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!