Tara Rum Pum Music Review: Not too many winners here

The Yashraj banner has been known for the quality of its music. Ta Ra Rum Pum, their much-awaited release, starring the bankable pair of Saif Ali Khan and Rani Mukherjee has music by the Vishal-Shekhar duo and lyrics by the inimitable Javed Akhtar. The music of the album is quite average. There are not too many winners here. The most memorable numbers are the title track and Hey Shona. The rest of the soundtrack is pleasant enough but nothing soul stirring.

Thankfully, the CD of the film has no remixes but six original soundtracks. The title track of Ta Ra Rum Pum is a happy song and has Shaan and Mahalaxmi Iyer lending their voices along with Saif's rendition of a story. Master Shravan Suresh and Sneha lend their vocals for the children. The number is suitably cheery and lively and has a feel-good factor about it.

The second number, Hey Shona rendered by Sunidhi Chauhan and Shaan is probably the pick of the album. It is the romantic song in the film. The singers, Shaan and Sunidhi, are a perfect foil for each other. Sunidhi's throaty voice and Shaan's soft vocals blend very well and give us a number whose beauty is enhanced by the quality of the lyrics.

Vishal-Shekhar don't quite get it quite right with Nachle Ve, the mandatory Punjabi number in the film. Sonu Nigam lends his voice for this song along with Sowmya Raoh. It has all the mandatory sounds of a typical bhangra number but does not shake or stir beyond a level. Quiet an average number again.

Shreya Ghoshal's Ta Ra Ra Rum Tararumpum is a slow number. Shreya is a very good singer and she proves her mettle again in rendering this slow, sentimental track. Her voice is perfectly pitched and crystal clear and she incorporates the right nuances to make this song quite memorable. This is easily the best song of the album. This singer is really doing well for herself these days. She is fast becoming indispensable with music directors for a certain kind of song. Ab To Forever by Shreya and KK, along with Vishal Dadlani providing an enthusiastic hip-hop accompaniment, is a spirited number. KK of the velvet voice and Shreya, in her third number in the album, sing it with gusto and verve and carry the mood of the song through.

Vishal tries his hands at singing the last number in this album, Saiyaan as well. It is the Sufi equivalent in the album. Another clich? in this album. But Vishal still does a very decent job with the song. In fact, he surprises us with his choice. The lyrics of the song are very well written and Vishal gives a valiant rendition. Unfortunately, the song is not exactly chartbuster material. We have heard better Sufi style numbers in films in recent years and this one pales in comparison.

On the whole, the album makes for very pleasant hearing. The music is good and the lyrics have been written well. It definitely has two chartbusters in the title track and in Hey Shona. Of course, some of the songs are more situational and can probably only be savoured while watching the film. But even though the music does live up to a certain standard, it is not yet in the memorable category. One would say, pleasant music, a couple of great numbers, lots of variety in terms of genres, but this is definitely not a winner. A little more in terms of creativity from the music directors would definitely have gone a long way in making Tara Rum Pum an above average album.