De Taali (Give me a high five), starring Aftab Shivdasani, Ritesh Deshmukh, Ayesha Takia and Rimi Sen, is a fun, light-hearted comedy with the story based around the friendship of Aftab, Ritesh and Ayesha’s characters. This year, many of the music directors and composers have tried to do something different with their songs than is usually heard on your standard Bollywood soundtracks: some have worked and some have not. So does De Taali follow the mold or does it have new sounds as well? The answer is that Vishal and Shekar have put together some wonderful voices and great new sounds to make an excellent album. All of the tracks have some really cool musical sections and each one is marvelous to listen to!
De Taali starts off very electronic but then transforms into a cheery dance number with harmonica and guitar. Sunidhi Chauhan and Shaan exude energy and joy while singing playful lyrics like, “Life is just a party.” There is a great refrain section of De Taali and some wonderful harmonies. One of the things the composers have done is use the singers’ voices as instruments, like they would a piano or guitar, and it makes the song even better. It is just a happy, fun song that seems to typify the mood of the film.
According to the song promo, the title track is Everybody Put Your Hands Together (The Other De Taali), and it certainly deserves a de talli to Vishal and Shekar! Like the song says, it has a very funky groove with background music that totally rocks. It does have maybe a few too many English lyrics except for the “Everybody Put Your Hands Together” refrain, which is too good. The three voices of Sunidhi Chauhan, Anushka Manchanda and Shaan blend together perfectly. A thumping percussion beat and the mix of instruments and voices is just brill. Definitely one of the highlights of the album and you may find it addicting! There is another version of De Taali which is The Clap Trap Mix by Dj Nikhil Chinapa, Dj Nawed & Zoheb. Just skip this one.
Aaj Main Boond Hoon is another awesome track sung by the fabulous Shreya Ghosal with Shekar Ravjani’s voice adding in punches of great melody. I love the song, but there are some superfluous synthesizer sounds that really distract from its beauty. If they had kept it simple, I feel it would have been even better, though Aaj Main Boond Hoon has some excellent backup music and it shows off Shreya’s beautiful voice.
One of the best tracks on the album is Hone Lagi. Again Vishal and Shekar have used the singer’s voice as part of the music and it takes the song up a notch in coolness, making it exceptional. Anushka Manchanda has a wonderful voice, and she sings the song with a breathless quality that adds much to the whole feeling of the track. Shekar again adds excellence whenever his voice is heard. Hone Lagi is a ballad song backed up by some incredible guitars, with great acoustic sections that are great and another guitar riff that just is brilliant. I have to give props the the sound mixer because in that one section it feels as if the guitar’s notes are surrounding you! Bilkul add this one to your iPod.
Then we have the Hone Lagi – Jump Into Bed Mix by Chor Bazaar. Take out the cool guitars from Hone Lagi and add in synthesizer beats, and you have this mix. Though why it is called the “Jump Into Bed” mix, I don’t know. This song would make me want to get out of bed and maybe dance a bit because the added beats are quite good. But I really prefer the original version with the prettier guitars.
Another track that is just vocally and musically outstanding is Maari Teetri- The Butterfly Song. Raja Hasan lends his voice to the track that gets you groovin’ from the first few lines. Overall it is a fast paced dance track, and with it’s Indian flavored beats it certainly gets your head swaying and your feet tapping and they never stop. If you read the lyric stanza ‘My Butterfly Your My Butterfly So spread your magic wings and fly” before you heard the song, you probably would think uh-huh, but once you hear that stanza you will say, whoa! Raja’s voice is smooth with a swooping quality that you almost feel as if you are the butterfly soaring. (At least I did) They hit the nail on the head with this one!
For Tooti Phooti (She is Gone), it’s the background music that really stands out. A groovy, jazzy, soft rock number, the track has some fantastic compositions that are played awesomely by the musicians. I actually could just listen to it as an instrumental track, with maybe the harmony of the three great singers on ‘She is gone’ coming in every now and then. The track is sung by three of the best: Sunidhi Chauhan, Shaan, & K.K., and they are terrific in the harmonies and the refrain. However, in the first part of the song, the “Hafta hafta” stanza does not seem to go with the cadence, and almost fights it. Later it smoothes down, is less peppy, and it fits better. But that first part does take away some of the sleek ambience that the background music conveys. Even with that first misstep of lyrics and notes, the song is still one you will want to hear again and again. It will be very interesting to see what scene this song will accompany in the movie.
Vishal-Shekar certainly did their job very well with this soundtrack. Both Everybody Put Your Hands Together and Hone Lage really stand out but the other tracks are wonderful in their own right. The whole album is music to the ears, literally! Check it out!
