Chamku Music Review: Decent Music but Lacks Zing

Vijayta Films is back with their next production, Chamku, which stars Bobby Deol and Priyanka Chopra. The film's music has been given by Monty Sharma, fresh from the wonderful soundtrack that he created for Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Saawariya. The film may have failed at the box office but its music definitely created a stir. Hence there are a lot of expectations from Sharma. In Chamku, he manages to enthrall in bits. For the most part, the music seems to lack the spark or zing which was Sharma's trademark in Saawariya. Chamku's lyrics have been written by Sameer.

The album consists of six numbers and the opening number is called Aaja Milke and is sung by Shreya Ghoshal and Shail. The song is a romantic number, which is sung with a lot of tenderness and feeling by both the singers. But it is really Shreya who provides the bright spark in the number. She dominates the song while Shail comes into the song a little later and has much later. But he takes his cue from Shreya and does a fine job of providing supporting vocals.

The next number, 'Kithe Jawa', is sung by Richa Sharma. She is given the kind of song she is best at, a semi classical track, which is about separation and the pangs of love. Richa has a wonderfully strong and supple voice and she is extremely skilled and accomplished. She invests the song with just the right kind of feeling and her wonderful voice does the rest. The music of the the first two songs reveal Sharma's strong hold on Indian melody and classical music. Both the numbers are quite classy, even though not quite in the category of Saawariya. 'Kithe Jawa' appears again in the album, this time titled 'Bin Daseyaa' in its remixed version. The remixed version has an unusual version and could just about catch on. This is the kind of number which needs to hear a couple of times before it makes its way into your heart.

Abhijeet Bhattacharya and Vaishali Samant come together for a duet called 'Gola Gola', which seems to be a kind of holi number. This number has been sung very well by the two singers, especially Samant, who gives a punchy rendering, thus bringing out the mood of the song. True, it is quite a muted affair for a holi song as we are more used to a lot fireworks where this festival is concerned. But despite being slightly subdued, it manages to carry the flavour through.

The next number on the album is titled 'Trance'. It is a complete departure form all of that went before. There is no Indian flavour here. It is a fast paced, Western number which is sung by Saleem Shahzada, Soumya Raoh and Anaida. The core of the song is based on trance as its name suggests. It is a fairly interesting number as Sharma builds in Indian taans into the music. In all, the effect is quite interesting, but one wonders if it will really catch on.

The last number of the album is 'Dukh Ke Badri', which has been sung by Kalpana, Parthiv Goel and Shail. It is a slow paced number with a rustic touch to it. The lyrics of the song have been well penned and have a very upbeat feel to them. The song has been very well rendered as well by the trio.

This is not a flamboyant album like Saawariya but it reveals Sharma's versatility as he creates music which is diametrically different from his earlier venture. The music of Chamku is not very commercial in nature but it has melody, feel and meaningful lyrics. Musically speaking, the composer has done a very good job but he has not managed to create a winner here, a number which will have an instant appeal. The best numbers of the album are the first two, but again they are much too muted to have an universal appeal. The appeal of this album will definitely be limited to a select few.