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!