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| Director :
| Shirish Kunder
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| Music :
| G.V.Prakash Kumar and Gaurav Dagaonkar
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| Lyrics :
| Shirish Kunder
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| Starring :
| Akshay Kumar, Sonakshi Sinha, Minissha Lamba, Shreyas Talpade and Chitrangada Singh
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August 16, 2012 06:04:44 PM IST
By Satyajit, Glamsham Editorial
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When M. Night Shyamalan's SIGNS meets Ashutosh Gowarikar's LAGAAN...Shirish Kunder's JOKER appears! Aliens, UFOs, space-ships, satellites etc are the catch-words that makes this an ambitious project with a blend of bizarre factious plots and wacky characters interwoven with the likes of bankable star-cast and inspiring music in it. G.V Prakash Kumar, nephew of maestro A.R Rahman and a renowned name in Tamil music industry makes his first big move in B-town along with another newbie Gaurav Dagaonkar as guest composer for this album. Shirish Kumder's earlier projects (("Sau Dard Hain", "Ajnabi Shehar hain", "Humko Maloom Hain" - JAANEMAN, ("Sheila Ki Jaawani", "Tees Maar Khan" -TEES MAAR KHAN) were reasonably high on melodic-quotient and garnered positive responses from the masses and this one too draws potential expectations of hitting big and high on stands. Will this JOKER be a big entertainer in the circus of B-town? Let's find out...
In hot pursuit to recreate the magical madness of "Sheila Ki Jaawani" (TEES MAAR KHAN), the album opens pompously with a gaudy item-number "Kafirana", a track that was once in a controversy for being titled as "I wanna "Fakht" you" (now rectified as "I wanna Just you" in lyrics), flourishes high with boisterous vocals and catchy rhythmical beat patterns. It's a smart commercial musical move to start with, a track that boast of a flamboyant visual opulence, an eye-grabbing dancing diva and above all a mass-friendly musical feel that will draw footfalls and eye-balls on big silver screen. Like many successful item-songs in the past, this one too has prominently fervent vocals of Sunidhi Chauhan getting passionately vociferous in the booming folksy Maharastrian "lavani" festive feel, with strong enthused support from Adarsh Shinde and chorals. The composition is sporadically high on rigorous drumming, tangy folksy stringed instrumental feel and infectiously massy lyrics (Shirish Kunder), which should make this a hot-favorite on charts. Guest Gaurav Dagaonkar's solitary composition is impressive in its genre and should strike chords with the jovial moments of the flick, a positive introductory move that draws big expectations from other soundtracks.
Welcome back Udit Narayan! Resplendently reliable and vociferously impeccable, the formidable voice of Udit Narayan makes a commendable resurrection in B-town with a motivational track titled "Jugnu", a number that also brings G.V Prakash Kumar in limelight. Just like A.R Rahman's inspirational tracks ("Yeh Taara Woh taara" (SWADES) and "Mitwa" (LAGAAN), both sung by Udit Narayan), it's a morale boosting of 'marching forward in life' number with a strong feel of "Acappella" and chorals, moving in tandem with vocalist's impressive voice. This time Shirish Kunder's modestly poetic wordings deliver positive vibes and make a notable communion with the motivational signature tuneful impact of the track. Despite impressive in overall phili-harmonic orchestral skills (especially in last phases of the track), G.V Prakash Kumar's music has a stamp of conventional Rahman's composing but still delivers an archetypical opera-ballad musical feel. "Jugnu" is indeed a listening bliss for all Udit Narayan fans, a notable narrative musical piece that should be adding relevant substance in the narrative flows of this flick, a good (if not great) first endeavour by G.V Prakash Kumar in Hindi filmdom. For all reader's interest, "Jugnu" is an Indian remote-sensing nano-satellite that is used for providing data for agriculture and disaster monitoring; we all hope that this "Jugnu" makes some semblance with the subject of this peculiarly designed action-packed social thriller. Impressive!!!
"Singh Raja", a bombastically funky hip-hop cum "bhangra" brings the desired "fun-element". It's a mix-n-match of varied musical genres and Indian languages coming together in optimum commotion. Daler Mehndi's loud voice makes a festive jive with this thrilling composition that moves forward with sensuously toned Sonu Kakkar's voice. This G.V Prakash Kumar composition primarily works on electronic flute loops that make a peppy concoction with hip-hop and electronically tuned "bhangra-beat" and the end-result is quite amusing. In this celebratory number, Shirish Kunder creates a multi-lingual bondage of happiness in the lyrical settings; a sort of experimental move that might create a better universal appeal for the track.
Electronically tuned to perfection, it again bears a typical A.R Rahman's style of work that worked wonders in his earlier career. If choreographed aesthetically with the desired opulence, "Singh Raja" might be next big visual spectacle for the cine-lovers.
Belligerently high on percussions and convincingly enthuse on vocals, "Yeh Joker", a thematically-oriented title track gist out the endeavours of "Joker" and sketches out its characteristics in this four minute plus track. As far as its contents, it's acrimoniously voluble and motivational in positive spirits, a song that narrates the mindset of the subject, lead-characters and puts all the hot "n" happenings in one musical piece. Sonu Nigam's extremely enthusiastic voice is narrative and fiercely loud in higher tones while Shweta Pandit's brief rendition hardly creates any ripples. G.V Prakash Kumar maintains high "pep-factor" with this track but there's hardly anything spectacularly flashy to describe; overall an above-average situational score that should be a big catalyst in the climax of the film.
"Tears of Joker", a tunefully solemn and soulfully enchanting instrumental is the biggest asset of JOKER, a musical feature that emotes more than it sublimes in its soft tones. It has sentimental hues of Rahman's "Luka Chuppi" (RANG DE BASANTI) in its myriad of serene shades of expressions where there is beautiful amalgam of Indian classical orchestral working in tandem with electronic arrangements and inspired chorals. Melancholically jingoistic in nature, it brings the quality standards of G.V Prakash Kumar that epitomizes the socially relevant gist of this flick in modulating instrumental phases of the track; a worthy musical piece that deserves applause. Soul-stirring!!!
"Alien Arrival", the finale of the album is a thunderously aggressive instrumental. The soundtrack has domineering marching-troops dynamic feel in loud drumming, trumpets and horns that works in delivering out a passionate nationalistic feel. In the latter half, it sublimes with subtle wind-chimes sounds and the feel of "Tears of Joker" that adds desired pathos in this musical piece. Just like A.R Rahman's outrageously loud "Arima Arima" (ROBOT), it works well in pulsating senses in its uproarious instrumental moves; overall a well-etched and melodramatically profound score that should work in all positive ways. Notable!!!
JOKER is a reasonably good musical entertainer but lacks the punch of one big chartbuster hit. G.V Prakash Kumar shows his brawny skills and dexterity in orchestrations and delivers two notable instrumental works in "Tears of Joker" and "Alien Arrival". As far as commercial success is concerned, massy "Kafirana" and bombastic "Singh Raja" stands out to be biggest prospect while Udit Narayan"s "Jugnu" impresses with its high quality standards.
Rating - 3.5/5
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