subject: Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey Music Review : Abhishek Bachchan & Deepika Padukone In Khjjs [print this page] After the debacle of Whats Your Raashee, where Ashutosh Gowariker was going to launch a new composer on the music map of Bollywood, Sohail Sen, and post which we began to wonder if there will be any takers for Sohails tunes.
Ashutosh is back with him, only this time, not spear-heading Sohails astro future, but involving him with a sportsmans spirit for Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey. Faisla jo bhi ho!
Will Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey make it to the finish line, get a gold?
Sohail sings Yeh Des Hai Mera with a wobbly scale as twee as a dolphin performing before a sun-tanned audience, in a swimming pool, when the rebellious lyrics begs for a washing machines impetus. The junoon you find in the voice of singers like Sukhwinder and Kailash, who can turn a song about our Des into a national anthem, is missing from this songs noble attempt.
Nain Teres misthi vocals by Pamela Jain and Ranjini Bose with Baul elements sprinkled on the track is reminiscent of Yuvas Kabhi Neem Neem but only in the way music is embellished with ektara-dotara, dhol-khol and small cymbals, although they have completely different stories to tell. Hopefully, it should strike a chord with aficionados. Theres a sad instrumental version for those who move with a glacial pace to the music box.
The title track is listed third on this long winded album. 12 tracks in all. One short of Whats Your Rashee. Ashutosh seems to have cut down on his excesses, thankfully 7 tracks here are instru-mental.
Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey sung entirely by the Cine Singers Association Chorus Group will remind you of Chale Chalo from Lagaan as it hastily tries to exit to the end. This track, with a rousing sequence in the film, will effectively stand out. And then, we can always use it at our local sporting events. Come to think of it, its better than Rahmans Commonwealth theme song. Sohail, chale chalo, aagey badho.
Sapne Saloney makes you dead groggy. Sohail needs to hire another singer, his pitch just does not reach the higher notes; peters out when he begins to scale upwards.
So heres a song that in the capable hands of say a Vishal-Shekhar, where Vishal, in a low timbre voice sings and Shekhar arranges, can come out a stunner.
Remember Tujhe Chand Chahiye Toh Chand Doonga from a well-forgotten film called Supari?
For KHJJS lets wish the picturisation, in a sepia-tinted atmosphere does justice to Sapne Saloney, just as we remember only that gem of a song from Supari. Also, Sohail needs a better arranger.
Before I write of Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Seys Vande Mataram cover, let me make it very clear, not even Rahman could better Hemant Kumars composition of the song for Anand Math, sung by Lata.
The Vande Mataram here, then sounds, more popsicle than patriotic pop. Rahman can be credited to making it pop with his catchy, infectious hook.
What has been done in KHJJS is that the original Sanskrit lyrics has been transliterated by Javed Akhtar saab, thus further diluted in this dumbing down for those of us who dont understand the original and are in awe of it. This version will send us back to the original. Too wordy, this Vande Mataram, in trying to make it simpler.
Sohail Sen's brother, Simaab Sen has contributed to these tracks: Long Live Chittagong, The Teenagers Whistle, Surjya's Sorrow, Vande Mataram (again!), Revolutionary Comrades and (finally) The Escape - all instrumental. Please watch the film later and join the dots. Khelo jee jaan se, sunoh zara dil laga ke.
If you thought, from the trailers, that the film Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey is a text book of our revolutionary history, then the songs, are as much a lesson in endurance, who wants to retrace back into the past. The music belongs there as well.
