Once upon a time...there was a Prince

       One fine morning, the sun shone brilliantly over blue skies and green grass. The dew on the leaves glistened and birds twittered away idly. It was cool and breezy and the curtains wafted at the mercy of the fresh air coming in the house of Sachin. Sachin lay on his cushy bed blissfully asleep ON the warmth of his comforter - spread-eagled. For no apparent reason, the house was filled with soothing santoor music and then.......
       Rrrrrrrrrrnnnngggggg! Rrrrrrrrrnnnnnnnnnngggg! Rrrrrnnnnnnnnnnnnnngg!

Sachin: What! Nooooo! I did not do a thing! Uh?!!? Ouch, my head hurts. Had too many shots yesterday!

(The phone continues ringing)

Sachin: (Tired and groggy voiced) Hello?

The Taurani: Hello Sachin! You sound tired! Anyways, listen. I am off to an important meeting this morning and will be back after lunch. Sorry for the short notice, but I have to move our meeting this morning to late in the afternoon. So see you then!

Sachin: (Confused and still trying to find his bearings) Meeting? About .... uh....hic?

The Taurani: Of course, the ambitious music album for our movie Prince. You have the songs ready, don't you?

K-serial type camera focus on Sachin from all 10 directions...or is it 8?, and a last coup de grace black-&-white flash.

Sachin: (Totally awake now) No! I mean yes. I mean no. Sorry sir! But give me just two days! I'll have the album ready by then.

The Taurani: What do you mean no? Two more days! Dude, we got to get this album out in a week. What have you been doing? (Now controlling his anger after it dawns on him how hopeless the situation is) I want an album in my office in 2 days! There have been complaints that we add too few songs in a single album. It better have more than a dozen songs. And remember, it better be not crap. Otherwise kiss your career goodbye! Click!

Something unseen comes running Evil-Dead like rapidly at Sachin and the camera stops at Sachin. Sachin farts a squeaky.
Sachin: Man! I am done! I better do something. But how do I get such a huge album ready in 2 days! (Now almost crying)....I think I am finished. I should have never partied so much when I had work to do. I should have never made fun of my neighbor grandpa who has Parkinson's disease, the way Raju Srivastav does it. Oh god, what do I do?

(A week later......at a party)
The Taurani: Thanks everyone for coming! This toast is for our great musician Sachin Gupta, for the wonderful music he directed for Prince. The crowd likes it. Our record company likes. Huzzah!

(The story continues below the music review)

Prince (2010)

Music: Sachin Gupta
Rating: 9/10
Good album. Not many albums as a whole are great, but this one is a rare exception, with a caveat: If you don't like Atif Aslam's voice, then stay away.
Final verdict: Get songs (Open Link in New Window):

• Aa Bhi Ja Sanam
• Ishq Mein
• Kaun Hoon Main, Kaun Hoon Main (Lounge Mix) (This is better of the two)
• O Mere Khuda
• Tere Liye, Tere Liye (Unplugged)

Back to our story....
After receiving all the adulation and glory from the attendees at the party, Sachin finds some lone time in the balcony and ... (No! He does not meet a hot babe there. He find them some place else) reflects on the call that morning, a few days ago, when he almost crapped in his pants for the first time since he got rid of his diapers.

(Flashback)
Sachin: I am such a fool! I never listen to my mom. My laziness and procrastination is taking me down.....
Hum Kis Gali Jaa Rahe Hai...Sachin's morning alarm goes off for the fifth time today....

Sachin: Atif!! ...Yes, that's it! (Eureka moment!) ....Beep beep beep...beep beep.....Hello, Atif?

Atif Aslam: Hello? Sachin! Hey! How are you man? How did YOU call early in the morning?
(Split screen)
Sachin: Man! You got to help me out. Remember, last week I told I had a song or two for you. I need to record them right away. Please don't say no.

Atif: Right away...err. .. when?

Sachin: Today in 2 hours? Please don't say no! Parkinson's wale grandpa ki kasam hai tumhe!

Atif: Oh c'mon, not again! Damn that grandpa! See you at the studio.
(At the studio)
Sachin: Here are the tunes for Aa Bhi Ja Sanam, Kaun Hoon Mein, Tere Liye.......Let's get moving. I will get another tune in the meantime.

Sachin (to himself): Man, one more song for male lead...I am running out of creativity. Wait! If I use one of my earlier tunes as a base, will anyone catch that! I am recycling Aa Bhi Ja Sanam for O Mere Khuda, come what may! (Still nervous and murmurring to himself) But how do I get the album to be bigger than 12 tracks!
(Tambi delivering tea to the staff hears him while passing by)
Tambi: Saab! Why worry? It's very simple mathematics. You have 6 songs. Just make a remix of each song. Add one "movie theme" track.....Voila! You have now 6 + 12  + 1 = 19 songs! Problem solved......Saab! Thoda kharcha paani?

And here we are with the music album for Prince with 6 original tracks, 9 remixes and a theme......and everyone lives happily ever after.


Bonus trivia: How did Sachin Gupta get Alisha Chinai, Shreya Ghoshal, "Hard-Core" Hard Kaur, Monali Thakur and Garima Jhingon to record tracks on such short notice?

Music this week

Music This Week: Boring to Decent

The Great Indian Butterfly (2010)

Music: Deepak Pandit, Gourov Dasgupta, Vivek Philip, Shibani Kashyap
This is a weird album. This is a mixture of soft English tracks and near-Indian classical music. However, none of them move your soul, and this album with it's dozen....literally a dozen songs...fails to impress. A song by Caralisa Monteiro is not great either.

Tum Milo Toh Sahi (2010)

Music: Sandesh Shandilya
This album only notable features include:
O Jaaneman - Decent enough, but not noteworthy
Bekhauf Mohabbat - This is for ghazal fans. If you like this type of music, you might actually like this one. Recommended for ghazal fans.

Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai (2010)

Music: Sajid - Wajid
Let me say this first: This album is relatively decent. It has typical Bollywood tracks that wouldn't bore you and maintain a decent tempo. In addition, since Salman Khan did not act in this flick, there are no ridiculous tracks, that are a feature of almost all Sajid - Wajid albums.
Koi Rok Bhi Lo is a typical, romantic track for those who like conventional Sonu Nigam tracks.
Is This Love by Rashid Ali (Kabhi Kabhi Aditi.... fame) is good too. The remix is bad.
All other songs can be played in the background, in your car when you are not paying much attention to the music and want some fun songs to fill in the void.

Keep humming!

Sadiyaan, Pankh - Music Review

This week......

Sadiyaan (2010)

Music: Adnan Sami

What can I say about this album? The fact that the music director is Adnan Sami raises expectations, and mind you, he does give his heart into the music for this movie. It just falls short of being a good album. Actually, most of the songs are decent, but since none of them strike a chord, the album fails.

Decent songs from this movie, if you wish to listen to some typical tabla-laden Adnan Sami music:
1. Jadu Nasha Ehsas Kya
2. Sargoshiyo Ke Kya Silsile Hai
3. Taron Bhari Hai Raat Sajan
4. Dekha Tujhay Jo Pehli Baar -- This one is pretty decent

Brownie Point:
If you are a fan of Sufi music, do get Sona Lagdha Mahi. It is pretty good. The credit for this goes to Sabri Bros. (Kaun Banega Superstar fame) though.

Final verdict:
Anachronistic. If only this album was out 7 years ago, when Adnan Sami was on a roll, this could have been a successful album.

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Pankh (2010)

Music: Raju Singh......(I am seeing his name again)

Just 3 songs in this album; looks like there was no focus on music in this movie. That is exactly how this album has turned out to be.

Final verdict:
Ignore-worthy.

Hum Tum Aur Ghost, Mittal v/s Mittal, Well Done Abba - Music Review

This week presenting:

Hum Tum Aur Ghost (2010)

Music: Shankar - Ehsaan - Loy

Since the music is by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, it ought to be decent. It is decent.

1. Kal Tum The Yahan --------------------------------- (7/10)
The best song of the movie. Although it is not soul-moving. Caralisa Monteiro, Shankar Mahadevan come up with a silent song. I am loving Caralisa's voice more every passing day. Also, Clinton Cerejo has some role in the song. As I said previously, always look forward to Shankar Mahadevan and Clinton Cerejo songs.

All other songs are just about average. Not bad, but average, barring the remix.


Final verdict:
Listenable.

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Mittal v/s Mittal (2010)
Music: Shamir Tandon

The poster of the movie conveys the mood of the movie, and the songs back it up. And not so well.





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Well Done Abba (2010)
Music: Shantanu Moitra

The music is really boring, although I thought the style was similar to A.R. Rahman like.

Meri Banno Hoshiyar is funny, in a sarcastic way.
Nope!





New offbeat movies with new music directors did not work out so well.

Incentive

     Have you ever had the experience, where you hear, talk or see something and get an idea, and the same thing happens in some other form the very same day. A kind of deja vu, but very real.
     I was chatting with a few friends in our free time, when two of them were having a debate on the public school system in US. I kept on listening where one of them mentioned, how the public school system is getting worse by the day.
      The natural question was "why?". Out of a couple of reasons, my friend was particularly unhappy about the politically correct grading system in schools. A grading system where even the brightest students don't get an A in a course because it makes the worst of the students feel bad. In order that no one feels left behind or stupid, none of the students are really graded, thus keeping everyone on the same level (at least on paper). DISCLAIMER: This is something I have heard, so it is second hand knowledge, but I imagine it is not far from reality.
      The very same night, I was watching the movie 3 idiots. There is a scene in the movie, where Aamir Khan cracks the exams and is the top student in class. As an honor of those who topped the exams, they were seated besides the college dean in the annual photograph, to which Aamir's character objects saying "it is akin to caste system where a few get the front row while others are pushed behind; and it is not the right thing to do to display the results of an entire class on a notice board, thus making the failure of a few students public".
       The first reaction to this scene from the movie might be approving. But when you think about what my friend said and imagine that happening to you, it becomes evident that political correctness in the grading system takes out the incentive to excel. The desire to do better than others, the urge to take efforts, the importance of hard work can quickly erode in a student, in any human, if it is not going to pay off.
        How about this? If in a 100m dash, if there was not a gold medal to be won, would any of the athletes be as fast? Would I have remembered the name Usain Bolt, if he had not broken the world record? Peer pressure, social stigma  as well as self-esteem and prestige are such real emotions that they will drive us to do better and invent iPhones, satellites and facebooks. It is the source of our progress. Let it not die in the process of political correctness.
        Before wrapping up my social rant, I will quote another scene from 3 idiots, which contradicts Aamir Khan's previously quoted thought. At the end of the movie, the college dean awards Aamir with a special pen that the dean had reserved for a truly outstanding student for decades. Aamir is naturally proud to receive it. Talk about making others feel bad now!