Music: Sachin-Jigar, Salim-Sulaiman, Gulraj Singh & Aslam Keyi Lyrics: Amitabh Bhattacharya, Manoj…  

<b>Music:</b> Sachin-Jigar, Salim-Sulaiman, Gulraj Singh & Aslam Keyi<BR> <b>Lyrics: </b> Amitabh Bhattacharya, Manoj Yadav & Kumaar<BR> <b>Music Label: </b>Sony Music<BR><BR> <b>Expectations: </b><BR><BR> Not much, despite this being a Karan Johar production. The buzz for the film is almost absent, ditto for its music by a mélange of makers. <BR><BR> <b>Music: </b> <BR><BR> The album takes off with a Sachin-Jigar track '<b><i>Dance Basanti</b></i>' (sung by Vishal Dadlani with some English lines by Anushka Manchanda). The smarty-pants lyrics by Amitabh Bhattacharya are very predictable, with lines like '<i>Poora nahin to chain mil jaaye pauna aadha / Aashiqon se deal tu karke dance Basanti</i>'. The cacophonous mixing and instrumentation, however, also add to the predictability of this track and take it to a lower zone. <BR><BR> '<b><i>Pakeezah</b></i>' (composed and sung equally mechanically by Gulraj Singh) is one of those superficial songs that have lyrics that deliberately use impressive-sounding words like '<i>unns', 'jaaveda</i>' and '<i>hashr</i>' just for effect than lyrical substance, and meaningless lines ('<i>Ishq tera mera rab se zyaada (???) / Tujhse hi yeh chahe pakeezah</i> (???!!!)' deck up the 'metre' of the song with supposedly good but actually hollow phonetics. <BR><BR> The same composer-lyrics writer duo intends to do better in '<b><i>Aadarniya Ungli</b></i>' (Vishal Dadlani-Neeti Mohan) wherein Neeti is reduced to an also-ran and Vishal does his usual stuff. Even the proverbial elephant's memory will fail to retain this song minutes after it is over! <BR><BR> '<b><i>Ungli Pe Nachalein</b></i>' (Dev Negi-Shipra Goyal) is a spirited if familiar number composed by Aslam Keyi with lyrics by Kumaar. The lyrics this time are clever without predictable limits ('<i>Hum to hain poori botal aur / Tum to saare miniature</i>'). The singers do their job as needed and the production is noisy as per dictates. <BR><BR> The only song that comes as a relief is '<b><i>Auliya</b></i>', evocatively sung by Armaan Malik, with delectable passages on the keyboard and guitar and some nice, gentle compositional flourishes. Armaan renders with a gentle understanding of the lyrics and the mood and Salim-Sulaiman go placid in their interpretation of the needs of the melody. <BR><BR> Amitabh Bhattacharya's lyrics are splendid, with an arrestingly simple <i>mukhda</i> and fine work within the <i>antaras</i> as well ('<i>O teri nazar mein suna hai / Kai zyaada darja duaon se hai koshishon ka / Ho jo raha hai woh anjaam hai / Koshishon ka ya haadsa hai</i>'). <BR><BR> <b>Overall: </b><BR><BR> Functional music that, except for the impressive '<i>Auliya</i>', need not have been there at all!