Jodha Akbar's Music is Pure Magic

Movie - Jodha Akbar

Director - Ashutoush Gowariakar

Music Director - A.R. Rahman

Lyrics - Javed Akhtar
Audio Release- January 2008 (Finally :-) )

There is music in Bollywood and then there is music by A.R. Rahman in bollywood. In spite of being a complete bollywood buff the second kind of music is the one which I eagerly anticipate and going by A R Rahman's films in bollywood it's seldom more than an annual event. So how do I feel about JA's audio a couple of days after it's release ? Simply overwhelmed and the wait definitely has been worth it. So without adding further to the uncountable delays this audio already has been through, lets walk through with what the album has in store for us.

Track -1 , Azeem-O-Shaan Shahenshah - Bonnie Chakraborty, Mohamed Aslam

This was the first track to be aired with the promos of JA. To put it in simple words this is one of the those huge tracks with which ARR cannot go wrong. The feel of this track is huge from the word go. The strong beats and the various instruments played in the track adds to the feel and the whole momentum of this song. My guess is that if picturized correctly this may well become one of the most popular songs after the release of the song. Bonnie and Mohamed Aslam have also done a good job in the song.

Rating 7.5/10

Track -2 , Jashn-E-Bahaaraa - Javed Ali

This is definitely the pick of the album after a couple of listening. This is one of those sweet melodious song with which starts growing from the first hear itself. Javed Ali's voice perfectly matches the song though it has a striking resemblance to Sonu Nigam's voice. The use of instruments esp. the guitar has been done beautifully. Watch out for this song at the top of the charts (If it's already not there).

Rating 9/10

Track - 3 , Khwaja Mere Khwaja - A. R. Rahman

"Maa Tujhe Salaam","Dil se re...", "Lukka Chuppi", "Khalbali", " Jaage Hain..'," Tere Bina"," Pray For me Brother", "One Love"..We definitely need to add "Khwaja Mere Khwaja" to this list. A.R. Rahman adding voice to his music is nothing short of magic and he dosen't disappoint this time either. The song from the word go is awesome and translates us to a whole new world. This may not turn out to be one of the most popular songs of the album , but for me no other singer could have done justice to this song the way A.R. Rahman has done.

Rating 9/10

Track - 4 , Inn Lamhon Ke Daaman Mein- Madhushree, Sonu Nigam

Another soft number to the album in which grows on you after a couple of listening. Sonu Nigam has lend his great vocals to the song. The lyrics are great and this is one those "black horses" kind of song which would be on your lips after a couple of weeks of music's release. Watch out for this.

Rating 8/10

Track - 5 , Mann Mohanaa- Bela Shende

This as per me is the weakest link of the whole album . This looks like a purely situational song which we would probably be able to appreciate after the movie's release. This songs sounds similar to the likes of "pal pal hain bhaari" and "O Paalan Haare" which obvioulsy were masterpieces but took time to be appreciated. Bela has a soothing voice which definitely blends with the mood of the song.

Rating 7/10

Add a couple of instrumentals to the above list, for the songs "Khwaja Mere Khawaja" and "Jashn e bahara" and you have a great album for your collection. This one is definitely recommended.

Album Rating - 8/10

Taare Zameen Par - Go Watch It..

Movie - Taare Zameen Par
Producer/Director - Aamir Khan

Music Director - Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Actor - Aamir Khan, Darsheel Sadary.
Date of Release - 21st December 2007

There are Bollywood movies and there are bollywood movies with "Aamir Khan" in it and most of the times these two words make a lot of difference to the movies. Without keeping the suspense any further TZP is undoubtedly one of the best movie to come out of Bollywood this year. Talk about story, acting and direction the movie is splendid in all accounts. Probably the music provides for a weak link which is very well overcome by some great picturization and implementation of the songs.

TZP is a story about a dyslexic boy Ishaan Awasthi (Darsheel) who has a flair for painting but in dumps in his academics. So the pressure on his parents for him to perform in academics drives Ishaan to a baording school where he is unable to come out of his own shell and his artistic talent also goes for a beating.

In comes the art teacher Ram Shankar Nikumbh (Aamir Khan) who identifies the symptoms of dyslexia in the boy and takes on his own to make sure that the boy comes over victorious against all odds.

Taare Zameen Par is one of this movies which actually make you think about life. All our life we have actually been yearning for more , right from the school - yearning for good marks, in college - yearning for a good course , job - yearning for a good job/salary and so on.. but this movie makes you think beyond this Life is just not about good statistics life is just about living life to the fullest with what you have and this movie does that very well.

The only complain I have with TZP are the songs, they are not as good as were expected of an Aamir Khan movie with such high caliber, but nevertheless they are very well complemented by some great picturisation and visualization in the movie.

All in all a great movie to watch and you would definitely come out enlightened from the hall.

Rating 4.5 / 5

"Jab we met" will make you smile...

Finally, Rahman's dream comes true

Check this out... Great news for all Rahman fans in Delhi

http://www.buzz18.com/news/music/finally-rahmans-dream-comes-true/21381/0

Indian Cricket Team - New look is the new Mantra

Flashback 5 months back. After a humiliating defeat at the hands of Scotland and exit from the first round of the cricket world cup India were really the underdogs for the Twenty 20 world cup and amongst the teams with least experience for this particular format.

A couple of hours ago what most of us experienced was nothing short of pride and happiness which we probably felt after lifting the 83 Cricket World Cup. Looks like Indian team is back with a bang this time. So what could have led to this reversal in the fate of Indian cricket ?

To begin with this Indian team wore a typically new and fresh look. Led in front my the young and intelligent M S Dhoni this team was ready to take risks and most of them paid off. M S Dhoni was really confident about the new players. I could not imagine Dravid handling over the last over of the critical match (both against Australia in the semis and Pakistan in the finals ) to Jogender Sharma especially after he had gone for a hammering in the previous overs. It is this faith in the new players for M S Dhoni which payed back.

Dhoni again displayed some great leadership qualities and led from the front. Never once in any of the nail biting matches he ever looked tensed or worried. He was always pumping in more confidence in the likes of Sreesnath and R P Singh, and look what he got in return the World Cup.

Unarguably one of the best batting performances in the World Cup was by no other than Yuvraj. Literally snatched a couple of critical matches from the opponent. The six sixes in an over against Broad was a visual treat which I would definitely be remembering for a long time now.

So everyone would agree that this change in Indian team is definitely a welcome change. Looks like it's time for Dravid, Ganguly's and Tendulkars (Yes you heard it right, Tendulkar) to move along and give some breathing space to the fresh blood in the team. No doubt that the trio I have just mentioned are one of the best players the game might have ever produced but yes as we all know "Nothing Lasts Forever" and "The only constant thing in this world is change".

Ratatouille Movie Review - It will make you smile

Release Date : Aug 24, 2007
Director : Brad Bird
Writer : Brad Bird
Voice : Patton Oswalt, Ian Holm, Lou Romano, Brian Dennehy, Peter Sohn

With such a hard name to pronounce, to see such a simple and soothing movie like this was undoubtedly a great experience.

For a movie from Pixar animations (the same studio which brought Cars, The Incredibles) there are always high set of expectations for the technical quality of the movie which this movie has defintely met. The animations of the movie are so stunning that at times the animation movie was looking much more realistic than any real movie.

In short the movie is all about the idea of a great chef in Paris, France who prophesis that "Anyone can Cook", and how this sentiment drives a cute little rat to believe that he can become a chef and finally does so in great style.

Agreed that the story of the movie is quiet predictable and is a regular underdog story and how he achieves his dreams. What makes this movie a touch above the regular suff is the fact that the way this movie has been presented is really beautiful.

In short go for a movie and you sure would not be disappointed.

Rating - 3.5/5

Apne is watchable

There are just a few hindi movies which i miss watching in the first
couple of weeks and then he ahead to watch it in the third week. Apne
is one such movie and honestly i do not regret this decision. i went
in the theatre not taking with me very high expectations and i came
out quite satisfied.
In short apne is a movie about yesterday s boxing champion (played by
dharmendar) and how he wants his unfulfilled boxing dreams being
fulfilled by his sons (played by bobby deol and sunny deol).
Eventually as expected they come out victorious and give this movie a
happy ending.
The biggest problem with apne is the heavy dose of stereotyping which
this movie exposes us to. Why are the foreigners always cruel and
selfish , and indians always the other way round . In another in the
boxing ring bobby and sunny never actually look like boxers with the
extra kilos of flab on their bodies. In addition the scene in which
bobby's childhood handicap is fixed just by a simple fall on a bench.
This one was real hard to digest. In addition the heroines of the
movie have moving more to do other than just dancing and smiling.
The star of the movie is undoubtedly dharmendra who holds the movie
from the start till the end. Although i have never been a big fan of
dharmendra but have to admit that in this movie he still has enough
charm left to leave the viewer spellbound. Though at times the speech
is not too clear but is manageable.