Ankahee

Article Updated 08 April, 2006 02:31:05 AM IST

Ankahee

Pritish Nandy Communications (PNC), run by the father-daughter duo of Pritish and Rangita have given us quite a number of unsuccessful movies and out of that list only 'Shabd' and 'Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena' had good music. On the other hand Vikram Bhatt's directorial ventures like 'Kasoor, 'Ghulam', 'Fareb', 'Raaz' and 'Awaara Paagal Deewana' had chartbusting scores. The music director in PNC-Vikram's latest offering 'Ankahee' is Pritam and he has an enviable track record with 'Dhoom', 'Chocolate', 'Garam Masala' and the most recent 'Gangster'. So without much delay, let us check out what the audio has to offer.

The first track is 'Ek Pal Ke Liye' and it appears thrice in the album. Don't jump to conclusions, as these are not remixes (like Club Mix, Dhol Mix etc.). They are in fact, the same songs sung by highly talented, young and upcoming artists of today K.K. and Shreya Ghoshal and of course the seasoned Sonu Nigam.

K.K.'s passion filled crooning (reminiscent of the 'Holiday' theme) commences this highly infectious, partially seductive and part romantic track. The soft, subtle melody along with the superbly arranged orchestra is a listener's delight. Full marks to Pritam (we hope its original!) for coming up with another beautiful romantic track after 'Tu Hi Meri Shab Hai' ('Gangster'). Amitabh Verma's lyrics stand out and the words keep haunting one even after the song concludes - 'Phir kya ho kya khabar, dekha hai kisne kal, aa raat rok le, phir ho na jaaye seher.' K.K. is excellent, though his diction is faulty.

Shreya's version of 'Ek Pal Ke Liye' is quite similar. It commences with a heard before flute note ('Dil Dooba' - 'Khakee'). However, the passionate crooning by K.K. are missing here, taking nothing away from Shreya who is an absolute delight and sings with feelings and perfect diction.

Sonu's version of 'Ek Pal Ke Liye' is also similar to that of Shreya, with of course Sonu's fine and experienced nuances added.

After listening to the three versions, it is Shreya who comes on top followed by Sonu and K.K. takes the third spot on the podium.

We would like to add our little extra bit, as always. In the mid '80s, for the beautiful song 'Tu is tarah se meri zindagi mein shaamil hai', from the film 'Aap To Aise Na The', Bollywood undertook a similar experiment. And just like in 'Ankahee', all the three singers, namely the late Mohd. Rafi, Manohar and Hemlata, excelled in their versions and Usha Khanna's music (along with Nida Fazli's lyrics) scored high on the charts.

Moving on to the title track, 'Ankahee', we have again two highly talented young singers Shaan and Ganjawala singing the two good versions.

Ganjawala's version is a very slow paced composition with just a few musical instruments, such as the guitar being used. It is a sort of an (MTV) unplugged version.

Shaan's version of 'Ankahee' is more pacy, peppy and lively. The lyrics by Sameer though are similar and situational.

Ganjawala's 'Tumse Yu Milke' is a soft love ballad. The song is good but the problem is that, this one is once again a similar sounding (in mood and execution) track to the two above discussed compositions, namely, 'Ek Pal Ke Liye' and 'Ankahee'.

Moving on to 'Lamha', it feels nice to hear Babul Supriyo after quite a long time. The song commences with the theme music of 'Ankahee'. Again, a good but similar in mood song. Despite the handicap, Supriyo manages to do a good job.

The last track, 'Aa Paas Aa' is a routine composition, where the main protagonist, Esha Deol (a la Sharon Stone of 'Fatal Attraction) yearns for her beloved, Aftab (through Shreya's voice!). Though the 'mukhda' is inspired (maybe unintentional) from the title song of '60s (horror) classic 'Gumnaam'.

On the whole, 'Ankahee' is a good to decent compilation. The three versions of "Ek Pal Ke Liye" standout, but there is lack of variety in the album, though it will be liked (initially) by the listeners.

Rating: 7.5/10

Print this Article

http://bollyvista.com

http://www.bollyvista.com/article/a/31/6457