By Joginder Tuteja, August 31, 2004 - 16:32 IST
' Shukriya ' is a light hearted emotional love story of a guy [played by Aftab Shivdasani] who knows that his death is just a few moments away, but still aims at living life to the fullest. Result - he falls in LOVE! And now, he will be away from his love as well. The stage is set for this emotional journey by Spice Team Entertainment's 'Shukriya' produced by Vibha-Ragini, who gave Bollywood one of the biggest disasters of this year - ' Kaun Hai Jo Sapno Mein Aaya ', just a few weeks back.
Ready for release now, ' Shukriya ' stars Aftab Shivdasani; who looks straight out from the sets of ' Muskaan ', Shreya Saran; who made a fine debut in otherwise flop ' Thoda Tum Badlo Thoda Hum ', Anupam Kher and Rati Agnihotri; who seems to have fully settled now in the role of a glamorous Bollywood mom. (OK! So we are ready to ignore her 'tantrik' act in ' Krishna Cottage '.) Directed by Anupam Sinha, another regular with T-Series in the music video circuit, ' Shukriya ' has three songs each by Himesh Reshammiya and Vishal-Shekhar, a couple of songs by upcoming composer duo Devendra-Yogendra and the title theme track by Raju Rao. One common factor (thankfully!) is Sameer, who writes the lyrics for all the numbers.
Himesh Reshammiya, Udit Narayan and Alka Yagnik do not exactly 'kick-start' the album with the romantic duet ' Tumhara Tumhara '. Coupled with average lyrics, this is just an average composition by Himesh Reshammiya that is not bad but doesn't stir your heart either. The cinematography of the number (along with rest of the numbers in the film) does need a mention but if you look at the choreography closely, intermediately there are a couple of dance steps that look unintentionally funny rather than vibrant. Overall, the number doesn't have much new to offer and settles down to 'heard before, seen before, felt before' okay-dokey number!
Sonu Nigam and Himesh Reshammiya stick to the Indian roots in ' Tumhe Jitna Bhulate Hain ', a nice little solo love song that again may not be too different in terms of presentation but still sounds good due to Himesh's grip around the composition and the overall easy to ears arrangements that make for a quite listening. There is a distinct feel of ' Tere Naam ' style of music and you actually enjoy the feel.
An attempt at passion play is made with Vishal Shekhar's first track ' Aankhon Aankhon Mein '. A boring number to the core, its only hopes lie with picturization that may help it some extent. But otherwise there is not much expected with this track sung by KK and Sunidhi Chauhan that can well be considered to be one of the most ordinary songs composed by the talented duo who otherwise have always delivered good-to-excellent tunes whenever given a chance.
After Vishal Shekhar, it is the turn of composer duo Devendra-Yogendra to make an appearance in this musical. A situational track about life and death and how to cope with the uncertainties associated with it, ' Leti Hai Ye Zindagi ' is a philosophical number sung from the lead protagonist's point of view by Sonu Nigam and is fit just for the theatre screens. There is not much musically that one may want to sit, relax and hear to this one. The number has a touch of Western; Indian classical and Sufi style of music and the result is just about OK.
Raju Rao's piano piece in the theme track ' Shukriya ' is a wonderful work to arrive after a few average tracks and it proves to be a silver lining. Coupled with soulful orchestra, it gives that much desired effect that one expected out of a musical score of an emotional movie. Result is a good piece of work that is short, sweet and impressive.
Call it the mood created by this track or the genuine goodness of this number, but the subsequent track ' Dil Ai Dil ' does sound interesting. Sung by Kumar Sanu (who still isn't getting the kind and volume of work that he truly deserves), it has music by Vishal Shekhar, who surprisingly change their style from mostly western to ' shuddh hindustani '. One double checks to see if the number is composed by Himesh Reshammiya but it is confirmed that it is indeed Vishal Shekhar. The number is the slower version of ' Maine Poocha Kudrat Se ' sung by Sanu and Anuradha Paudwal, both of whom do complete justice to the romantic duet that also boasts of some good lyrics. The best track of the album, it is picturized and choreographed well and should make it to the charts.
Himesh Reshammiya and Sameer make a return with their bag of 'choodi, paayal, kangna, bindiya and stuff alike' with ' Kya Haal Hai Mere Is Dil Ka ' sung with aplomb by Udit Narayan and Alka Yagnik. A good track, it has the composer's stamp all over and on listening to Udit Narayan's voice in the song, one subconsciously feels Salman Khan dancing to the beats. Call it the ' Tere Naam ' and ' Dil Ne Jise Apna Kahaa ' effect, both of which have numbers composed by Himesh. A melodious number, it has an Indian celebration feel about it and one can well imagine a horde of 'chacha chachis' and 'mama mamis' surrounding the love birds!
Well, talking to celebrations, they do happen with ' Ni Soniye ' composed by Devendra Yogendra, and sung by a large group of top line singers - Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik, Sonu Nigam and Shreya Ghoshal. A Punjabi 'dhoom-dhaam' track (what else), it borrows its inspiration from (surprise-surprise) evergreen ' Pehli Pehli Baar Dekha Aisa Jalwa '. Nevertheless, it carries with it that 'feel-good' effect that is so very essential for the song to be popular.
At the end of the album, one does get a satisfying feeling but also wonders if T-Series could just have 5-6 quality songs in an album instead of 9-10 numbers (as they normally have) that bring the quality ratio down. 'Shukriya' begins on an extremely shaky note but the 'second half' (pun intended!) of the album succeeds in bringing it on a stable ground. You will like this album for relaxing after a long day at work!
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