Abhi Mujh Mein Kahin, Baki Thodi Si Hai Besharmii

Blame the Bengali's for exposing the besharm side of me.

Joy, Shruti, Joy-2 and Fanny put me on stage for 6 of the longest minutes of my life on the 20th October. The occasion, Durga Pooja celebrations at the "Swajan of Great Lakes" Bengali Association in Detroit.

For a confessedly timid singer whose best performances have only come under the running shower behind the veil of closed bathroom doors, these 6 minutes were as nervous and tentative as they come, in which I went about trashing one of Sonu Nigam's finest works to date.

The song "Abhi Mujh Mein Kahiin" composed by the talented Marathi composer duo Ajay-Atul and sung by the one and only Sonu Nigam, featured in the 2011 movie AGNEEPATH. It is, in Sonu Nigam's own admission, one of his dearest songs to date. 

The abominable Mr. Nigam recited this song live in concert in Detroit earlier this year and the goosebumps from watching the master perform it from 30 feet across are still fresh on my skin. 

For me to even think of doing this song on stage was audacious, and plainly, besharm (shameless). 

Not to my surprise, I managed to mess the song with the precision of a hobbyist weekend carpenter sent in space on a 2 day notice to repair the mechanics of the Hubble Telescope. Nonetheless, this was a fantastic experience. People did walk up later to offer consolatory cheers to me, which rejuvenated my faith that most people are inherently good at heart.

Indian Idol #2 Sandeep Acharya and the pocket sized powerhouse Puja Chatterjee rocked the house later in the evening with their performances. Needless to say, the audience did eventually get their money's worth despite fiasco's like the one from yours truly, earlier in the day.

Listen to my remastered rendition HERE

Cheers!

Of strumming guitars and Bin Tere.... I Hate Luv Storys

The "unplugged" tag attracts me right away.

I Hate Love Storys was a come and go movie from 2011 that had a few nice songs.

The racy and powerful "Bin Tere" duet featuring my singing hero Shafqat Amanat Ali and Sunidhi Chauhan, supported by Vishal & Shekhar in chorus was one of the better songs of last year. The pacy percussion arrangement with Shafqat's open vocals made this one worthwhile.

The real McCoy however is Shekhar Ravjiani, whose 'unplugged' version of Bin Tere was as touching and genuine as it gets. Shekhar's demure and melancholy rendition of Bin Tere was as impacting as Shafqat's bashful and racy one.

As always, I had to make my own bathroom version of it. Take it with a pinch of salt. I simply could not get the timing right at some spots but I can't complain because I created the base track myself :)

Give it an ear HERE.

Cheers!

Babul Supriyo hums....hum tum....

Hum Tum, Kunal Kohli's second film and first hit, came out in 2004 and swept the Fimfare awards for that year. Best Director, best actor, best actress, best playback singer, best scene of the year, nomination for best movie of the year, and whatnot.

For those who haven't watched the movie yet, please do so for Rani Mukherji, and for the fantastic sound track. The past few years haven't been good for this pocket sized powerhouse performer from Kolkata, but Hum Tum may serve us a reminder why she is one of the best in business.

The composer duo of Jatin Lalit used Babul Supriyo and Alka Yagnik in what could well go down as one of the 10 most romantic songs of the past decade (...or perhaps even more than a decade) in the title song of the movie. The slow lilting number was an instant hit then and it remains one of my favorite songs even today.

Usually Babul Supriyo comes across as a poor man's Kumar Sanu (who in turn started off as a poor man's Kishore Kumar), BUT this song is an exception. This song is uniquely Babul's, no denying it.

I found a karaoke track on the internet for this song and decided to test myself a bit. (I hate Karaoke tracks, but an exception this time from lack of time and dedication to create a track of my own).

See how you like it. Looking for a female voice to insert for the lyrics sung by Alka Yagnik in the song...let me know if you are interested!

Click the link HERE to listen to my (obviously amateur) version of this one.




Cheers!
 

Sau Dard ki ek marz.....Jaan-e-Gulzar

An (utterly) farcical movie called Jaan-e-mann was released in 2006 with a superstar cast of Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, Priety Zinta and Anupam Kher. 

Anu Malik, for a change, delivered an original soundtrack (or, at least I haven’t come across the 'real' originals yet if they existed somewhere else). Gulzar-sahab penned some fabulous lyrics, and at least three songs in this movie are worth a second listen.

While this caper didn’t disturb much the cash registers at the box office, it had an unusual brand of songs with great results. Anu Malik who is usually known for popcorn quality songs scores some surprisingly melodious ones here.

Sonu Nigam’s superb voice spread over Gulzar-sahab’s melancholy lyrics makes the song “Sau Dard Hai” a killer. The song spreads steadily inside you like smooth whiskey. A unique aspect of the songs from Jaan-e-mann is their limousine-long notes, and although Anu Malik's background score tends to be loud and over-orchestrated in some places, Sonu-bhai takes this song all the way like no other singer can. 

The base track I created is tacky. (If only I could get a bit more than coffee-breaks to do these things). My feeble vocals - aided by a scratchy throat from the Michigan winter -  forced me to take it one scale below...BUT I loved the challenge of the long-winded notes in the song. 

By the way, the real meaning behind the name of the movie just occurred to me….after 4 years…. “Jaan-e-mann” is a clever double entendre from the wit of Gulzar-sahab. One is the usually used ‘jaaneman’ = darling, and the other ‘jaan-e-mann’ = understand my mind/sentiments….I just realized that the title of the movie reflects the sentiments behind both the protagonists in the movie!! Man, am I slow.

Click HERE to listen to my (obviously inferior and amateur) version of this one.

Cheers!

Asli Naqli...Race to the top.

A few years ago it was Himesh Reshammiya who could do no wrong, churning out hit after hit faster than one could blink. Practically every top-10 countdown bore half a dozen of his songs at any given time.

The mantle of Super-hit Composer has since been taken over by Pritam. His brazenness in keeping a straight face despite blatantly plagiarizing tunes is outrageous, but regardless he still reigns as the King of the countdown. Had it not been for him, I would perhaps have remained lost on so many beautiful tunes from Korean TV serials and Egyptian soap jingles.

Race, a movie from 2008 that promised slick tricks turned out to be a box office hit more because of its songs and zingy leading ladies than for the two childishly scheming brothers in the center of plot. Movie-casters can sometimes perplex you with their choice of faces. Not sure what genetic resemblance Saif Ali Khan and Akshay Khanna have in order to play brothers, but we'll overlook such trivial things for the more serious ones like Katrina Kaif and Bipasha Basu's looks, and of course some nice music.

Atif Aslam - the 'non-singer' - scored a huge hit in "Pehli Nazar Mein" in this movie and once again shut up all the 'singers' in the industry. It is amazing how he does it again and again, and more so with the help of Pritam. This eminently hummable song is a note-to-note copy of "Sarang hae yo" from the soundtrack of a 2005 Korean tele series titled, 'Kwae-geol Chun-hyang'.

Having not been able to frequent this blog lately, here is an attempt to keep it alive by making a hasty contribution. An improved version will come about as soon as possible. Until then bear with the half baked one below.

Click HERE to listen to my obviously amateur version.

Cheers!

Of Flowers, Japanese Liquor and Romance.....

A 'limbu-timbu' (raw lemon) is a long lost term we often used as children, for the tiny and most inconsequential kid in the playgroup. This used to be the kid who was dispensable but yet included in the cricket team as a 'filler' because you simply couldn't break his little heart. 

Mohit Chauhan is one such darling limbu timbu in the play-field of Hindi playback singing . In the midst of towering singers with their mind-boggling repertoire of vocal capabilities, Mohit Chauhan is the little raw lemon in the pack. As a relatively unknown singer, he may not have rocked the  world. With a voice nowhere near perfect and not an ounce of charisma on him, he still manages to hold on to his fan base thanks to an endearingly honest voice and an earnest effort in every song. Very few singers have the ability to connect with listeners as he does.

Amazing as it may sound, but Mohit Chauhan enjoys one of the best hit song ratios among his contemporaries. In that respect he is much like Atif Aslam and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan.

The first Mohit Chauhan song I heard was from the movie "Main Meri Patni Aur Woh" from 2005. The movie was fabulous, the music was doubly fabulous, Rajpal Yadav's acting as the envious husband was beyond fabulous. In case you missed this gem of a movie, I'd recommend you give it a watch.

"Guncha Koi" sung and composed by Mohit Chauhan is a slow romantic song shot on the dashing K K Menon in a 'home party' scene. The song is a simple ballad rendered very beautifully by Mohit in his unique "I sing what I feel" brand of voice. 

I've been humming it for 5 years and counting. I'm no Mohit but in case you have nothing much to do, check me out by clicking HERE.
  
Cheers!

You do not know....

Some movies force a question. “WHY?”

Were they really disillusioned enough to think that audience had tomato pulp for a brain ?

“Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahani”, an atrocity of a movie that we were subject to in 2009, defied all my perceptions of a 'hit' and yet was one.

Pritam’s music (or should we say someone else’s music that was updated and re-presented by Pritam) was noteworthy though. The song “Tu Jaane Na” appeared in the album in multiple avatars. The song featured in a ‘usual’ form in the movie in Atif Aslam’s voice. Pritam had the audacity (and business sense) to create the same song in a remix version and a lounge version too, both in Atif Aslam’s voice (and there may perhaps have been a car driving version, a shower version and a potty version too that I haven't heard yet, I suspect).

Atif Aslam is an imperfect singer with a perfect track record. Practically every song that he has warbled and whined for in Hindi movies has turned out to be a huge hit. “Tu Jaane Na” was no exception.

A relatively less known and less heard version of this song was sung by Kailash Kher in an ‘unplugged’ format. Now what exactly does the term ‘unplugged’ mean is unknown to me, but I take it as ‘sung without much instrumental/vocal accompaniments’…kinda like akela-on-the-gacchi (terrace)-with-a-guitar-in-hand-and-nothing-much-to-do types. So the basic qualification for an ‘unplugged’ singer would be to have a good voice, because there aren’t any instruments or choruses to envelope vulnerabilities in the voice and embarrassing naked spots in the rendition.

Kailash Kher’s unplugged version of “Tu Jaane Na” is fantastic. Kher's power and pitch come out strikingly in this ‘unplugged’ song. The little powerhouse from Delhi is made for such songs.

Me and my singer friend Joy are trying to record this one as a duet song. Sounds simple but it is testing my mixing skills alright :) If we are eventually successful in creating a two-man song out of this one, I’ll post it up here. Until then bear with just mine.

Click HERE to listen to my obviously amateur version.

Cheers!

If the God does 42 takes, how many would mere mortals ?

Mohammad Rafi-sahab is to music what Sachin Tendulkar is to cricket, what Ratan Tata is to Indian industry, what Mother Teresa is to service. Unparalleled, non-replicable, peerless. 

The voice behind thousands of songs that can twist your cognizance at its will…a voice that can make you feel euphorically romantic one moment, and induce suicidal sadness in another. 

“Shola Aur Shabnam” a movie released in 1961 had in it the handsome Dharmendra emote (rather palely I must say) to a most beautiful melody by Rafi-sahab. 

The song “Jaane Kya Dhoonti Hai Yeh Aankhey Mujh Mein” penned by Kaifi Azmi (father of Shabana Azmi), composed by Khayyam was a ‘sad’ song that had immense melody in its pensiveness.

(Khayyam’s genius).

The lyrics are magical…”jaane kya dhoondti hai yeh aankhein mujh mein, raakh ke dher mein shola hai na chingari “ (what do your eyes search in me, I’m but a heap of burnt ash, without any fire or sparkle left anymore). 

Despair so barren could not have been expressed in better words.

Brian Silas, the talented pianist, rose to fame with his instrumental renditions of Hindi songs. “Jaane Kya Dhoondti Hai” was in one of his instrumental albums, to which I decided to vocal into. Silas’ piano runs at about 50% slower pace than the actual song from the movie. As a piano-only rendition, the song sounds alright, but try to put vocals on it at that (leisurely) pace and it becomes a bit of a challenge for someone like me who is already struggling with an impaired tank of skills :) Nonetheless, it was fun to do this one. 

Nothing in this song is as easy as Mohammad Rafi-sahab makes it sound, right from the soft opening to the raised third antara. 

It is said that Khayyam demanded 42 re-takes for this song before he stamped the final cut. I'd imagine it would probably take me 42 lifetimes to get anywhere close.

Since the world runs on imperfection, here’s my little contribution to it.

As always, take my imperfect vocals with a pinch of salt. Click HERE to listen.

Cheers!

Dehachi Tijori is mehfooz with reham from Khudaa....

Do successful TV stars become successful Movie stars? In Hollywood they may, but generally not so in Mumbai…with some notable exceptions like Smita Patil, Shah Rukh Khan etc. On the whole Indian TV stars haven’t really shattered the 70mm screen. 

In 2008 an interesting movie by the name of "Aamir" came out, starring Rajeev Khandelwal, a Television superstar then. The movie, devoid of any known big-screen stars didn’t do much on the box office, but it was a pretty slickly made one. I was engrossed for the entire 2 hours of it, watching the hero involuntarily get sucked deeper and deeper into the weave of the plot as it reached a nail biting crescendo. Definitely worth a watch. 

The film did not have any typical movie songs, but there was one – “Ha reham” (sounds very similar to ‘haarey hum’) that was used as a background score in one of the scenes that caught my fancy. The song, based on a soulful qawwal devotional tune composed by Amit Trivedi had a catchy beat concocted out of a ‘damaru’, a dholak, a harmonium and something that sounds like an ektara.

Sung by Amit Trivedi, Amitabh, Murtuza Qadir, this tune has a hymnical rhythm that gets into ones blood.

While listening to the original “Ha reham – mehfooz” song from Aamir, I got an idea to use the same beats for an immortal and beautifully penned Marathi bhaktigeet (devotional song) “Dehachi Tijori” composed and sung by Sudheer Phadke in the 1968 movie “Amhi jaato amchya gaava”. Both songs are not very different in their gist too, as it turns out. 

The result was an unusual fusion of a Khudaa from “Ha reham – mehfooz “ with a Vitthal in “Dehachi Tijori”.

As always, take my imperfect vocals with a pinch of salt. Click HERE to listen.

Cheers!

Aaoge Jab Tum..... happy or sad?

I really liked the movie Jab We Met for its songs. I thought Pritam (the composer) was an absolute genius, until the hour that I was told practically every song in the movie was plagiarized. In any case, there is this one song in the movie which is original, and which also happens to be my favorite from the album – “Aaoge Jab Tum”.

Sung by Ustad Rashid Khan, a classical singer with a distinctively heavy voice, this song comes off as melancholy to a listener who may not have seen the movie. However, upon watching the movie one realizes that this song is actually shot in a happy context...or at least so I thought looking at the bashful grin on Kareena Kapoor's grape-shaped face in the song. 

This contrast between the perception of what one imagines a song would be and how it turns out to be shot in reality, is a common occurrence in our Hindi films. However, in this case it does not take anything away from the song. It is one of those songs that doesn’t appeal in the first listen but steadily grows upon you as you listen again, and again. I love it.

As for Pritam, yes he lifts tunes, but he does have a knack of rejuvenating nondescript tunes from Korean TV serials and Lebanese folk songs into super-hit Hindi songs..you’ve got to give him that…..

Click HERE to listen to my (obviously inferior and amateur) version of this one.

Iktara....

Shankar Ehsaan Loy are my favorite music composers. Their sound has a fresh, likable, easy to connect attribute to it. The variety of their compositions, the experimentation that they do makes me an ardent fan of their work. I secretly wish I could work with them as a sound technician one day.

Wake Up Sid was a very nice movie to which SEL gave some fantastic music. There is something in the album for everyone. My 7 year old twins love a few songs from it, as do I - now almost 40.

Kavita Seth, a singer with sufi inclination, was picked by SEL to sing a song that, unlike a lot of current day songs, has a long life. "Iktara" is a song whose appeal will last several years, at least in my catalog. I'll probably be playing this song in my car even the year 2020.There is something simple yet real about this rendition. It keeps going at a slow but steady pace in a rhythm that puts you in a trance. A certified procrastinator like me will identify with the lyrics in this beautiful song penned by Javed Akhtar.

Shruti Bose, a singer from my circle who prefers to underplay her singing, was coaxed to take this one up by me. Despite all apprehension about her own self, she did this sample in one take, without much practice or preparation. I personally think it has come out very well. The only snag is that the base track is not up-to the mark, which is basically bad workmanship on my part. 

Stay tuned for some more songs from my other friends on this blog. There is a surprisingly high number of people around me with good singing voices.

Enjoy Shruti's rendition by clicking HERE.

Suniyo Soniyo...

Raaz, The Mystery Continues from 2009 was a slick paranormal horror-thriller from the Mahesh Bhatt factory.

The movie had decent songs, among whom was a catchy number called “Soniyo” that was presented in two flavors by composer Raju Singh.

Sonu Nigam sang the foot-tapping version with Neeraj Shreedhar giving the assistant vocals. The other one was sober and devoid of percussion, which was sung by Krishna who is a classically inclined singer with a distinctly ‘high’ and heavy voice.

Sonu Nigam’s Soniyo had pacy drum beats and a peppy soundtrack compared to Krishna’s sedate and serious rendition. One would tend to think of these two songs as ‘fast’ and ‘slow’ siblings. But funny thing is that both the songs have the exact same timing and pace.

I decided to compile something that was in the middle. Neither fast and peppy nor sedate and sober. (Of course, it turned out to be about as insipid as a 5 year old can of Pepsi, but I have a mic so I am King :)).

Click HERE to listen to my version of this one.

Cheers!

Dil toh bachcha hai ji....

In case you haven't seen a come-and-go movie  called "Ishqiya" that was released earlier this year, I’d recommend you get a DVD and give it a watch.

Vishal Bhardwaj directs this thoroughly enjoyable fare with Naseeruddin Shah, Arshad Warsi and Vidya Balan in the web of double-crosses and cons that is Ishqiya. 

The movie also contains an infectious song written by Gulzar-sahab, composed by Vishal Bhardwaj and sung by the one and only Rahat Fateh Ali Khan – who in my opinion has the cleanest playback voice among all contemporaries.

The song “Dil To Bachcha Hai Ji” is about a loafer con artist (Naseeruddin Shah) who knows he has fallen for a young and beautiful woman (Vidya Balan), who is way out of his league. He knows that it may not work out...will be completely “one way traffic”, but still he can't resist the spurt in his heart. A human heart has the spirit of an uncontrollable immature kid...."dil to bachcha hai ji". This song is about guilt, futility, apprehension.

“Saari jawaani kataraa ke kaati, peeri mein takaraa gaye hai” ..... Gulzar-sahab arranges words as exquisitely as delicate mithai in a Diwali gift box. Only he can come up with 'kataraa' and 'takaraa' in the same sentence and make them fit so perfectly.

Click HERE to listen to my (obviously inferior and amateur) version of this one.

Cheers!

And then it so happened....aur phir yoon huva

Another song of note  in the movie Striker was “Aur phir Yoon Huva” composed and sung by the extremely talented Vishal Bhardwaj - one the best movie makers in Mumbai currently.

Gulzar sahab’s subtle but rich lyrics make this a unique number.“Raat ek khwab ne jagaa diya” – a dream woke me up - Typically unique of Gulzar’s creativity with a pen. 

The whole song is set up beautifully around not being able to sleep (or not being able to come out a dream, whichever way you interpret Gulzar-sahab's wily play of words). Listen in a loop, and at each hearing the words seem to evolve one step further until the song slowly consumes you fully.

This too turned out to be shot completely unlike what I had imagined…..

Click HERE to listen to my version of this one.

Cheers!

Struck by Striker

Some songs leave you perplexed. You hear the tune, love it, and then watch the movie with a preset idea of its portrayal. It turns out to be nothing like you pictured.

The movie Striker, released earlier in 2010, was a neat one. A storyline based on something as flimsy as the board game of carrom that eventually delved into something much deeper, was compiled and presented with an unexpected punch. Despite no real stars, the movie was thoroughly watchable. Ankur Vikal as "Zyed", the hero’s best friend, and Aditya Pancholi as "Jaleel" the local don, absolutely stood out in their roles .

Striker, incidentally, was also the first Indian movie to premier on Youtube.

I took an instant liking to a couple of songs from this movie right at the first listen.

In “Cham cham”, Sonu Nigam weaves the tune into lyrics as only he can. In this qawwali style courtship song, Sonu Nigam raises not just his notes but also the spirits of the listeners. It is a thoroughly haunting rendition…one that makes you listen repeatedly in a loop.  I had imagined this to be a more ‘formal’ love song wherein the lover wooed the lady indirectly a praying session at a masjid, or in a staged "mohalle ki mehfil" under the crescent moon of eid. After I watched the movie, it turned out to be shot so differently than what I had imagined :)

Click HERE to listen to my obviously amateur version of this one.

Cheers!