Ishqiya Music Review: 'Ishqiya': Strumming To The Soul.....

His notes have been notching a catchy high .... and Vishal Bhardwaj seems to be in fine form these days. Just fresh from the release of 'Kaminey', he follows through with composing the score for his prot?g? Abhishek Chaubey's forthcoming 'Ishqiya', starring Naseeruddin Shah, Vidya Balan and Arshad Warsi. Bhardwaj himself is a prot?g? of Gulzar who gave him a break with the music of 'Maachis'. The two of them, each a genius in his own field, have collaborated wonderfully in many films as composer and lyric writer and they carry their partnership forward with 'Ishqiya'. Gulzar and Bhardwaj, both have a penchant for stretching the idiom, be it the grammar of filmmaking, the vocabulary of words or music, they are hardly content with treading the same old route and always believe in travelling a rarely trodden path. The music of 'Ishqiya' is absolutely true to type and all four songs in the album reflect this uncompromising trait.

The album begins with the 'Dil To Baccha Hai', sung by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. This number, which appears in a remixed version as well, has a very pronounced country flavour to it, which adds to the ambience of the movie. It's a very un Rahat like number. The singer, who mainly dabbles in Sufi music, has probably never sung something so far removed from his idiom. Needless to say, Rahat is quite successful in his attempt and he brings something really fresh to the number. The song has a certain lightness about its being,which makes it a very enjoyable experience. The music has a different flavour to it, a certain old world quality to it, quite like the black & white films of yore. A very loveble number indeed.

'Ibn e Batuta', the second number on the album, is an extremely charming and catchy number. Sung by Mika and Sukhwinder Singh, it has a lovely rhythm to it and is the kind of number which should have the listeners hooked on, instantly. Of course, there may have been a lot of speculation regarding 'Ibn e Batuta', who is known to have been a Moroccan Muslim scholar of the medieval times, known for his travels around the world. The song which has been picturised on Naseer and Arshad has a certain street like quality to it, but it's only in the flavour and not in the actual ingredients. This is a track which is likely to move up rapidly on the charts. One is not sure why it had to have a remix version, as some of the song's authentic flavour is lost in remixing.

There are two more songs in the album, both of which have been sung by Rekha Bhardwaj. These two numbers belong to an absolutely different genre as they are not your simple ditties but distilled musings of the soul, testimony to the exquisite poetry of Gulzar, the meditative music of Vishal and Rekha's soulful vocals. All three talents combine wonderfully on these last two numbers. The first of them, 'Ab Mujhe Koi', is a brief number with a gentle, smooth movement. It soothes your consciousness and draws you into its world, with a seamlessness which is unimaginable. Before one realises, the number gets over and the second number, 'Badi Dheere Jali' comes on.

'Badi Dheere Jali' has a classical bent to it and to prove that, it begins with a short 'alaap', as well. But it has traces of Western influence, mildly flirting with fusion and then dissolving into the classical genre. Rekha's deep, throaty voice lends itself perfectly to both these numbers. Wisely, Rekka refrains from using the full power of her voice. Instead, she gives in a very mellow rendition, doing full justice to the number.

The musical album of 'Ishqiya' does not boast of any commercial trappings, unlike a 'Kaminey' or even an 'Omkara'. 'Ibn e Batuta' is perhaps the only number which has slightly populist overtones to it, and it definitely has chartbusting possibilities etched on it. But as for the rest of the numbers, they have a certain simplicity about them. Something which is bound to take a music lovers' breath away.....