hand, the song 'Raat Ke Dhai Baje' seems to be a sarcastic
take on the same ballad, which features the same lyrics as the chorus
to 'Pehli Baar' and a number of different singers. 'Raat Ke Dhai Baje'
builds up from the female vocals of Rekha Bharadwaj and Sunidhi Chauhan
and a rap melody in the background to lead into the male part. This
isn't a 'Beedi' but veers towards being as suggestive as the hugely
popular song from Omkara with lyrics ala 'ishq mai jalte hue / saans
tezaabi lage / raaz khulta hi nahee / koi to chaabi lage.'
The other gem on this album is the theme song 'Go Charlie Go' –
a trend that has become a signature of action films ala the James
Bond franchise and Guy Ritchie's mob themed films– but Vishal
Bharadwaj brings the film's spirit to life in this two-minute pulsating
siren song. One wishes this had been the case with the track 'Kaminey'
– which drags on because of its mournful melody. It has great
lyrics, but it feels like a plaintive whining cry as opposed to the
firecracker number it could've been had the lyrics been coupled with
a faster tempo.
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Kaminey
is undoubtedly one of the best soundtracks to have come out of Bollywood
this year. While there have been notable tracks from several films,
Kaminey stands out with its earthy value, its brilliant use of vocalists,
the production value and the lyrics. It stays short at six songs –
including the theme music – and thankfully does not come accompanied
with awful remixes. However what is alarming to note that with this
soundtrack, Bharadwaj has begun to veer into dangerous territory:
featuring English rap vocals and Minglish. While it is only present
on a couple of songs – and not badly done at all compared to
the other awful Bollywood soundtracks one has had the misfortune to
listen to – Bharadwaj and Gulzar are talented enough without
having to resort to mixing English with Hindi.
Given what has read about the theme of the film so far, Kaminey definitely
sounds perfectly apt to the double role-action thriller the film promises
to be. The soundtrack – already gaining a cult following because
of the highly addictive 'Dhan Te Nan' – is just a prelude to
what will hopefully be one of the more cerebral films to release from
across the border this year. A must buy/download/steal-from-friends!
*****Get it NOW!
****Just get it
***Maybe maybe not
**Just download the best song
*Forget that this was ever recorded |
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