By Ronak Kotecha, Bollywood Trade News Network

While many are quite evidently slugging it out for the number one position,
there is one man who is quietly getting close to being number one, at least for his for box-office viability . Ajay Devagan, today, is undoubtedly one of the most reliable stars and after a semi successful feat in Karan Johar’s “Kaal” and currently pulling crowds across the nation for Prakash Jha’s “Apharan”, Ajay Devgan has John Matthew Matthan’s “Shikhar” waiting to hit the marquee. Once again he is paired opposite the dusky Bipasha Basu while Shahid Kapur and Amrita Rao mark their hat trick with “Shikhar.” Music of the movie is composed by Viju Shah who earlier wasted quite a compilation in Rajiv Rai’s Asambhav.

The album rocks ONLY with the very first track that goes “Fitna Dil” and as the track advances, each echoing loud beat symbolizes Viju Shah’s emblematic orchestration. Lyricist Chandrashekhar Raajit plays endlessly with the word Dil and who cares what the adjective “Fitna” means as long as it helps complete the sentence. Udit Narayan, Sunidhi Chauhan and K.K. show good bonding for the groovy track (including the remix) that intermittently loses some pace, but is good to be played & danced on for a couple of weeks before and after the release of the movie.

K.K. and Sunidhi both do a solo act for a seemingly differently worded track by Manoher Iyer called “Dheere Dheere.” While Sunidhi’s version drags to quite an extent, the one by K.K. could take a while to grow, but could eventually be liked.

Viju Shah goes slightly folksy with “Megha Re Megha” where the reins of rendition are safely managed by the veterans Udit Narayan and Alka Yagnik, and it is more because of their seasoned singing that the track manages to just break even.

The singers extend their expertise to get another haunting melody, “Mere Mann” that provides the love quotient. With additional music support by Mani Shankar, Viju Shah succeeds in composing a nice lilting duet that keeps you tuned in as long as it lasts.

“Aap Ko Samja” by Udit Narayan, Sadhna Sargam and Rakesh Pandit is another lackadaisical romantic duet worded decently by Sudhakar Sharma. Much in tandem with the previous, but at the same time much inferior melodically, one wonders what
would have been lost if the track was avoided from the compilation.

Jagjit Singh along with a bunch of kiddos in the chorus intone the title track “Tu Shikhar Hai” that severely lacks a good melody and everything that goes into making of a “Hit” track. Regrettably, a stalwart like Singh is wasted.

The humdrum compilation finally comes to an end with “Vaga” by Ash Chandler. Sensuously worded by Anita Sarkar, this is another dawdling track with some steady rapping in English sans any fine tune or likable factor.

Too many songs and too little melody. Music of Shikhar fails to hold the interest of today’s listener who sits up and takes notice only if the score has come consistent chartbusting material. Sadly enough, Shikhar does not have any.