Music: John Stewart, Sharib-Toshi & Meet Bros. Anjjan Lyrics: Kumaar & Irfan Siddiqui Music Label:…  

<b>Music: John Stewart, Sharib-Toshi & Meet Bros. Anjjan</b><BR> <b>Lyrics: Kumaar & Irfan Siddiqui</b><BR> <b>Music Label: Sony Music</b><BR><BR> <b>Expectations: </b><BR><BR> The expectations are zero given the face value of the film, but Anubhav Sinha is a co-producer, so chances were there for a pleasant surprise. <BR><BR> <b>Music: </b><BR><BR> But that does not happen. The music takes a path that declines from the beginning. Ominous strings introduce '<b><i>Taakedein</i></b>', a maudlin track in which Sonu Nigam is almost unrecognizable in vocal tenor. The song by John Stewart is more like English rock, and Sonu sings - possibly deliberately as per his brief - with a defective intonation and a needless and irritating Western twang in the line <i>Lamha hai sehma sehma sa / Samaa hai thehra thehra sa</i>. The rolling of the "<i>ra</i>" sound (<i>Taras taras ke rrrrreh gaye</i>) and the bad diction make this a shocker from Sonu! <BR><BR> The lyrics (Irfan Siddiqui) fall into the usual smart claptrap to get phonetic leverage and attempt to impress with style rather than substance and impressive-sounding Urdu terms (<i>Taakeedein taakeedein / Ittefaq se teri taak mein / Khatra hai firaaq mein</i>). <BR><BR> Things get even worse in the second track, the Meet Bros. Anjjan-composed '<b><i>Bebasi</i></b>' (James-Aditi Paul) wherein we have a full-on Western pop song with atrocious Hindi pronunciation by James, especially in words like <i>doobte</i> and <i>dhoonde</i>. The lyrics (Kumaar this time) also show the desire for an empty style (<i>Bulbule saans ke / Saans ke doobte tairte / Dhoonde kinara / Bulbule waqt ke / Waqt ke lamhon ki aankh se / Kar de ishara</i>). <BR><BR> A record nine singers take on '<b><i>Chikadanga</i></b>' without making the slightest impact. Its follow-up dub-step version has three voices less, but is equally lacklustre. '<b><i>Tell me how much</i></b>' (Mika-Poorbi) is a ridiculous number with poor lyrics by Kumaar (<i>Koi to keemat hogi tere husn ki bol de / Baby tell me how much how much / Ho phir saari raat ishq ladaaoon</i>) that speaks of women as a commodity. Happily, the song is so poor that it will not even invite trouble from women! <BR><BR> The final '<b><i>It's a Warning Mashup</i></b>' is a mess too, given the standard of the music itself. <BR><BR> <b>Overall: </b><BR><BR> This is an acutely disappointing album. With Anubhav Sinha around as a producer, we expected at least one chartbuster after his films' scores in <i>Tum Bin, Dus</i> and <i>RA.One</i>). The songs seem to have been included just as a commercial obligation without the slightest wish to boost the faceless film. <BR><BR> <b>Our Pick: </b><BR><BR> <i>Nil</i>