This week, we tackle the music of two films in this review. Notably, both come from directors making their debuts. First up, there’s son of music director K Pannalal, Ajay K Pannalal who’s the man behind Behen Hogi Teri . And the second, the Manisha Koirala-starrer Dear Maya , has been directed by Sunaina Bhatnagar who, in the past has assisted Imtiaz Ali on multiple projects.
Behen Hogi Teri
It still remains to be seen, rather heard, how Rishi Rich “fixed” RD Burman-Anand Bakshi’s ‘Jaanu Meri Jaan’ in his “refix”. Instead, he does manage to unfix a lot of things and produce an absolutely terrible piece. The mediocre singing (Juggy D and Shivi, with rap by Raftaar) only eggs you on to press the ‘next’ button quicker. ‘Jai Maa’ is an entertaining devotional spin on ‘Kaala Chashma’ , sung by Sahil Solanki and Jyotica Tangri (with rap by Parry G). I assume Jaidev Kumar did the remixing, though he is strangely credited for “music”. Amjad Nadeem’s ‘Tenu Na Bol Pawaan’ is a pleasant melody, only it sounds a lot like ‘Main Tenu Samjhawan’ from Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania (2014). Of the two versions it comes in, the minimal reprise version performed by Asees Kaur scores over Yasser Desai and Jyotica Tangri’s rendition.
Like their début work, Pritam’s A&R team JAM8’s (more specifically, Kaushik, Akash and Guddu, aka KAG for JAM8) Behen Hogi Teri track ‘Tera Hoke Rahoon’ too carries a strong whiff of compositions by their mentor. And Arijit Singh’s presence behind the mic adds to that familiarity. The final song, Yash Narvekar’s ‘Teri Yaadon Mein’ too is fraught with familiar sounds, but Prithvi Sharma does a clever job on the arrangement. And once again the minimally set reprise version sung by the composer himself along with Sukriti Kakar trumps the original delivered by Yasser Desai and Pawni Pandey.
Dear Maya
On the first song itself, the ever reliable Rekha Bhardwaj sounds oddly off singing ‘Saat Rangon Ke’ . Perhaps it has something to do with its pace. Then composer Anupam Roy – his first Hindi outing without Shoojit Sircar - doesn’t feel his usual self. He sets a nice melodic piece (lovely lyrics by Irshad Kamil) to a rather dated arrangement. The acoustic version of this track fares much better and the composer does a passable job as a singer. Jonita Gandhi sings her heart out in the melancholic ‘Kehne Ko’ that unfortunately sounds familiar. But it’s a better listen than ‘Saat Rangon Ke’ all the same.
Roy delivers his best song for Dear Maya in a melodic piece titled ‘Sune Saaye ’. Its rock elements are right up Roy’s alley, and he unsurprisingly aces it, adding a lovely touch in the arrangement with the sitar. Vocalist Harshdeep Kaur delivers splendidly on her part as well. The final track of the EP, ‘Buri Buri’ comes from guest composer Sandman (Sandeep Patil). The strictly passable song features Rashi Mal on vocals.
Two ordinary soundtracks. But it’s not surprising that the multi-composer based Behen Hogi Teri turned out so. This reviewer had more expectations from Roy’s Dear Maya.
Vipin Nair writes on his website MusicAloud.com and curates lists on Apple Music
