Thaindian News

By Ruchika Kher
Film: “Aashayein”; Music Directors: Pritam Chakroborty, Salim Merchant, Sulaiman Merchant and Shiraz Uppal; Lyricists: Sameer, Kumaar, Shakeel Sohail and Mir Ali Husain; Singers: Neeraj Shridhar, Shaan, Tulsi Kumar, Shiraz Uppal, Zubeen Garg, Shafqat Amanat Ali, Shreya Ghoshal, Mohit Chauhan and Shankar Mahadevan; Rating: ***

Director Nagesh Kukunoor’s “Aashayein” generates quite a lot of interest and many of the songs are hummable. The film, which stars John Abraham in the lead, consists mostly of love songs.

The album offers 13 tracks composed by three composers.

The album kickstarts with “Mera jeena hai kya” composed by Pritam Chakroborty and crooned by Neeraj Sridhar. This track is currently doing the rounds of music channels and is gaining popularity. It has a long prelude with soft music and then switches to rock after some time.

The track also has a remix, which is not that impressive owing to excessive and unnecessary beats.

“Dilkash dildaar duniya” is also a Pritam track with Shaan lending his soulful voice. The poignant love song is nice and hummable. The song also has vocals by Tulsi Kumar. The number surely makes for a good hear.

This track too has a remixed version.

After Pritam, Pakistani composer-singer Shiraz Uppal comes into the picture with “Rabba”. There is nothing practically wrong with the track, but still it fails to create an impact. It has a heard-before feeling and lacks freshness.

Then composer duo Salim-Sulaiman come forward with “Ab mujhko jeena” with Zubeen Garg behind the mike. The song with a strong orchestration is interesting and foot-tapping. The inspirational song will finds many takers.

This too has a remixed version.

The next song by the composer duo is “Shukriya zindagi” sung by Shafqat Amanat Ali. The track with an optimistic approach is slow-paced and nice to listen to.

The song has two more versions - a sad one and a remix, which totally sounds unnecessary and doesn’t go with the mood of the basic track.

Then Salim-Sulaiman offer “Pal mein mila jahan”, a slow song with minimal musical arrangements. It has two versions. One a female version by Shreya Ghoshal and the male version by Shankar Mahadevan. Shreya’s voice definitely creates an impact.

Finally there is Mohit Chauhan singing the melodious “Chala aaya pyar”, a very hummable and breezy tune that makes you sway in harmony.

All the three composers have done their bit and have come out with a decent album that has much potential.

(Ruchika Kher can be contacted at ruchika.k@ians.in)