AANKHEN

Director: Vipul Shah
Music: Aadesh Shrivastava
Lyrics: Nitin Raikwar, Prasun Joshi & Praveen Bharadwaj
Producer: Gaurang Doshi
Starring: Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Sushmita Sen, Arjun Ramphal, Bipasha Basu, Paresh Rawal and Aditya Panscholi

The release of the heavily anticipated Aankhen is coming up very shortly. The movie has a very different and interesting premise, revolving around a bank robbery. Additionally, it has a superlative cast consisting of Amitabh Bachan, Arjun Ramphal, Akshaye Kumar, Bipasha Basu, Sushmita Sen, and Paresh Rawal. Such a film demands great music that fits in with the theme of the film. So how does this soundtrack work for such a film?

1. Amitabh Soliloquy / Aankhen Theme:
The beginning of this track is, as the track implies, a soliloquy rendered by Amitabh Bachan himself, and composed by Vipul Amrutal Shah. Mr. Bachan has an amazing, deep voice, which works very well for a song like this. This is very similar to "Bhala Bhura" from Aks, and carries the same feeling. The difference lies in the fact that this track is composed to be more dramatic, while "Bhala Bhura" was more suspenseful and carried a bit of semi-techno music throughout. The lyrics by Aatish Kapadia are great. Remo Fernandez adds a few notes in the background. The Aankhen Theme, composed by Aadesh Shrivastava is the latter portion of the track, and is rendered by Sonu Nigam, with background notes by Remo Fernandez, who does a good job with this kind of material. This track is quite catchy, and the background music is well-done. Sonu Nigam adds a more emotional touch to the song which may, or may not, be needed in the film.
Rating: 9/10

2. Gustakhiyan Hai:
This track is rendered by the unusual combination of Aadesh Shrivastava, the composer of this track, and Vasundara Das. The beginning of the track, a combination of non-lyrical singing, is very catchy and adds a lot of excitement. Aadesh has a very unique voice, and he takes advantage of it for a track that requires unique vocals like this. Vasundara Das is a very versatile singer, and she does well in this track. The background beats are done very well and match up with the pace of the song quite well. The background chorus adds able support to the track. The main tune is quite catchy and fast-paced.
Rating: 9/10

3. Kuch Kasme:
Sonu Nigam and Alka Yagnik join up for this nice duet, composed by Jatin-Lalit. And with this song, Jatin-Lalit partially prove Karan Jahor wrong; they did have the ability to compose something as nice as "Suraj Hua Maddham". Sonu Nigam's voice is absolutely amazing, as he brings a very soulful element to the song. Alka Yagnik sounds beautiful, and rarely brings her voice out of range. The music is quite nice, especially with the background beats, which add a nice feeling when mixed with the background chorus-like sound effects. The main tune is nice, and flows very well, though sounds a bit like the beginning of "Na Tum Jaano Na Hum" from Kaho Naa... Pyar Hai. The lyrics are quite nice as well.
Rating: 9/10

4. Theme Song:
A rather short track, with upbeat music, composed by Jatin-Lalit. Included in the track is Remo Fernandez doing what he's (in)famous for: gibberish. Basically, he spouts out random sounds to a tune for the whole time, instead of an instrumental track. Without this vocal addition, the track could have done quite well. Though Remo is good with his material, he really subtracts from it here. The addition of a few lyrics from "All the best" ruins the track's potential. However, as far as composition, this is quite good. The music is quite exciting for the first half.
Rating: 6.5/10

5. Phatela Jab:
This song is the combination of the efforts of three composers: Aadesh Shrivastava, Jatin-Lalit, and Nitin Raikar. Additionally, it has the combined singing efforts of Nitin Raikar, Aadesh Shrivastava, and Arun Bakshi. However, all their voices come together, and it's hard to tell the difference between them. Together, their voices all form a Devang Patel-esque voice, making the song sound quite silly, in addition to the silly lyrics. In fact, the entire song ends up sounding like a parody number. Nevertheless, it's still quite catchy, quite similar to "Excuse me" from Style.
Rating: 7/10

6. Chalka Chalka:
A festive dance number rendered almost entirely by Alka Yagnik, with a line of support by Javed. Alka sounds good, though nothing really out of the ordinary. Javed sounds very much like Udit Narayan for his one line of support. The tune for this song is catchy, though a bit repetitive. The song is composed like a typical festive number, and really doesn't have much to separate it from others. The background music works well with this tune, but there isn't too much of it.
Rating: 7/10

7. Nazron Ne Teri:
An average number that doesn't really work well in comparison to the rest of the soundtrack. Though the piece starts out slowly, like a love ballad, it quickly turns into a teaser number. This track is rendered by Udit Narayan and Kavita Krishnamurthy; both of them do an average job. The tune is merely okay; not catchy at all.
Rating: 6.5/10

8. All The Best:
Pretty much the same piece featured at the end of "Theme Music". Remo Fernandaz just continues his normal style of singing. He has a very jazzy style of singing which worked in "Humma" from Bombay, but it doesn't sound good in a song like this. The tune is semi-catchy, but starts to get irritating.
Rating: 6.5/10

Overall Music and Instrumentation:
The first three tracks of the album are absolutely amazing and put the album near classic status. However, the next songs aren't nearly as good in terms of overall composition. The first two tracks especially set the mood for the film (The "Theme" track does to an extent, but Remo Fernandez puts off that mood). The later tracks really just stay as normal fare.
Rating: 8/10

Overall Singing:
The singing throughout is quite good. There is a wide variety of singers, and some unique voices like Aadesh Shrivastava. It's nice to hear Vasundhara Das, a very talented singer who hasn't gotten too many offers in the Hindi music scene. Sonu Nigam does great in his two songs. Amitabh Bachan shows off his narrative skills in the first track. The only singer who really disappoints in Remo Fernandez. He has talent, but he's been typecast into just one repetitive style of singing.
Rating: 8/10

Overall:
Overall, Aankhen really is a great soundtrack from the beginning, with a disappointing follow-through. It's very much worth a buy for just the first three songs, and they look like they'll be picturized very well in the film.
Overall Rating (Not an average): 7.2/10

REVIEWED BY RISHI J