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By Satyajit, Bollywood Trade News Network
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Dreams, aspirations...expectations! Bollywood biggies have always raised the expectation meter high, and with the likes of Vipul Shah, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy (S-E-L) and Prasoon Joshi in the credits, there are gargantuan expectations from it. Riding on substantial success of WAKE UP SID, S-E-L have a major kill on their hand with rock-music as the flavor of this 'east-meets-west' musical saga.
Fuelled with immense face-value (Salman Khan, Ajay Devgan and Asin) and directorial expertise of super-successful director Vipul Shah (NAMASTEY LONDON), this one is likely to be a big musical bonanza. Himesh Reshammiya did it splendidly for Vipul Shah in NAMASTEY LONDON; can S-E-L's rock-mania be able to repeat the feat? Can LONDON DREAMS be first major hit of this season from the triumphant trio? Let's get into this dreamy journey that promises bravura of efforts with varied rhythms, sounds and beats mixing together for some delightful entertainment. Get, set...go!!!
From the urbane-rock-ing blast to arena-rock mania, experimentation is the 'mantra' that worked for S-E-L and the fusion works are all here again for thrills in 'Barson Re'. Like its melodic theme, this energizing soundtrack pulverizes angst filled electric guitar strumming with hysterically emoted vocals of Vishal Dadlani and Roop Kumar Rathod. Prasoon Joshi's lyrics sticks to the tempo rather than being poetic with Punjabi folksy touches, with added 'Hanuman Chalisa' verses (....big surprise!) to give it a boosting ethnic feel. This S-E-L composition has arrangements similar to a couple to tracks of JHOOM BARABAR JHOOM, but it has that concert-arena rock musical feel in its raging electric guitar and rattling percussive feel. Despite being sticking to ethics to 'hard-metal' rock-maniac feel, this soundtrack works in lucid 'filmi' interpretations, with easy-on-ears wordings and the music that is overtly pulsating. Roop Kumar Rathod is a big revelation in 'rock-star' mold with edgy earthen vocals with Vishal maintaining his zany loud pitch. 'Barson Re' is like 'east-meets-west' rock concert track, with star-power zooming out with eye-captivating visuals in its cinematic backdrop.
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Get ready for some quirky 'n' jerky 'shudh-Hindi' lessons with catchiness and peppiness in folklore based arrangements making 'jugalbandi' with engrossing sounding Shankar Mahadevan, making it mischievously witty in playful 'Man Ko Ati Bhavey'. This comically staged song has Prasoon Joshi's ultimate dexterity in verbatim and glossary that carries hilarity in romantic expressions and is in sync with Bharat Vyas's style of spontaneous poetry ('Are Ja Re Hat Natkha' from NAVRANG -1959). Shankar seems to be enjoying this 'spur-of-the-movement' thrilling track that has dazzling backdrop of scintillating European locations.
The fun-frolic gets into disco thriving-jiving moods with DJ A Myth getting folksy sounds collage with disco beat fillers in synchronized manner in its 'club-remix' version. A 'remix' that is well suited for festive seasons and is fully energized with Shankar's enthused vocals clubbed with racy DJ spins and scratches...Peppy to the core!!!
S-E-L forays into Punjab rural folklore based music that is fuelled with electronic sounds and rock based elements to deliver out another thumping track 'Tapkey Masti'. It brings out upcoming Feroz Khan (...sounding similar to Labh Janjua) with his screeching baritones mixing well with impressive sounding western cum 'bhangra' based arrangements. Prasoon's lyrics again scores well but it's the variation of tempos in the composition that impresses the most and inundates folksy 'masti' and compassion for listeners. 'Tapkey Masti (remix)' has that spunky UK based 'bhangra-beat' culture mood with its hip-shaking fillers getting along with 'Oh-yeah' enthused chorals and loud 'dhol' drumming. Feroz's vocals splurges out with energized 'dhol' cum 'club' mood musical thrive and set the floor on raptures in its eclectic thump. Energizing!!!
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ROCK ON band stands up again and they picks up well with the amalgam of distorted electric guitar, rattling drums and chorals to deliver out spirited out concert track 'Khanabadosh'. Like upcoming Feroz Khan, Mohan's voice is a big surprise and matches in expression and tempo of this rip-roaring track with mix and match of chorals in the backdrop. S-E-L show their fine edges and finesse in this rock genre with the fine tuning of synthesizers, trumpets sounds and keyboard fillers, accommodating well in the racy strums of electric and bass guitars to pump out a rollicking 'on-stage' track. 'Khanabadosh', a upbeat rock beat track is likely to be signature presentation of this flick that has 'rock-music' band as its theme and should be well accepted by all rock-music lovers.
'Khanabadosh (remix)' has the 'club-remix' grooves with fervent beat-juggling, DJ spins and roaring drumming that mixes well with vocals to drive listeners wild. Rocking!!!
Aha...this talks about dreams! LONDON DREAMS gets the heart as well as soul at right place to sensitize out 'dreamy' bon-voyage of 'rock-stars' in the somber styling of soft-rock ballad titled 'Khwab Jo'. After chartbusting delight 'Mitwa' (KABHI ALVIDA NA KEHNA), Shankar Mahadevan makes another best Indo-Pak 'jugalbandi' among vocalists of our time by adding hues of sentimentalism with Rahat Fateh Ali Khan's flair of singing in making this wonderful soulful track. Prasoon Joshi delivers the finest this time with motivational wordings ('Manzilon pe tauyhaar hai, Lekin woh haar hai, Kya khushi apno ke bin, Hai adhuri har jeet bhi, Sargam sangeet bhi...) that talks music subjugating with heart and mind with equally remarkably written 'mukhda' ('Jo tujhe jagayee, Neend teri udayein, Khawab hai Sacha wahi...), epitomizing out the gist of the flick. S-E-L's flamboyance over light-hearted rock-musical elements materializes well with extreme slow-down with soulful chorals in typical 'anthem-ic feel-good' in its middle interludes, simply adorable for melody lovers.
This 'Khwab ko Raag De...' track deserved a lovable 'lounge' remix but still the soothing relaxed feel is optimally generated with both impressive vocalists emoting out spectrum of emotions in varied tones in slender sounding melodic decorum. Soulfully meaningful!!!
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'Yaari Bina', a folksy based upbeat 'bhangra' beat number composed with aesthetics of 'qawalli' bring out early 90's style of composing (Laxmikant Pyarelal- Anand Bakshi) maintains the frivolity of the album. This 'friends-forever' number has shades of 'Imli Ka Boota' (SAUDAGAR -1991) with ethnic Punjabi touches to it. Roop Kumar Rathod's immaculate singing in contemporary 'ragas' is praiseworthy with Milind's noteworthy back-up vocals, making it affectionately festive track. In recent albums, Pritam captured such ethnic Punjabi sentiments with flair and S-E-L carries out this good work to emote out a melodramatic profound track.
Racy rock music streams out back for the 'triumphant' feel with added charms of Sufi musical feel in situational sounding 'Jashn Hai Jeet Ka'. Its melancholic touches has feel of 'Tadap Tadap ke' (HUM DIL DE CHUKE SANAM -1999) with added Sufi-rock feel, but the intensity is meek with overdo of heavy percussions and guitar strumming. Abhijeet Ghoshal's voice impresses but neither the wordings nor the composition shows any zeal of rising up to the high standards.
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Zubeen Garg sings out the last soundtrack 'Shola Shola', a situational romantic number with routine sounding rock-music arrangements and feeble lyrical work to support. Zubeen's excruciating baritone's work well but again the routine wordings, coupled with outmoded composition, spoils the show and make it strictly situational to the needs of the flick.
LONDON DREAMS sizzles out with rock-music genre of soundtracks and accompanies all other varied genres ('bhangra', 'qawalli') in its packaging with promising results. After 'yuppie' friendly WAKE UP SID, S-E-L experiment out with innovative rock-music thrive and makes their first major splash in big releases section with soundtracks like 'Barso Re', 'Man Ko Ati Bhavey', 'Khanabadosh', 'Tapkey Masti' and 'Yaari Bina', showing enough gleam to lure urbane listeners. 'Khwab Jo', a soulful ballad adds to the one of the finest soft-rock works of this year and makes it a complete entertaining package. The cinematic picturesque aspect of these entire tracks will be significant factor in raising its commercial prospects. Overall, it's a satisfying listening experience from trio and 'must-grab' musical package for all rock music lovers.
Worth-a-buy!
Ratings : 3.5/5