Music: Sangeet & Siddharth Haldipur Lyrics: Sreekanth Agneeaswaran Label: T-Series EXPECTATIONS A…  

<b>Music: Sangeet & Siddharth Haldipur</b><BR> <b>Lyrics: Sreekanth Agneeaswaran</b><BR> <b>Label: T-Series</b><BR><BR> <b>EXPECTATIONS</b><BR><BR> A comedy about a twosome's misadventures on a Mumbai-Pune trip, the modest budget film with newcomers Dev Goel and Adah Sharma also stars Sanjay Dutt and Juhi Chawla in cameos. The music is by Sangeet and Siddharth Haldipur, who made a sledgehammer impact with their solo composition <i>Aa zaraa kareeb se</i> in <i>Murder 2</i> but failed to strike chords with films like <i>Bird Idol, Blood Money</i> and <i>Aatma</i>. <BR><BR> So we have very modest expectations from the score, all the more because very few banners today insist on great music as the selling-point for a film with low face-value. <BR><BR> <b>MUSIC</b><BR><BR> To be fair, the score does partly meet up with modest expectations. '<b><i>Ding Dang Ding Dang</i></b>' is a creditable effort where the tempo and tenor of a <i>bhangra</i>-pop song is mixed with a melodious composition. Mika gets into the flow, sounding sharper and clear in his intonations instead of his normal way of letting one word roll into the next - full marks to the composers for achieving this. <BR><BR> The beats are very <i>desi</i> and authentic and have none of that hybridized and synthetic quality we get to see in so many such songs. The lyrics are completely in Punjabi - a downer for the pan-Indian listener that has become endemic in an era where songs are meant to be watched and danced to rather than understood - but at least the opening lines (<i>Enu pataa hai onnu pataa hai sab nu pataa hai / Dil te kisida zor ni chalda rab nu pataa hai</i>) are comprehensible. <BR><BR> '<b><i>Nachlay Nachlay</i></b>' (Shaan-Monali Thakur) is marred by too frequent repeats of the hook and the long <i>mukhda</i>. Remove the unnecessary repetition and the song will be less than three minutes instead of the almost five minute-long affair that it is. That said, one likes the smooth feel of a classic Hindi film duet and the simple youthful lyrics where the boy complains of the girl's over-busy schedule that leaves them with only the weekends to have a rocking time. <BR><BR> Lyricist Sreekanth's <i>Tang na kar yoon mujhe / Jaane de chhod mujhe / Tension mein music bhi / Lagta hai shor mujhe</i> is an aptly imaginative take on the stress of a working woman today! The composition is peppy and the orchestration has the usual loud feel of a pub number. Monali Thakur brings in the right intonation, matching steps with the more seasoned Shaan. <BR><BR> Clinton Cerejo gets the only solo, '<b><i>Pri & Me</i></b>', where the lyrics seem to be strictly functional. Though the melody is somewhat catchy, clearly, the raucous arrangements and Clinton's Westernized accent that pull it down are considered assets for this heard-before kind of song. <BR><BR> The next track, '<b><i>Woh</i></b>' (Sangeet with Anusha Mani) sounds even more familiar and could fit randomly into a dozen films. This overlong song fails to make an impression and has lyrics that must have been heard a zillion times! <BR><BR> The title-track is the last <i>song</i> on the soundtrack - we emphasize the word because it is sung by five voices but is only about two lines repeated: <i>Dum laka laka doom doon / Hum hai raahi car ke</i>. This one is meant to be noisy and rambunctious and probably features in the credit-titles of the movie. <BR><BR> <b>OVERALL</b><BR><BR> This is a modest score with limited appeal, and its commercial future, if any, will rest on Mika's selling power as well as the right promotion for '<i>Ding Dang Ding Dang</i>'. <BR><BR> <b>OUR PICK(S)</b><BR><BR> <i>Ding Dang Ding Dang, Nachlay Nachlay</i>