Jayaraj's Rocking Resurgence A Musical Mimeo
By MovieTalkies.com, 03 September 2011
3 / 5
(Ratings: Poor * Average ** Good *** Very Good**** Excellent *****)
Though he made quite a splash with the music of 2001's R. Madhavan, Dia Mirza starrer 'Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein', Tollywood's superstar composer Harris Jayaraj has preferred to more or less hold out from Bollywood so far. Even for 'Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein', which has gathered a cult following in the years since its release, Jayaraj chose to go the Ilaiyaraja way and rework his own used tunes for the soundtrack. Now, with Nishikant Kamat's 'Force', Jayaraj finally chooses to make his proper, big-budget Bollywood debut. Question is, though, is Jayaraj still taking the second-hand path with this release?
Directed by Nishikant Kamat, who already has the critically acclaimed 'Mumbai Meri Jaan' under his belt, 'Force' is a direct remake of Gautham Menon's 2003 Tamil blockbuster, 'Kaakha Kaakha', which starred Surya and Jyothika in top-line roles. Having been already remade to great success in Telugu and Kannada as 'Gharshana' and 'Dandam Dashagunam', the Hindi remake stars John Abraham and Genelia D'Souza, with the latter hoping that the smash-bang Southern style success that has touched Ajay Devgn ('Singham', directed by Rohit Shetty) and Amitabh Bachchan ('Bbuddah Hoga Terra Baap', directed by Puri Jagannadh) so far this year, works wonders for him too.
Coming to the music of the film, Harris Jayaraj helms this affair, with lyrical contributions from Javed Akhtar. With just five tracks and no remixes, this is pretty short work from the music director.
The album opens up with 'khwabon khwabon', which features KK and Suchitra on vocals. If there's an already heard feel to the number, that's because this fast-paced track, which brings together elements of rock, pop and trance, is a 'reworking' of Harris' own old tune, 'uyirin uyire', which featured in the original, 'Kaakha Kaakha', identical in tune, arrangement, and even featuring the same singers. Still, it is to Jayaraj's credit though, that a tune and arrangement that is roughly three-quarters of a decade old still sounds so fresh.
The gifted Bombay Jayashree comes in, along with Karthik on the soft, lilting melody of 'kaise kahoon'. The track, with some affected guitar work in the background, is perfectly arranged by Harris, an ascending tune with saxophones, some mild orchestral work and a beautiful choral section. The slow-paced ballad is beautifully shaded with Akhtar's simple lyrics.
The album's first misstep is Lalit Pandit's composing cameo on 'dum hai toh aaja', which has Mahua Kamat, formerly of the girl-band Viva, on the mic. The sanitised rock number tries its best to sound menacing, but is terribly produced, with some generic guitar hooks and core tune that seems to be a very obvious rip-off of Viva-counterpart, Aasma's 'Chandu ke chacha' number. Though he may have scored with 'Munni badnaam hui' last year, clearly, this one's a fail for Lalit Pandit.
The second rework on the album after 'khwabon khwabon' comes with Naresh Iyer and Shreya Ghoshal's 'main chali', a reduxed version of Harris' own 'manasa', which was one of the top tracks off of his 2007 hit Telugu OST, 'Munna'. Compared to 'khwabon khwabon', Harris makes some significant changes to the arrangement here, giving the track a more pumping sound. There's a distinctly southern charm to this melody, and Naresh, who was on the original track as well, forms a great vocal pairing with Ghoshal here.
The final entry on the album is 'dil ki hai tamanna', which opens up with a nice whistling intro from Karthik, which makes a couple of more appearances on the track. Though the track seems interesting at the start, the melody is rather pedestrian sounding, given that it comes from a soundsmith like Jayaraj. Vijay Prakash, Shalini Singh and Neha Bhasin are on vocals here, and the latter two make for an interesting contrast in their sounds, but that hardly helps the track rise above its forgettable factor.
It is quite a comment on Harris Jayaraj's much awaited re-entry into Bollywood that the best two tunes on 'Force' are rehashes of his old hits. While 'khwabon khwabon' and 'main chali' are still fresh as ever, and potential hits in the offing, it is a track like 'chahoon bhi', that shows Jayaraj's skill at crafting immensely appealing melodies that can work in Bollywood, Tollywood, or any other 'wood' one can come up with. Still, while one is disappointed that in his first big outing in B'town, the talented composer hasn't chosen to take the all-original route with his tunes, Harris' work on the 'Force' OST is worth more than a few listens.