Label – T-Series
Lyrics – Prasoon Joshi
Rating – 3/5
I had read in one of A R Rahman’s interviews, “I never let any substandard work get out of my studio”. ‘Ghajini’ surely has ‘standard’, but expectations are always sky high when it comes from Rahman’s ouvre.
The album has five vocal tracks and one instrumental track. In the first track ‘Guzarish’, Sonu Niigaam opens the catchy song for ‘Jashn-E-Bahaaran‘ fame Javed Ali – skillfully rendered by Ali. Prasoon Joshi’s words add to the forlorn feel. The second track ‘Aye Bacchu‘ is galvanising and energetic. Suzanne has a ‘cool’ voice which may appeal to youth. The beat variations coupled with the prominent distorted guitar sound definitely ups the feel, not to forget the spot on guitar solo at 2:57. ‘Aye Bacchu‘ is that super-wild number you’d like to dance to – of course, behind the closed doors!
The next ‘Kaise Mujhe‘ has upcoming Benny Dayal and versatile Shreya Ghoshal taking the microphone. The brilliant words of ‘Kaise Mujhe‘ suits a romantic evening. However, Benny Dayal’s voice is more apt for upbeat tunes. Fourth track ‘Behka‘ can be translated as ‘gone astray’. Ironically, the arrangements of ‘Behka‘ also seem to have ‘gone astray‘ – call it genre collage. It makes the listener go through various mood changes – just like its words. Singer Karthik sounds OK, but there isn’t much to do either – enjoy and check his ‘breathless like’ part at 3:57.
‘Latoo‘ has the most ‘overused’ generic dance music beats which doesn’t really make it stand out. Though Shreya Ghoshal’s vocals sound good, this ‘made for commercial consumption’ does more bad than good for Rahman’s repertoire. Rahman has experimented with new voices – Suzzane, Karthik and once again ‘Tu Hi Meri Dost Hai fame Benny Dayal. Ghajini has its mix of ‘good’ and ‘experimental’ tracks but for many experimental may mean – passable!
