MUSIC REVIEW: Dostana

Besides the music, why you may want to own a copy of the Dostana CD are the droolicious images on the sleeves. Priyanka's gold swimsuit and John Abraham's sun-kissed torso being the top draws. But here's lending an ear to one of the most-awaited film scores of the season.

Dostana, produced by Karan Johar and directed by Tarun Mansukhani has music by Vishal-Shekhar. The duo have rather large shoes to fill considering Dharma Productions has traditionally been Shankar Ehsaan Loy territory (Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, Kal Ho Na Ho) and the trio rarely fail to deliver.

So how have the 'boys' fared with Dostana? Well, the album has all the trappings of a Karan Johar production; catchy English and Punjabi hooks, pianos, dhols, dance numbers et al. There is pop, funk, swing, reggae, disco and everything else tossed in a crunchy production that works partly for a few tracks.

Vishal-Shekhar do seem to make the right noises with the very first track of the album: Jaane Kyun, which has a reggae feel to it. Sung by Vishal Dadlani and guitars by Randolf Corea, Jaane Kyun, with its breezy Hinglish lyrics (Anvita Dutt Guptan) and neat production is quite hummable and could be the prime reason why this album would do well.

Next up is Desi Girl sung by Shankar Mahadevan. We will not know if this inspired Small Town Girl (film Bachna ae Haseeno, music by Vishal-Shekhar, sung by Shankar Mahadevan again) or if it was the other way round but are our creative guys so low on original ideas? Nevertheless Desi Girl, by Shankar Mahadevan and Sunidhi Chauhan is a fun song that flows freely between bhangra, pop, disco and what have you. Full of joie de vivre.

Buckle up for Maa Ka Laadla, with vocals by Saleem. Thanks to its nonsense lyrics (Kumaar) and its vocal effects, Maa Ka Laadla could well turn out to be the favourite at drunken revelries when a few drinks down you think you are John Travolta and don't mind shaking a leg to songs like Bhootnike - yes, it belongs to that genre.

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