Legendry filmmaker Shyam Benegal’s comedy caper Wecome to Sajjanpur hits the silver screen at the end of this week. Welcome to Sajjanpur stars the immensely talented duo of Shreyas Talpade (Iqbal) and Amrita Rao (Main Hoon Na) in the lead roles. Music has been directed by the acclaimed Shantanu Moitra and lyrics have been penned by Swanand Kirkire, both of Parineeta fame, and newcomer Ashok Mishra. The album has seven songs and with an impressive list of singers including Sunidhi Chauhan, Mohit Chauhan, Krishna Kumar (aka KK), Madhushree, Shreya Ghoshal, Kailash Kher and Sonu Nigam.
The album commences with the holy names of Sita and Ram in Sita Ram Sita Ram rendered enthusiastically by the talented KK who now prefers to be addressed as Krishna Kumar. The music is fashionably traditional with a country-like element to it. Lyrics by Ashok are very desi, funny and informative. The song is about letters, senders, receivers and the postal system. It is a foot-tapping, catchy number and the remixed version at the end of the album makes it all the more enjoyable.
Next is Ek Meetha Marz De Ke by the up and coming favourite Mohit Chauhan (‘Tum Hi Se’ from Jab We Met and ‘Is This Love’ from Kismat Konnection) who is later joined by Madhushree. This is a slow and melodious romantic track with a nice blend of modern and traditional music. Lyrics are brilliantly written by Swanand Kirkire. Again, the song is about a letter where the writers are missing each other and long for the separation to end. The song is vocally potent and Mohit delivers another great performance. His unique and emotive voice suits the theme of the song. Madhushree is delightful as always with a voice akin to legends such as Lata Mangeshkar.
Bheeni Bheeni Mehki Mehki is in the same line as ‘Ek Meetha Marz De Ke’ although with a slightly more joyous tune. Music is similar to that of ‘Piya Bole’ from Parineeta. KK and Shreya render this romantic duet and mirror each other’s performances perfectly. Lyrics once again have been beautifully penned by Swanand for a sweet and cute account of romance and love.
The traditionally hip, cool and catchy Dildaara is next. Rendered excellently by Sunidhi Chauhan and Sonu Nigam, this track has a playful quality to it which Ashoka Mishra caters for really well. Musically, the song is relatively fast paced with good use of dhols and other traditional instruments. With promos of the song currently airing, ‘Dildaara’ can easily become a favourite with the masses.
The album wraps with the situational tracks Aadmi Azaad Hai and Munni Ki Baari which hardly hold any entertainment value. The former by Kailash Kher is aptly written by Ashok Mishra and gives a crash-course in democracy and politics. The latter by Ajay Jhingran might be amusing in the course of the movie but definitely deserves the skip button on iPods.
In summary, Welcome to Sajjanpur (with the obvious exception of the last two tracks) is a decent album with culturally rich music that might not be everyone’s cup of tea. ‘Sita Ram’ and ‘Dildara’ can easily be crowd-pleasers in the album while avid music lovers would appreciate ‘Bheeni Bheeni’ and ‘Ek Meetha Marz’. Shantanu Moitra still reserves his seat as one of the better music directors of Indian Cinema.
