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!