'Hum Tum Shabana', Ballary's Hee-Hee Hits The Bottom

(Ratings: Poor * Average ** Good *** Very Good**** Excellent *****)

Back in 2002, his career floundering, Govinda opted to act in a film called Ankhiyon Se Goli Maare, a David Dhawan-esque comedy about a regular Joe who must pretend to be a hardened gangster in order to impress his lady love's criminal dad. The depressing flop wasn't original back then, even, being a freemake of the Hugh Grant starrer Mickey Blue Eyes. So, one has to wonder, what would drive a director like Sagar Ballary, to borrow so liberally from a film that has already failed at the box office. But then, Hum Tum Shabana is truly one of those films that defies all explanation.
 
Sagar Ballary has tasted success twice over now, with his two iterations of Bheja Fry, the exploits of his idiot, Bharat Bhushan. Though he tried his hand a different sort of film earlier, with Kaccha Limboo, Hum Tum Shabana is the first time that Ballary steps out of Bhushan's shadow and attempts a more mainstream effort. However, where Sagar's comic sensibilities found their mark in his earlier releases, with Hum Tum Shabana, he seems to have sorely missed his target.
 
The film is let down majorly by its dated plot and weak performances. The plot, about two rivals, Rishi (Tusshar Kapoor) and Kartik (Shreyas Talpade), falling for the same girl, Shabana (Minissha Lamba), only to find out that her uncle, Panju (Satish Kaushik), is a notorious don who wants his niece to marry into a similar family, is patently unoriginal. While the second half, where Panju's lieutenant Munna Military (Sanjay Mishra), trains the two in being gangsters, picks up its threads from Ankhiyon Se Goli Maare, the first half seems to seek inspiration in another Govinda film; one of his better comedies, Deewana Mastana. The game of romantic one-upmanship isn't a new Bollywood ploy, and the ham-handed execution here leaves much to be desired.
 
None of the three lead characters manage to put in appreciable performances. Tusshar, Shreyas and Minissha are all uniformly lacklustre. Though the two male leads have made for a great combo in the Golmaal series, Hum Tum Shabana is no Golmaal. The only characters that actually bring in an infusion of comedy are the veterans, Satish Kaushik and Sanjay Mishra, both of whom are quite hilarious in their place, though they are goaded into hamming too, at more than a few places. Pia Trivedi brings in more than her share of oomph in her role as Shabana's beauty queen rival, though her role is terribly etched.
 
The film's only true strength is its music, delivered by Sachin-Jigar. Tracks like musik bandh na karo and thank you mr.dj, along with the quirky, qawaali version of the film's theme song, hey na na Shabana, are worth more than a few listens.
 
Sagar Ballary has demonstrated earlier that he does have a nose for comedy. However, bad writing and bad performances hardly help his craft. His first mainstream outing, Hum Tum Shabana falls flat on its face, and we can only hope that Sagar manages to get up, dust off and give us the sort of comedy one knows he's capable of.
 

Hum Tum Shabana OST: Really, This 'Musik Bandh Na Karo'!

(Ratings: Poor * Average ** Good *** Very Good**** Excellent *****)

A year in and they're already two hits old. Soundsmiths Sachin Jigar are probably the musical find of the year, with their work on the soundtracks of F.A.L.T.U and Shor In The City. And now, the twosome returns with the soundtrack of Sagar Ballary's Tusshar Kapoor, Shreyas Talpade, Minissha Lamba starrer Hum Tum Shabana. Will they prove third time lucky too?

It's addictive, the mix of a euro-trance sound and bhangra dance groove that forms musik bandh na karo. The first track on the album is a perfect exposition of Sachin Jigar's strengths, with fairly simple, synth-based arrangements of an equally straightforward melody to create something that everyone can get in step with. Anushka Manchanda, Abhishek Nailwal and Palash Sen are on vocals here, backed up by a thumping beat that could easily turn this into Sachin-Jigar's second dance floor hit after F.A.L.T.U's party abhi baaki hai. In this regard, the number is only trumped by its later remix, an even livelier techno-heavy version done by Kiran Kamath.

Indo-Canadian hitmaker Raghav has a talent for coming up with great vocal hooks and that is what he does with hey na na Shabana too, a light pop number that pulls one in right at the start with Kalyan Baruah's guitar work. Sachin Jigar's melody goes perfectly with the feel of the crooner's vocals, as does the arrangement, with a bit of horns, some hisses and even a beautiful whistling hook done by Madhav Krishna. There's even a bit of thump here, that is accentuated in the track's party map remix done by Akhil Talreja, that ups the dance ante and makes the track disco-appropriate.

Mika Singh and Suzanne D'Mello turn vocal partners for thank you mr.dj, a track that starts with some heavy guitar shredding, before moving into almost crunk-like territory in its progression. Though the track is booming with beats, it works with a fairly slow pace. Sachin Jigar still manage to work into a few hooks here, with some great flutework from Hamtu. If nothing else, it'll be interesting to see how this slow number works its way to the dance floor.

Though it takes a fairly slow, poppish start, with Jigar Saraiya providing some taal in its opening seconds, piya kesariyo sees Anushka Manchanda take the 'rock chic' route with some patently traditional North Indian lyrics. Though dhunki, from Mere Brother Ki Dulhan tried to follow the same path, it must be mentioned that Sachin Jigar's work on piya kesariyo is infinitely more hard-hitting, with some brilliant arrangements centred around a fantastic guitar shredding refrain. The track moves beautifully between hard rock in the refrains and almost atmospheric lounge in the verses. Amongst all the tracks on the album, this has to be the pick of the lot.

The closer on the album is another dance number, kaari kaari, kitted out with Tochi Raina. This one's in the techno-bhangra groove, with Raina perfecting his vocals for the form. This one is pure enjoyment, out and out, Mayur Puri's fun lyrics making for a perfect outro to the album. Sachin Jigar arrange this one right too, setting the techno beat high and making this one a dance floor favourite from the get go.

With two of the best soundtracks of the year so far, in F.A.L.T.U. and Shor In The City, Sachin Jigar prove that third time's a charm too. While Shor In The City saw them experiment with their sound, Hum Tum Shabana sees them return to their home territory on the dance floor. The five tracks of Hum Tum Shabana sees the two put together more than their share of dance floor favourites, in the likes of hey na na Shabana, piya kesariyo and kaari kaari. Really, Sachin Jigar, musik bandh na karo!