Sing a Song...Ding Dong!

I recently got to know that Kajra re kajra re, the (in)famous song featuring the Bachans' (except Jaya Bachan ;)) which has mindless music and has been sung by "I-never-sing-in-the-right-tune-but(wow)-still-get-an-award, Ruk Ruk queen Alisha chinaoy (or whatever, I can't spell her name) is written by Gulzar! I used to wonder who could have written something which goes like –"Aankhen bhi kamaal kartey hai, personal se sawaal karte hain" … personal se sawaal? Okay come on Gulzar's lyrics are usually so difficult to understand (or is it only me?) but this one just made me so happy. No doubt he is very creative. But this is good news, at least now his songs can be understood by people like me. Yay!

The trend of including English words or phrases in our Indian film songs is there since ages. I shall be listing out few :) Only the "best" ;) *Ahem* Here we go -

- Aaja meri gaadi mein baith jaa.. long drive jaayenge full speed jaayenge... so on and so forth– Baba Saigal's rap song (or so he calls it) was extensively used by the eve-teasers at that time. No prizes for guessing who made 'Baba' popular.

- Most of those early 90's songs - almost all of 'em composed by Anu Malik (Me thinks he used to beat up the lyricists to implement his ideas) which have words like darling, come here why fear, baby, sexy sexy (yes it has to be repeated), number 1, louve etc etc…

- Some song which goes – "dil mera bole hello how are you" – hehe felt like including this. Time pass I say...

- "Tere sang ek simple si coffee bhi kick deti hai" – I first thought the song featured Emran Hashmi, well don’t ask me ‘why’. Heck No, it has Jr.Bachan dancing next to, what looks like, a cricket stadium's fence. Seriously.

- How can I not include Himes bhai? "Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo… Dil se poochle jaan se pooche…. (something something) I love you oh sayyoni koi shaq? Wats up?" It's an extremely irritating song, just like him. Ugh!

- I don’t know what made Vishal –Shekhar compose this song, which goes “Aye chori, zara nach ke dikha” next you hear – “Du Du Dum Dum Dum” Excuse me! Whats that???

- "Mujhe kuch kuch hogaya.. yede chuccho chucho vishya"… This song has Kannada, Hindi and English words.. Its Unbelievable. Udit narayan at his worst I must say.

*Sigh* I have used up my energy in listing out these songs! Probably you can send in your list of Hinglish and Kanglish songs to me!

An Emperor’s Tune

I was watching the trailer of Jodha Akbar and all of a sudden I thought of one common factor that could link two men from two different centuries- Music. Tansen the greatest musician ever, and AR Rahman (ARR) India’s most creative composer and a living legend linked to Akbar! Hmm what do you say? But yes, there is a small difference though- Real life and Reel Life. Akbar the real emperor had Tansen to sing for him in his court. And here is our reel life Akbar (role played by Hrithik Roshan) who has ARR, well not really singing in front of him but his brand of course lingers in the movie Jodha Akbar. Ashutosh Gowarikar, after Lagaan and Swades, has come back with ARR and we have got high hopes from both of them.

One thing that can’t go unnoticed is that ARR has this knack of composing great tracks for period films. Lagaan, 1947 Earth, Mangal Pandey, Zubeida, The Legend of Bhagat Singh and Guru have some superb numbers. Songs such as Sarforishi Ki Tamanna (The Legend of Bhagat Singh), So Gaye Hai (Zubeida), Dheemi Dheemi (Earth) and Shuak hai (Guru) still give me goose bumps when I listen to them. None of us can deny the fact that he is one of the best musicians we have in our country.

I wouldn’t call this post as a music review of Jodha Akbar, but an opinion about few tracks from the movie. I am right now listening to ‘In lamhon ke daaman mein’ (5th time to be precise), sung by Sonu and Madhushree, the best track of the lot I must say. Sonu coulsud’ve been the only choice for this song. He sings each note with such passion and patience that can only be achieved through riyaz. Madhushree joins him somewhere in the middle of the song with her mesmerizing voice. I feel she is the most under utilized and under rated singer in Bollywood. Even after proving herself I see fewer musicians making her sing. Or maybe she prefers singing only for ARR. Possible. I don’t blame her then ;)

'Azeem-o-shaan' has got some powerful vocals by Mohd. Aslam, Bonny Chakravarti and also the back vocals sound nice. The rhythm of the song makes you look up and notice. If you are a sucker for songs which have an anthem feel to it and with some great rhythmic drums this is the song for you.

‘Mannmohana’ is next sung by Bela Shinde. Bela, a winner in a TV reality show in 90’s (Sa re ga ma) has come a long way. The composition is neat and she handles it well. She keeps up the emotion needed with maturity in her voice till the end of the bhajan.

'Kehne ko Jashn-e-bahara hai' is easy on your ears and is sung by Javed Ali. ARR has given him few intricate jumping notes which he sings effortlessly. Other than that the track is quite ordinary. But we do get a deserving change from all the Shans’, Ganjawalas’, Atifs’ and Mikas’. From an unheard Beti No. 1 to 'Nagada Nagada' to this, Ali has had quite a journey I must say.

'Khwaja mere Khwaja' is a typical ARR number with nice harmony. It has some amazing back vocals and of course Rahman’s voice in it. Music arrangement is commendable (the Tabla beat especially is very catchy). It starts really well and the Mukhda is beautiful. But seriously I can’t make out what the song is all about. Lyrics I mean. Its just that few words are too difficult to follow :p

As always you need to listen to Rahman’s music again and again to appreciate its beauty. Rahman definitely is an Emperor in his own way. From one Emperor to another, you expect grandeur and you get it to some extent. I would give 3 and a half stars for this album.

Hmmm...

Disclaimer: All the characters and incidents are fictional and are no way linked to the real life. My first attempt in writing fiction. Hope you like it.
Can you suggest a title for this? I couldn't come up with one… heee

He looked at his watch and cursed his Boss. He hated working on weekends’ and the Troll (that's what he called his boss. The name was apt), wanted some godforsaken presentation to be prepared ASAP. Bah! That means he would need it after two or three days. But come on ASAP is a horrible thing to say. It must be listed under "Top 10 offensive words used at work place" he thought.

He wanted to finish his work and get out of that place. He was happy today and didn't want the silly work to spoil everything. He was meeting her after a long time. Three months…. It was three months since he had last spoken to her. Their platonic relationship was going great. But all of a sudden she had stopped talking to him. She had ignored his calls and messages. Women can be so weird at times. He was confused, at the same time extremely annoyed. But that lasted only till he heard her soft voice over the phone asking if he was free to join her for coffee. Sigh... Man! Being in love makes a sane guy go insane he thought and smiled to himself.

He was not sure about how it had all started. It was during the New Year party, probably it was because of the wine or the sea or just her which made him realize he was in love with her. He wanted to ask her so many things. Tell her so many things, propose as well, said a small voice in his head. He was pathetic. The moment he saw her he knew he would get all tongue tied like a moron and just look at her pretty face. He tried to imagine how she looked the last time they met. She had worn a white Salwar Kameez and looked beautiful with her kohl filled eyes. So simple yet elegant! There he goes. Lost in her thoughts. He jolted back to his senses when he got an SMS. It was from her and read that she would be reaching the coffee house in sometime. He saved and closed the PPT that he was working on and headed towards the revolving door.

After half an hour or so he parked his car and started looking out for her. He saw her. Waiting for him. He tried waving but there were too many people around. Damn! The place was crowded. It was perpetually crowded. Weekends, weekdays, year end, mid year any-damn-time. Phew! Where do these people come from, he thought. The crowd was too young for him. Most of them were in school or just out of school he noticed. Was he growing old? Get married ASAP said the same small voice in his head. He almost hit himself for using the corp slang. He reached the table where she sat reading a book; as usual the table was cluttered with tissues, coffee mug, her bag and a book that read Afghan - Frederick Forsyth. But something else caught his attention. Something in red and cream. What was that? Wedding cards?
He could not believe this. Had she called him to distribute her wedding card? This was so unexpected that he just stood there, perplexed.

He almost decided to leave when she looked up from the book, smiled at him and said "glad you came. I have so many things to tell you. But before that let me invite you to my brother's wedding. It's on…."
"WHAT?" he exclaimed and started laughing uncontrollably. She looked flustered and at last asked him "what happened?" for which he could only say "tell you later"….

Eine!

Ok firstly, I am not a German language specialist. I just wanted a title for my first post.


'nextly'-

This blog is dedicated to all my friends (cant fit in all your names, sorry) and my family (A, A, A and A)

Ok now what are you people waiting for? Pay me for dedicating one whole blog to you guys :p