When Kajol danced around to the lyrics ‘mere khawbon mein jo aaye’ in the all time favourite Dilwale Dhulaniya Le Jayenge, the song became an instantaneous hit. Now its namesake, a movie tilted Mere Khwabon Mein Jo Aaye, is up for release in Febuary 2009. This Randeep Hooda (Monsoon Wedding) and Raima Sen (Parineeta) starrer has music by Lalit Pandit, of Jatin-Lalit fame. This musical duo ruled the 90s and gave us hits such as Dilwale Dhulaniya Le Jayenge, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Khamoshi, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham and finally Faana after which the brothers ended their professional relationship.
Now, let’s see if Lalit can create the same magic he did countless times before with Jatin.
Mere Khwabon Mein Jo Aaye album includes 8 songs comprising of the talents of Shaan, Shreya Ghosal, Alka Yagnik, Anuska Manchanda and Lalit himself. The lyrics have been penned by Javed Akhtar.
The album commences with Pathron Ke Bane In Shahron sung by Shaan. It is a somewhat situational number about the harshness of the city life, well written by Akhtar. However, the melody and the music is very old-school and not in a good way. It is as if the song was an outtake from a 90s album and re-surfaced from a time-capsule in 2009. Nevertheless, Shaan sings the number exceptionally well and does not disappoint his fan-base.
Next is Pehle To Meri In Aankhon Mein sung by Shreya Ghosal. The track gets off to a promising start with a beautiful yet edgy flute solo and violins but falls flat when Shreya starts singing. It is an enthusiastic song, relatively fast paced, even danceable but Shreya does not look the part or rather, does not sound the part. The song would have been better performed by someone like Sunidhi Chauhan or Anushka Manchanda who are much more suited to a song such as this. Musically, the track is still stuck in the 90s to an extent. That being said, the musical arrangements are still entertaining. Lalit’s fusion of dhols and flutes against a modern backdrop is worthy of commendation. Meanwhile, Akhtar pens quite mediocre lines for this track, letting us down the song in the lyrical department.
Sehmi Sehmi is next, a melodious romantic number sung by Shaan, Alka Yagnik, Lalit, Runa Rizvi and Clinton Cerejo. It is a well made track with excellent performance by the singers with relatively good music as well. However, the song sounds like something who have heard countless times before. It contains nothing to distinguish it from the crowd and hence the song gets lost with all the other riffraff out there. It is quite a delight to hear Alka Yagnik though. Jatin-Lalit had always given her excellent material and she had always performed to an optimal level. This time round she does the same even though the song is so run-of-the-mill. Akhtar’s same old lyrics do not help either. ‘Sehmi Sehmi’ also appears as remix at the end of the album that neither improves nor hinders the original track.
As mentioned previously, Anushka Manchanda is one of the it-girls when it comes to singing lively and youthful numbers. She has proven this with ‘Ek Hockey Doongi Main Rakh Ke’ and obviously the award-winning ‘Everything’s Gonna Be Golmaal’. Lalit made the right choice putting her behind the mic for Kabhi Kabhi. It is a contemporary number about sometimes living life on the edge and taking risks for a change. The track’s low point is that Anushka’s enthusiastic vocals are no match for music which lacks the power and life that Anushka’s vocals have. While the lyrics paint a lively picture, the music fails to meet the songs motivational requirements.
Kab Talak is easily the worst of the lot. What was supposed to be an emotional number high on melancholy falls flat on its face. Caralisa’s expressionless vocals combined with the equally soulless music writes this track off completely. Rohit Bhatia, if he has a day job, is advised not to give it up in favour of pursuing a career in writing songs.
Next is Zindagi Mein Nayi Baat Hone Ko Hai, a track straight out of the 90s. Lalit opts for the clich
