Bhoothnath Review {2.0/5} & Review Rating
Vishal, Shekhar, Javed Akhtar saab - the names which make a formidable team are good enough reasons to expect at least a good musical offering. However, to one's utter disappointment, Bhoothnath falls way off the mark and is just not a worthy follow up to Ravi Chopra's last two films - Baghban and Baabul. In short, Bhoothnath is a soundtrack which neither Vishal-Shekhar nor Javed Akhtar saab would like to mention over a long run.
The album attempts at being all cool-n-happening with 'Mere Buddy' but doesn't succeed in its endeavor. In spite of giving this all-beats-and-arrangements number more than 4-5 listening, 'Mere Buddy' doesn't quite grow and falls way aside. Even though Amitabh Bachchan himself is at the helm of affairs (and indeed does a good job in his rendition) with child singer Arman Mallik, it is an average composition which fails to make this man-child bonding number get on the top of your wish list.
Graduating from one child singer lending his vocals to the opening number, Bhoothnath sees as many as four kids - Koushtuv Ghosh, Aparna Bhagwat, Sharavan Suresh, Sneha Suresh - coming together to get into a 'boy-zone'! A better song than 'Mere Buddy', both composition wise as well as visually, 'Hum To Hain Aandhi ' has kids all dressed up as grown ups in a kind of setting which makes one remember the Shah Rukh Khan-Sharad Kapoor face off in Josh. With 'revenge' rugby games, cheergirls, rock concerts et al making 'Hum To Hain Aandhi' different from dozens of other kid tracks witnessed earlier, it gains immensely due to it's visual appeal.
With a folk flavor to it, 'Banku Bhaiya ' isn't the kind of track which makes one make a beeline to acquire the soundtrack of Bhoothnath. However, it is a catchy number nevertheless as Sukhwinder Singh gets on with his spirited rendition. Though one does tend to remember 'Phir Raat Kati' [Paheli] due to a similar folkish flavor, 'Banku Bhaiya' belongs to a different setting altogether and promises to bring in entertainment to the proceedings. First 'desi' number in an album which was all this while set in a Western mode.
Unfortunately, the album only goes further downhill from hereon as Vishal-Shekhar get influenced by Manoj Kumar brand of music, something which is pretty much apparent in 'Samay Ka Pahiya '. Nothing wrong in getting influenced here, however the trouble here is that this musical style is outdated to say the least and hardly makes one enticed about what may follow on screen. A sad track which is centered on the character of Bhoothnath who is shown to be all alone, it has Hariharan coming behind the mike with Big B too chipping in with a few words! Forgettable and 100% situational.
Last song of the album, 'Chalo Jaane Do ', is based on Laxmikant-Pyaarelal school of music but has a lifeless feel to it. This slow paced number about 'roothna-manana' has Big B pairing up with Juhi Chawla who also sings the track though by making a belated appearance. Centered on Bhoothnath trying to pep up the kid in the film and making him forget what has gone wrong and instead look forward to better things in store, 'Chalo Jaane Do' is a drag of a number and just doesn't fit into 2008 scheme of things! And yes, Juhi Chawla does a decent job though not really making a debut which could have been termed 'smashing'!
It's time to enter Ram Gopal Varma zone as Salim-Sulaiman's theme piece of Bhoothnat plays on for close to two minutes. The track does manage to create an eerie feel though one would have expected it to go an extra distance. One waits to see how background score of the entire film sounds like though!
There are some music albums which you don't really want to pick up after the first listening itself. Though the songs not working well is of course one of the major reasons, what pains most is to see the kind of names associated with a product. Bhoothnath is one such album.
