MUSIC REVIEW: Chamku
Monty Sharma, the music director who made his debut with Saawariya, is back with Chamku. A lot has happened in the interim. Saawariya was declared one of the worst films of the year, though the music seemed to have work much better. Monty Sharma won numerous awards and accolades for his work, and understandably, all eyes are this portly gentleman with curly hair, who's got to prove that he is much more than a one-film wonder. [Monty Sharma: Saawariya looks brilliant!]
Sharma does seem to have a penchant for grand orchestrations with heavy influence of classical and folk music. You could say his music has a certain traditional charm, and would often remind one of Ismail Durbar, who incidentally is out of work these days. Maybe, it is this musical streak and a love for opulent soundtracks that endeared him to Sanjay Leela Bhansali and now the Deols.
Back to Chamku, which stars Bobby Deol amd Priyanka Chopra, and produced by the Deols' Vijayta Films. So what do we have here by way of a soundtrack for a film that is supposedly about a boy raised by Naxalites and hunted by the cops and the mafia?
For the most part, you ware left wondering just what is the music director trying to do. The first track
Aaja Milke by Shreya Ghoshal and Shail is a love song with heavy use of dhol-daffli-tabla rhythm. The song has a nice melody but the absence of any catchy hooks or high and lows leaves you cold. Aaja Milke is pleasant to the ears (though the Kenny-G-inspired sax solo is somewhat tacky) even if fails to leave any lasting impression on you.
Up next is Kithe Jawan, which begins with a sarangi solo and has a strong melody performed competently by Richa Sharma. The director has leaned heavily towards classical ragas in this one. If I am not mistaken, there is a touch of raga Kalavati and raga Maru Behag in this one, but do correct me if I am off-mark. Now both these ragas are meant for the evening, and have a combination of notes that are meant to be romantic. A reason why a number of popular thumris are set in these ragas. Richa does a commendable job in this song, with her vocal 'harqats' sounding neat. The compositions alongwith Sameer's lyrics come together to make this song our favourite in the entire album.
Gola Gola, the Holi song is so hackneyed (with the madatory bhaang, gola, paan and chherkhani and a chorus) that you will find yourself pressing the forward button in no time. Sad because there is so much the music director could have done with a Holi song and Abhijeet and Vaishali Samant as singers.
URBANEYE