Kalyug Review {2.5/5} & Review Rating
From the house of Bhatts comes another movie revolving around thrills, drama and sex - a genre that they have so very well adopted over the years. 'Kalyug' [earlier titled 'Blue Film'] also marks the debut of Kunal Khemu as a lead hero [he has been a child actor till just a few years back and has won accolades for his performance in movies like Raja Hindustani, Hum Hai Raahi Pyaar Ke, Bhai and Zakhm]. Both the leading ladies of the movie also make their debuts. One being director Mohit' Zeher' Suri's sister Smiley Suri and another being Deepal Shaw, the 'Kabhi Aar Kabhi Paar' remix girl. A movie about a war against pornography, it has music by Anu Malik, Rohail Hyat & Faisal Rafi and the band 'Jal'.
An extended sound of flute takes you all the way back to the 70s just when 'Jiya Dhadak Dhadak Jaye' begins. A kind of smooth track that used to appear in movies by the likes of Gulzar, Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Basu Chatterjee, its composition by Rohail Hyat and Faisal Rafi has a great nostalgic value. Rahat Fateh Ali Khan has a deep voice and sings this soft romantic track with grace. 'Written by Asim Raza, 'Jiya Dhadak Dhadak' requires to be heard 4-5 times before you finally start liking it. A sweet sounding number that is also repeated as a short extension track 'Tujhe Dekh Dekh', it is quite easy on ears due to its musical style.
Next comes 'Aadat', a track by Atif that has music by Goher Mumtaz [Jal The Band] and on the very first listening it shocks you! Why? Because it turns out to be the source behind 'Zehreeli Raatein' [Chocolate], for which credit had been given to Pritam. A note by note copy of 'Aadat' was done in 'Zehreeli Raatein'! Nevertheless, coming back to 'Aadat', it turns out to be (obviously) better than 'Zehreeli' as it is true to its spirit with some slight re-arrangement done by Mithun Sharma.
A painful track, it is undoubtedly a brilliant song and the good part about its placement in the album is that due credit for the track is given to its entire team including details about licensing the track from the other record company. The song appears twice again in the album, once sung by 'Jal The Band' and the second time being remixed by DJ Suketu, and sounds good all the time.
A seductive song that appears to have been shot at a pornographic hub, 'Dheere Dheere' by Anu Malik is on low pitch throughout with Alisha Chinai attempting an air of seduction throughout. Written by Sayeed Quadri, the song is just about fine and at maximum may turn out to be situational. Not a bad hear but then one may want to hang on to 'Jiya Dhadak' and 'Aadat'!
After Abhijeet Sawant [Aashique Banaya Aapne] and Rahul Vaidya [Shaadi No.1], it is the turn of yet another Indian Idol finalist Amit Sana to get his first song for playback singing in a Bollywood movie. 'Thi Meri Dastan' is a duet between the youngest new entrant and veteran Anuradha Paudwal and is based on melody. Anu Malik / Sayeed Quadri team is behind this track too which is again sans any artificial beats or unnecessary musical arrangements and comes easy on ears. The song is not of a kind that could pave its way into the charts due to its situational feel.
Weakest song of the album, 'Ye Pal', comes up towards the end. Quite average, it tries to be a happy-go-lucky youthful track about living every moment in life but doesn't sound too vibrant. Coming across as a track belonging to one of those numerous non-film albums that hit the stands every second week, it has just some passable singing by Nazam Sheraz. An easy skip!
In the end, it is primarily 'Aadat' and 'Jiya Dhadak Dhadak' that stay with you once the album is over. Rest of the tracks are just about fine but that's all. Need of the hour is beginning of promos around the 'Aadat' track to make the sales charts for 'Kalyug' go up!
