Bajrangi Bhaijaan Review {3.5/5} & Review Rating
EXPECTATIONS
There are massive expectations from the music of Bajrangi Bhaijaan. After all, it is a Salman Khan film. Moreover, the music of his last film with director Kabir Khan, Ek Tha Tiger, had boasted of chartbuster music too. Moreover, composer Pritam is returning to the scene after a hiatus and one expects quite a few chartbusters from him. A horde of lyricists is roped in for job, and it has to be seen if Mayur Puri, Amitabh Bhattacharya, Kausar Munir, Shabbir Ahmed and Nilesh Mishra come together to deliver well.
MUSIC
Bajrangi Bhaijaan gets a foot-tapping beginning with 'Selfie Le Le Re' which is a unique mix of a devotional track getting a contemporary touch with a club sound to it that appeals adults as well as kids alike. A fun number that maintains a relentless pace to it right through its five minute duration, 'Selfie Le Le Re' deserves good credit for its quirky lyrics that are put together by Mayur Puri. This is all the more accentuated by the coming together of Vishal Dadlani, Nakash Aziz, Pritam Chakraborty, Url and Aditya Pushkarna behind the mike and it is apparent that the men are clearly having a lot of fun!
It turns out to be a sober outing immediately after with Atif Aslam singing 'Tu Chahiye' which could well have been a song for Ranbir Kapoor or another young actor like a Shahid Kapoor or a Varun Dhawan. In case of this well written Amitabh Bhattacharya song though, the man of the moment is Salman Khan and it is entirely due to his inherent charm that this young melodious number doesn't look odd on him. Meanwhile, Pritam does his job in bringing on the club sound in the middle of this romantic number that can be comfortably given a few repeat hearing.
What follows next is a really lengthy track, 'Bhar Do Jholi Meri (Traditional)', which lasts for over eight minutes. A devotional 'qawalli' put together by Kausar Munir, this one has a traditional sound to it and has Adnan Sami singing in a style different from his usual romantic outings. A strictly situational number which should help accentuate the narrative of the film, 'Bhar Do Jholi Meri' should be picked up by hardcore Salman Khan fans who like to see the emotional side of him.
As for an out and out mass appeal, there is 'Aaj Ki Party' that comes next and one wonders why this wasn't the first to be promoted. An out and out dance number which also gains from the star appeal of Kareena Kapoor Khan shaking a leg with Salman Khan, 'Aaj Ki Party' is put together well by Shabbir Ahmed who keeps the lyrics simple, hence making them catchy enough for youth to pick up. As for Pritam, he clearly lets his hair down for this one and that mood is well picked up by Mika Singh too who gets the rhythm of the song well and goes all out to make this party song make you hit the dance floors.
The song that makes you wonder though if it was really needed in the soundtrack is 'Chicken Kuk-Doo-Koo'. Perhaps the idea was to entice the children but really, this Mohit Chauhan number seems a tad odd in the scheme of Bajrangi Bhaijaan. Perhaps the song finds a place in here since Salman is not in his usual larger-than-life avtar in the film. However, even as Mohit tries to bring on the fun element with Pritam joining him as well, this Mayur Puri written number restricts itself to being a strictly situational outing.
Last to arrive is 'Zindagi (Reprise)' which has a feel completely different from what one has heard in the album so far, with Zubin Nautiyal bringing on pathos with his singing. Lyricist Nilesh Mishra brings on a tad serious words for this slow moving number with Western arrangements to it, and could well have found an inclusion in an Anurag Basu film. A situational track, one waits to see how it fits itself in the narrative of Bajrangi Bhaijaan.
OVERALL
Bajrangi Bhaijaan has a couple of chartbusters ('Selfie Le Le Re', 'Aaj Ki Party') which are there for the taking when it comes to being designed for Salman Khan. Meanwhile for the romantics out there, 'Tu Chahiye' fit the bill. The rest are made to fit into the narrative of the film and one waits to see how the integration takes place.
OUR PICK(S)
'Aaj Ki Party', 'Selfie Le Le Re', 'Tu Chahiye', 'Bhar Do Jholi Meri (Traditional)'
