DJ Munks.com

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Yet another comedy with Akshay Kumar & ‘Remake Specialist’ director Priyadarshan. These two can’t seem to get enough of each other. Well they used to make a great team in the good ol days of Hera Pheri but recently they seemed to have lost it with movies like De Dana Dan that was beyond plain rubbish. Khatta Meetha seems to be rather fun where Akshay Kumar is a road contractor with the name “Sachin Tichkule” and thus this time the fun is on the corrupt government & diplomatic functioning of the Indian public sector departments. Based in Mumbai the Marathi angle is quite clear and Priyadarshan most commonly uses the music style of the city where the plot is based around. Also, common to Priyadarshan movies is the fun angle clearly evident in the songs. So I am expecting totally senseless, slapstick Marathi songs.. lol.. That doesn’t sound too good does it..? But let me assure you, Priyadarshan very un-commonly does surprise you at times as well. Let’s hope this is one of those times.

He has Pritam on his team yet again but with a new kid on the block named Shani. Last time their combo worked really well was not long ago with Marjani in Billu. This movie does not have the look of a big track but lets find out anyway what this 7 track OST have in store.

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REVIEW

Track 1 – Nana Chi Taang – It sounds like our dear Indian rapper U.R.L. kicks off this album with very good pronunciations for these Marathi lyrics written by Irshad Kamil. Kunal Ganjawala is back on a song working with Pritam that lacks class and flavour. I am quite disappointed with Pritam to open this OST with a below average composition like this. I know some Marathi and what the title means is “your grandfathers leg”.. that’s quite literally though!! It has the fun element but not really when you think about the fact that he is trying to impress a girl with these ‘heard before’ lyrics. Truly disappointing! 5/10.

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Track 2 – Sajde – Now this is a good typical Pritam romantic song that he gets right every time. You can never doubt Pritam’s calibre with Irshad’s lyrics when it comes to romantic songs. And on top of this when you get 2 of the best voices of K. K. and Sunidhi together it all comes alive. This song makes you see the video by just closing your eyes. Truly mesmerising and simply worth doing ‘Sajda’ of. 8/10.

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Track 3 – Bull Shit – Famous Pakistani pop singer Shehzad Roy features on this song and has even written the lyrics of this song. This is a really funny and truly expresses the currouption of the Indian politicians who could sell the country for a bit of money. The singing is true to the style of Shehzad and you can easily recognise him if you have heard any of his big musical hits. Speech within the song is another typical style of Shehzad and he delivers a fun song but it is not jaw dropping.. Music is my new name “Shani”. I am guessing he is probably the Pakistani pop singer and actor ‘Usman Shani’. His composition is good but average musically. 6.5/10.

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Track 4 – Aila Re Aila – Another Marathi influenced fun song.. but this time it truly is fun because Nitin Raikwar’s lyrics are cheeky & funny with amazingly powerful vocals of Mr. Daler Mehndi. He is just too good and can make you have fun even without any music. His voice and energy can just keep you going on the dance-floor. Kalpana Patowary’s vocals completely complement Daler’s vocals and credit is to Pritam to pick them for this song. Pritam’s music is very good too and has a place in Mumbai street parties. It appeals to the masses.. 7/10.

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Track 5 – Nana Chi Taang (Remix) – This is a good remix by Kiran Kamath but it is very difficult to like this song as a whole because of its below average lyrics and composition. But this remix is surely better than the original. 5.5/10.

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Track 6 – Sajde (Remix) – There is absolutely no need to remix this song and DJ A-Myth does not help the song in any way. The tempo is still the same rather with a reggae beat. I would surely credit him for trying to do a completely new job by recording new female vocals with Harshdeep Kaur but they don’t really work for me. Sunidhi compliments the lyrics and KK more. 6/10.

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Track 7 – Aila Re Aila (Remix) – Kiran Kamath has tried to do something with this remix which is frankly not very clear to me. I don’t really get what is going on in this remix. Probably I am too sleepy or bored or just plain inexperienced to evaluate this song. It sounds very confused with heavy keyboard synths for key bass and too many whistles. The original works better for me on this one. 5.5/10.

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FINAL WORD

Average – 6/10

Khatta Meetha OST does sound like a Priyadarshan movie soundtrack. It has the mix of fun and Marathi and romance but lacks innovation and songs that you would like to put on a repeat. Other than Sajde & Aila Re Aila all other songs are purely average and not even worth a second listen. All singers have performed well but the OST does not surprise you. Like I said.. Its not very common for Priyadarshan to surprise you. Let’s hope his next project gives us something more for the ears. I will not recommend for you to buy this album but surely do buy Sajde on the Internet and give it a repeat listen. Album 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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