Love Mein Ghum’s music similar to Bollywood tunes?
The presence of a potpourri of musicians fails to add quality to the film’s soundtrack.
KARACHI:
The music of the much-anticipated Lollywood flick Love Mein Ghum is finally out, and with an impressive number of vocal heavyweights, the album is sure to create a stir in the market.
The film, which has been directed and produced by Lollywood’s golden girl Reema Khan, boasts the contribution of music by both local and international names including M Arshad, Nijaat Ali, Waqar Ali, Hunter (UK) and Ravi Behl (India).
Inspired by typical Bollywood numbers, the soundtrack has some flashes of brilliance in terms of arrangement, and in some cases in the melody as well. From the local scene, Ali Zafar, Abrarul Haq, Shazia Manzoor and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan have showcased their talent as playback singers, while our subcontinental neighbours, Kailash Kher, Sunidhi Chauhan, Shreya Ghoshal and Shaan have also added their unique flavour to the songs.
Overall, the music is catchy but lacks uniqueness. Hence, a lesson to be learnt from Love Mein Ghum is that no matter how great the playback singers are, the composer needs to be innovative to create a good song. Ranging from item numbers to ballads, the Love Mein Ghum soundtrack comprises of eight songs in total.
“Sohniye Yaadan”: Kailash Kher and Shazia Manzoor
The Pak-India duo unites to give a vocally powerful soundtrack which is a perfect start to the CD. A flawless Punjabi duet by two equally talented and powerful vocalists, with some interesting work on the guitars. Behl – the composer – has managed to pull off a slow number worth listening to.
“Sohniye Ni Ankh”: Abrarul Haq and Ravi Behl
A well-produced Punjabi bhangra number, Sohniye Ni Ankh – with Haq’s vocals – is a foot-tapping tune and the song, which signifies Haq’s trademark style of singing, has an electronic feel to it. Overall, the song offers nothing unique apart from the fact that it could be the King of Bhangra’s comeback into Pakistan’s mainstream music scene after a long hiatus.
“Illa Illa Illa”: Sundihi Chauhan
The talent and beautiful vocals of the Indian playback singer have been totally wasted in this song as the awkward chorus “Illa Illa Illa” doesn’t serve any purpose and fails to hold the listener’s attention. The whole song can be summed up as a bad copy of a Bollywood item number. One wonders why Chauhan even agreed to do such a track.
“Rabba Mera Haal”: Rahat Fateh Ali Khan
Khan is one of the few singers who has the potential to turn anything to gold and this is exactly what the Pakistani singer has done to this song. Although there is nothing outstanding about the song itself – apart from Khan’s distinct vocals – “Rabba Mera Haal” could be a success as the composers have stuck to a strict formula that always seems to work for the musical maestro.
“Jaadu Bhari”: Shaan
The song makes one realise that Pakistani composers are still heavily influenced by the likes of Waris Baig as the song sounds similar to Baig’s “Dekha Jo Chehra Tera”. A romantic number, “Jaadu Bhari” has a stark resemblance to many old Lollywood songs and apart from Shaan’s evergreen voice, there is nothing extraordinary in arrangement or composition.
“Meri Ankhon”: Shreya Ghoshal
Ghoshal is the perfect choice to sing “Meri Ankhon”, which is an intense piece of poetry. A decent pop-ghazal, the song is a step forward for Lollywood music, but one thing which works against it is its extremely long composition.
“Kitni Haseen”: Shreya Ghoshal
Although nothing innovative, “Kitni Haseen” is yet another slow and catchy number from Ghoshal. However, the song is ruined as soon as you hear excerpts from the Shakespearean classic Romeo and Juliet. The song would have been better off had the bits and pieces of the classic not been included.
“Love Mein Ghum”: Ali Zafar
“Love Mein Ghum”, which is already making waves across television channels, has been composed by Waqar Ali and sung by the Pakistani Prince of Pop Ali Zafar. The song, which seems heavily inspired by Bollywood music director Pritam, reminds one of the item numbers in the film Billu Barber. It was surprising to see a maestro like Ali come up with such an average song.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 25th, 2011.
The music of the much-anticipated Lollywood flick Love Mein Ghum is finally out, and with an impressive number of vocal heavyweights, the album is sure to create a stir in the market.
The film, which has been directed and produced by Lollywood’s golden girl Reema Khan, boasts the contribution of music by both local and international names including M Arshad, Nijaat Ali, Waqar Ali, Hunter (UK) and Ravi Behl (India).
Inspired by typical Bollywood numbers, the soundtrack has some flashes of brilliance in terms of arrangement, and in some cases in the melody as well. From the local scene, Ali Zafar, Abrarul Haq, Shazia Manzoor and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan have showcased their talent as playback singers, while our subcontinental neighbours, Kailash Kher, Sunidhi Chauhan, Shreya Ghoshal and Shaan have also added their unique flavour to the songs.
Overall, the music is catchy but lacks uniqueness. Hence, a lesson to be learnt from Love Mein Ghum is that no matter how great the playback singers are, the composer needs to be innovative to create a good song. Ranging from item numbers to ballads, the Love Mein Ghum soundtrack comprises of eight songs in total.
“Sohniye Yaadan”: Kailash Kher and Shazia Manzoor
The Pak-India duo unites to give a vocally powerful soundtrack which is a perfect start to the CD. A flawless Punjabi duet by two equally talented and powerful vocalists, with some interesting work on the guitars. Behl – the composer – has managed to pull off a slow number worth listening to.
“Sohniye Ni Ankh”: Abrarul Haq and Ravi Behl
A well-produced Punjabi bhangra number, Sohniye Ni Ankh – with Haq’s vocals – is a foot-tapping tune and the song, which signifies Haq’s trademark style of singing, has an electronic feel to it. Overall, the song offers nothing unique apart from the fact that it could be the King of Bhangra’s comeback into Pakistan’s mainstream music scene after a long hiatus.
“Illa Illa Illa”: Sundihi Chauhan
The talent and beautiful vocals of the Indian playback singer have been totally wasted in this song as the awkward chorus “Illa Illa Illa” doesn’t serve any purpose and fails to hold the listener’s attention. The whole song can be summed up as a bad copy of a Bollywood item number. One wonders why Chauhan even agreed to do such a track.
“Rabba Mera Haal”: Rahat Fateh Ali Khan
Khan is one of the few singers who has the potential to turn anything to gold and this is exactly what the Pakistani singer has done to this song. Although there is nothing outstanding about the song itself – apart from Khan’s distinct vocals – “Rabba Mera Haal” could be a success as the composers have stuck to a strict formula that always seems to work for the musical maestro.
“Jaadu Bhari”: Shaan
The song makes one realise that Pakistani composers are still heavily influenced by the likes of Waris Baig as the song sounds similar to Baig’s “Dekha Jo Chehra Tera”. A romantic number, “Jaadu Bhari” has a stark resemblance to many old Lollywood songs and apart from Shaan’s evergreen voice, there is nothing extraordinary in arrangement or composition.
“Meri Ankhon”: Shreya Ghoshal
Ghoshal is the perfect choice to sing “Meri Ankhon”, which is an intense piece of poetry. A decent pop-ghazal, the song is a step forward for Lollywood music, but one thing which works against it is its extremely long composition.
“Kitni Haseen”: Shreya Ghoshal
Although nothing innovative, “Kitni Haseen” is yet another slow and catchy number from Ghoshal. However, the song is ruined as soon as you hear excerpts from the Shakespearean classic Romeo and Juliet. The song would have been better off had the bits and pieces of the classic not been included.
“Love Mein Ghum”: Ali Zafar
“Love Mein Ghum”, which is already making waves across television channels, has been composed by Waqar Ali and sung by the Pakistani Prince of Pop Ali Zafar. The song, which seems heavily inspired by Bollywood music director Pritam, reminds one of the item numbers in the film Billu Barber. It was surprising to see a maestro like Ali come up with such an average song.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 25th, 2011.