Kidnap, starring heartthrob Imran Khan, the adorable Minissha Lamba, and the excellent Sanjay Dutt, opens on October 2nd. The film is an action thriller, a cat-and-mouse game that Imran’s character plays with Sanjay after abducting his daughter. At the helm of the film is Sanjay Gadhvi, who chose Pritam to compose the soundtrack. With such a dark subject, one would expect an album full of hard-hitting songs, but besides 2 tracks and a section of another, Kidnap’s music does not fit that bill at all.
As soon as the Mit Jaaye song promo was released, it was already a fave with many Imran fans, and not just because of his hot looks. They could not wait to get the whole song, and it does not disappoint. Composed by Sandeep Vyas and Sanjeev Vyas, it has a very cool beginning and reminded me just a bit of the Don theme. But then Sandeep Vyas’ incredible voice comes in and you just know from his first notes that this is going to be a great song. And it is! There are some reflective harmonies that add to feeling of the song, and the back up music is brill. Vyas sings with wonderful inflection, his voice makes the song. Definitely a song to dance to despite the foreboding lyrics. Although there is a bit too much electronica, it is an overall stand out track on the album.
The second version of Mit Jaaye is full-on rock. There is an outstanding guitar riff in the beginning; in fact there are great guitar riffs throughout the song. I prefer this version to the first because you can hear Sandeep Vyas’ voice so much better without the superfluous electronica beats. A jammin’ rock song that seems more suited to the lyrics. Turn this one up to 11 and rock out!!
Suzy Q takes the mic for the synth-filled Hey Ya. It is a good track, but I wish some of the synthesizer beats and her voice in some parts were taken down one notch on the musical register. The high tone made me want to turn the volume down, and that is never good. There seemed to be way too much going on in the back up music, and at one point it changes to a different rhythm with rock guitar riff in a musical interlude that did not seem to fit. However, I liked the pacing of the song, especially the really cool stops in the first stanzas. The ‘Hey Ya’ chorus will certainly go through your head. Overall, it’s a pretty good song, but I’m not sure where it really fits into the frame of the story. There is a house mix too, but it’s just a sped up version of the original, and it’s sped up too much. Stay with the original if you want to listen to it.
Mausum slows the album down with a really nice instrumental opening and a lovely melody line. Shreya Ghoshal lends her voice to this track, but she really wasn’t at her best. She seemed to try to force something with her voice, which made it seem fake; a hissing sound in her vocals was unappealing. The background music was very laid back and pretty, which is really what makes the song good. It will be very interesting to see how this plays in the film. A nice track but nothing spectacular.
Haan Ji is fast paced but not your average dance track. When it starts off, there are so many different styles mixed together that you get confused about what you are listening to. The music continues like that for the duration of the song. At the mic is the brilliant Adnan Sami, however not even his great voice could make the horrendous lyrics sound good. The ridiculous English rap parts were equally disturbing, but the main problem with ‘Haan Ji’ was that it didn’t flow. I’m not sure what Pritam was going for with this track, but he missed. It is just a mess of a song. 
Meri Ek Ada Shola, with Sunidhi Chauhan and Sukhwinder Singh, is a faster paced number and again the music is what stands out more than the vocals. There is a great percussion line and the acoustic guitar is fab. Sunidhi Chauhan’s rendition on the first part of the track was missing some of the inflection that the music was calling for, although she showed it a bit on the refrain. There is a musical transition that really makes you wonder what could be happening in the film. After that, it seems to become a totally different song, and I had to check to make sure I was still listening to the same track. Sukhwinder Singh lays the vocal for this section, and he does have the inflection the music needs. His voice emotes great feeling and I liked his section better. Only his part of the song seems to fit into the feeling the movie has, but we will have to wait and watch.
Overall Kidnap has a hit in two versions, a couple of OK’s and one miss. If you think about the story of Kidnap, many of the tracks do not seem to fit. The edge-of-your-seat feeling, however, may come from the background music. Not Pritam’s best work, but check it out for ‘Mit Jaaye’.
