Monty, the genius behind the magic of Saawariya’s music, has missed the mark since then, bringing us albums like Chamku, Heroes and Fox, which have all failed to meet expectations. He’s back again with another film which seems to limit the scope of his musical talent: Right Yaa Wrong. Directed by Neeraj Pathak and starring the large cast of Sunny Deol, Irrfan Khan, Isha Koppikar and Konkona Sen Sharma, this film is set to release soon.
Lakhanavi Kabab is a typical item number, sung by Master Salim. There’s little room for him to truly exercise any musical repertoire, but he manages to add some vocal energy to this lively piece. The lyrics do prickle a little, but nowadays too many albums contain senseless metaphors to really waste too much time analyzing them. It’s a well-done, beat-based piece but nothing everlasting.
With the soft strums of a guitar, Meri Aashaon Ki begins on a much more promising note. Even the lyrics regain meaning and the tune reflects a maturity that was missing in the previous song. Sung by Amitraj, it tries to pull at the soul and is reasonably successful. Monty definitely shines through with some of the arrangements of this song, especially in the instrumental sections and casts with its creation a warm glow.
The title track, Right Yaa Wrong, has two different versions. Kunal Ganjawala, who rarely disappoints, steers the first one. His voice really seems to question kya ghalat, kya sahi and perhaps if you’re truly listening, you may for a few seconds want to philosophically think. Unfortunately, a hard break with English lyrics tears you away and instead it turns into another mediocre track, which in fact seems rather confused of its own style.
Ujjani Mukherjee is the singer of the female version of the track, which detracts even further from the strictly mediocre track. While the song does contain a promising piece of melody, its essence is overpowered by everything else that goes in the track. Furthermore, Mukherjee’s voice grates at some of the higher pitches. Pick the other version.
There’s another Kunal Ganjawala track, which seems a lot more his style, called Rihaee. There’s a bluesy feel to the beginning and the timpani, electric guitar, and other background contributors are muted enough that Ganjawala’s singing captures the audience. It’s an agreeable, enjoyable track where the lyrics do indeed contribute to the overall feeling on contained power.
Finally, the token Punjabi track of any Sunny Deol movie is Tiledar Dupatta. In fact, even at first listen this song might sound like you’ve heard it before because any other Sunny Paji bhangra number could easily substitute for it. Mika and Shail team up to create this song and do manage to lend it some energy.
Overall, the album lacks the clear mastery of music and true genius we glimpsed in Saawariya. There are a couple of tracks that can be stored in iTunes but the rest hardly pass mediocre. Should we lower our expectations from Monty or just wait for him to reach that tall bar next time?
