DJ Munks.com

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Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai is the 7th movie under the Balaji Motion Pictures Banner. Not a single movie so far has had music that stands out or can boast of a hit. If we leave the music and talk just about the movie, not a single of their productions has delivered well the box office except for average business.

Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai could just about be the one to change it all for the biggest small screen banner who could now be the big screen banner that Ekta & Shobha Kapoor have dreamed of making it… and it all rests on the shoulders of brilliant actors Ajay Devgan & Emraan Hashmi. These guys usually always deliver the vision of their producers and directors. But does director Milan Luthria who has made movies like Kachche Dhaage, Chori Chori, Deewar & Taxi No. 9211 have it in him to deliver a hit underworld Mumbai theme movie? That we will have to wait till the 30th July to watch.

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For now let us analyse what hit maker Pritam can deliver with lyricists Irshad Kamil, Nilesh Mishra & Amitabh Bhattacharya for a movie with a very dark theme. Pritam has never actually worked on a Mumbai dark side themed movie although he has delivered some super hits with movies like Gangster, Jannat & Rajneeti recently. I would imagine this OST will have some street talk Mumbai songs with the slang and violent gun shots with a mix of romance & totally dark Mumbai themed music for background scores of the movie. I would love it if Irshad can repeat his magic of Karam on the lyrics cause that was sensational. Let’s hit play and check it out.

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REVIEW

Track 1 – Pee Loon – Very pleasant first 30 seconds of the album that set the tone of the album. And you can’t ask for more than Mohit Chauchan’s voice following the soothing 30 seconds of music. This Qawaali based romantic song reminds you of the sea side by Haji Ali. The melody and instrumentation are heart felt with a mesmerising harmonium solo in the middle bridge which you must take a notice of as that is not something you hear often in music these days. The team of Pritam, Irshad & Mohit make an instant classic romantic hit. A must listen. 8/10.

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Track 2 – Tum Jo Aaye – Seems like this is more of a romantic movie than a underworld bloodshed extravaganza. Tulsi Kumar along with Rahat Fateh Ali Khan perform a very soulful vocal rendition to Irshad’s poetic lyrics. Once again Pritam sticks to the Qawali style Bollywood music format with another good harmonium solo. The dholki played on this song is brilliantly recorded. The classical composition & recitation work well in the favour of this song and even has a Punjabi element to it. It is a good song but not the best. It won’t stick in your head as much as Pee Loon. 7/10.

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Track 3 – I Am In Love – We know Karthik from two really big songs – Behka from Ghajina & Behne De from Raavan recently. Both truly are brilliant. So is I am in love. You can really feel the emotion when he says “I am in Love”. His vocals & harmonies are spotless on a great voice. The lyrics by Nilesh Mishra will make you sit up and take notice of them as they rhyme all the way. Pritam’s composition & simple music complement this song perfectly. It is just simple & beautiful. You will surely like it. Do listen.. 7.5/10.

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Track 4 – Parda – Haha.. revival of the classic.. Remember Duniya Mein Logon Ko from Apna Desh? Sunidhi & Rana Mazumder do a revision of that classic and spice it up with some new lyrics by Irshad which are not that great. Rana freaks you out here sounding exactly like The Boss – R. D. Burman. Pritam very successfully gives you the 70′s feel with this composition and Sunidhi is his star that delivers it very well on the mic. You can’t help but sing along every time the “Monicaaa” shout comes along. I love going back in time.. & this song takes u there. A production & creative genius song. Lacks brilliant lyrics. 7.5/10.

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Track 5 – Babu Rao – From the start you will take notice of the unique music style. Kudos to Pritam for this coming up with this composition. It is genuine, unique and works perfectly with the theme of this song. The programming of the instruments is imaginitive & brave.  Mika has his usual fun and is perfect in the vocals department. He sounds like a street don. But the best part of this song are the lyrics by Amitabh Bhattacharya. They are cool, funny & represent all gangsters. I won’t be surprised if they start using this song as their gang theme song.. lol. 8.5/10.

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Track 6 – Tum Jo Aaye (Reprise) – If you liked track 2 then this version will blow you off with its calmness, style, purity & melodic feel. It is just genius. It is all about 4 instruments – gorgeous tabla, resounding ghungroos, brilliant harmonium and Rahat Fateh Ali’s voice. I don’t want to tell you more. Just listen to it & you will discover the beauty of Indian music. 8.5/10.

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Track 7 – I Am In Love – KK & Dominique do a 2nd version of Track 3 which is also like a reprise version. It is as good as Track 3. KK & Karthik each have their own place and you can’t really compare these 2 versions. Karthik has more depth while KK has a sharper stylish voice. Lyrically & composition-ally it is the same song. 7.5/10.

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Track 8 – Pee Loon (Remix) -DJ A-Myth is one of the best DJ’s in India and he really proves it this time with giving a decent remix which does not kill the original. And thank God they very selectively chose this song rather than doing a remix of every song on the OST. So overall a very decent & cute remix. Perfect for a warm up set or calm drinking party. 7/10.

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Track 9 -I Am In Love (Dance) – There you go.. that’s how you ruin a good song with a not required remix. A trance mix of a great song with 2 different versions already on the OST.. I don’t see why did they need a third version and too on a totally inspired trance beat. This is perhaps the only blunder on a perfectly good album. Please end the OST on track 8 to keep you ears safe. 4.5/10.

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FINAL WORD

Very Good – 7.5/10

This OST is definitely not what it feels like. It is more of a romantic album rather than a underworld album with Marathi influences. Every song is better than expected and there is no below average song except the last track.

3 beautiful romantic songs, 1 bar type song which is a production beauty as is a revival of a classic and 1 brilliant underworld song that thrills you in every way. Babu Rao, Pee Loon and Tum Jo Aaye (Reprise) are the definite picks of the album with all credit to Pritam once again for a masterpiece album. His choice of singers, instruments & lyricists is brilliant. Each of them perform with a simple goal to make this OST worth listening to. And it sure is.. So go buy Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai. Available on T-Series.

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EK – The Power of One is supposedly going to be the next super action bonanza after Ghajini. Bobby Deol is set to bring to the screen what the men in his family are best known for – Action.. n lots of it.. !!

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Ek is a remake of Telugu movie – Athadu and is directed by Sangeeth Sivan who has previously done movies like Apna Sapna Money Money and Kyaa Kool Hai Hum. The man makes average movies so we don’t expect EK to be huge. But his movies always have decent music with a couple of songs that do well on the charts. Plus this is a K Sera Sera production and we have the man Pritam doing the music. The last decent piece of work from Pritam was Billu with a few tracks doing really well from the album. But Ek has been in production for a long long time. So am guessing the music of this must have been done by Pritam way before his recent projects.

He has Shabbir Ahmed doing the lyrics with him who has been quite busy recently with a number of Bollywood projects under his belt. He has been around for the last couple of years but he seems to be finally getting the big deals to work his pen on.

Lets find out what this 5 track album has to offer. I don’t have expectations for anything more than average here.

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REVIEW

Track 1 – Sambhale – “URL”.. funny name isn’t it.. lol.. That’s the man doing the rap on this track with Sukhwinder Singh and Sunidhi Chauhan leading the vocals. Sukhwinder’s vocals work the best for Bobby Deol so he must have been Pritam’s obvious choice and he does well too. Sunidhi sounds classy after a long run of flop songs in the recent time. The song has a wedding setup as seen in the promo’s and the composition does justice to that. It uses Dholak with a very simple 4×4 beat that you hear in most Mehndi songs as the primary instrument with Tumbi adding to the top end of the arrangement. The lyrics are simple with the Punjabi touch and are catchy. This song should work well in the UK with the wedding season coming up. It’s easy going but not the best wedding song you would have heard. 7/10 .

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Track 2 – Sona Lagda – This is mainly a Punjabi folk song with the original lyrics and composition. The music has been recreated and recorded by DJ Phukan and not Pritam. He does a decent job there keeping it simple and melodious. The best part of the song is the return of the lady missing from the vocal scene for a while now. She is the one who brought remix pop to India with tracks like Kanta Laga & Kaliyon Ka Chaman. Good to see she is still brilliant as ever. I like this track for it’s simplicity with which the romantic message is given out. Very Bollywood with the choruses as well. 7.5/10.

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Track 3 – Tum Sath Ho – Pritam got Abhijeet back in Billu with a second version of Khudaya Khair and now gives him a track of his own with Shreya Ghoshal.  I love his voice for it’s youthful flavour and Shreya compliments him very well too but with some unnecessary echo/reverb on her voice. Don’t really see why.. :/  The lyrics are good but not brilliant. They sound like you have heard them somewhere before. The music has drums as the main instrument with a prominent beat. It’s different than the usual romantic songs with a good blend of natural drums with flute. I find the end quite abrupt though. 6.5/10 .

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Track 4 – Bang Bang – Here comes a full fledged rock song with lyrics by Mayur Puri this time. This song is loud and sounds perfect to go with the action theme of the movie. I am quite impressed with the vocals of yet another Bengali dude Pritam sources from Kolkata. Rana Mazumder is the name of the man here whose voice perfectly blends with the instrumentation in this song. The dirty electric guitars on synthetic bass and power drums give this song a nice vibe to head-bang with. I think this is the best rock song I have heard come out of Bollywood in the recent times. 7.5/10.

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Track 5 – Sona Lagda (Kilogram Mix) – Remixes usually kill the vibe of such romantic songs. This mix is no different. I am not quite found of Kilogram’s mixes anyway from their recent spate of flop mixes. But for some reason Pritam likes them and keeps getting them on ! Not quite feeling this mix – 6/10 .

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FINAL WORD

Decent listen – 7/10 .

EK has no really big tracks and they have not filled up the album with a string of flop mixes and alternate versions like the current trend. Thus the average overall score comes out to be higher for this OST. You might not appreciate when you hear it the first time. But give it a couple of listens and you will land up saying “Not bad”. Of course it’s not the best work of Pritam… but it’s not bad either. As expected, it is an average OST with the true Bollywood sound.

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