Himesh Bhai ka Karz
Himesh Reshammiya has been doing a world of good to the Hindi film music scene for some time now. When I look at his films, more than anything, he has done immense contribution to bringing the unannounced bathroom singing genre back to the fore. His songs really made singing cool, irrespective of whether it sounds good or not, one can launch into an extempore crooning session at any time of the day, anywhere.
I heard his name first through TV serials, then in Salman Khan films, and I quickly put him in a slot – light melodic compositions with some cheap trick or the other. He kept delivering on the hit parameter year after year – kahin pyar ho na jaaye(Pardesi is still as fresh), Dulhan hum le jayenge, Hello Brother, Humraaz, Kurukshetra, Kyaa Dil ne kahaa…
If I see his career as a film composer, I can broadly divide it in few phases – The Shaan/KK Hit item song phase(bardaasht nahi kar sakta, nikamma, chura liya), The Imraan Hashmi/self-discovery phase(aashiq banaaya aapne, good boy bad boy, dil diya hai, aksar), The Salman Khan phase(pyaar kiya to, tere naam, kyun ki, dil ne jise apna kahaa(special because of 3 wonderful Rahman tracks), Hello Brother, ye hai Jalwa), The new-improved version phase(Namaste London(main jahaan rahoon arguably could be his best overall song ever), Silsilay and Fool n Final to some extent) and The rest. The rest is no mere forgettable names mind you, it includes some moderate to good successful works like Zameen, Welcome, 36 China Town, Aitraaz, Apne, Darling, Phir Hera Pheri, Run etc. I didn’t buy his last album – Aap ka suroor but have slowly begun to like some tracks from it – kya jeena and tere bina being favorites.
Coming to Karzzz, its another delivered as promised album. Hit ke baad hit ke baad hit. Bole to hit geeton ki bauchhaar. Check them out –
Dhoom tere ishq ki
Himesh Reshammiya
A track that combines both – the haunting quality of a few HR tracks and the melodic element of almost all his repertoire. A delightful mix indeed. The harmonium and tabla based treatment makes the track score more on pure proximity to simplicity. Last such track I loved was Kya jeena from Aap ka suroor.
Maine kaahe tose ankhiyaan ladaayi
The ‘dhoom’ chanting will yet again hit a home run and the song will last longer than the other tracks on the album.
The singing style is sufi…
Tumse milna
jiya dolna
tera bin bole sab bolna
fursat ke pal mein doobna
apne hi dil se joojhna
It’s puzzling though, how an HR number does not rise above its possibilities and create visuals, which it rather should but sadly doesn’t.
aur thodi der mein hum judaa ho jayenge
hasraton ke kahkashaan mein hum kahin kho jayenge…
hasraton ke kahkashaan mein hum kahin kho jayenge…
When HR croons the eternal lines, one can sense the almost passionate devotion, he literally celebrates the words in his own little way. The way he comes back to the ‘dhoom’ mukhda through ‘furkat na dena tum kabhi, chahe roke tum ko sabhi, bezana tum ko ye kasam, vaada de jaana ye abhi/miloge dubaara mujhe phir se yaara’ is absolutely refreshing and reassuring at once.
Ek Haseena Thi, the classic track is redone no surprise given the trend. But I don’t know how important really is that. Anyways, will reserve my comments till seeing the visuals and context. The song as such does not do anything, pretty much like the mehbooba track from Aap ka suroor. HR does, in fact, add his harkats to the rendition, apart from making the track a duet, which uses a storytelling format in form of a dialogue as opposed to a solo audio-visual assault. To end the antara(us gali mera aana jaana tha/ek hasina thi) he makes the transition a bit fast to digest, but that’s him.
It’s interesting to observe here how the contemporary music composer interprets classics. Cases in point-
Dastaan-e-om shanti om – Vishal Shekhar
Khaike paan banaras waala/ye mera dil – SEL
Bachna ae haseeno – V-S
Though Rahman could have been a part of the list had he done a jaane tu ya jaane ya spinoff. But he didn’t so doesn’t. Yes! I managed to mention him in a HR review!
Though I am not good with my Karz Quotient, so do not remember the nuances(musically and cinematically) but in terms of establishing the whole punarjanam/badla saga/emotion, HR’s version does not evoke the same emotion as a Dastaan did, which is a little disappointing.
Here are my thoughts on Dastaan from an old review:
Dastaan-e-Om Shanti Om might sound like a cheap imitation of Karz’s theme song on the outset. And I must say it doesn’t show any drastic changes on repeat hearings as well. The start reminds you of that eternal song from QSQT, Akele hain to kya gham hai(the stanza-phir nahi tootegi..). A pure nostalgia trip without much indulgence. It sounds more like a catalog theme than a big song to look up to. You just might lap it up if you love the whole story-within-a-song structure. And considering there is no imprint of the contemporary orchestration whatsoever, it falls easy on the ears. By easy, I do not mean it is soft, it has its L-P soul very much in place, with the crescendo-ensemble build up and heavy choirs. However, this song gets a new life in the piano-ridden theme music, which makes you wonder if a different approach would have made any difference to the tune.
Hari Om
HR
This is the HR take on Om shanti Om. Spare the comparisons and enjoy a fun track. The way he delivers the hari om hari om hook does work, and work more on repeat hearings.
The words are nothing new, but the overall arrangement and a solid hook(along with the backing chant of bolo hare hare hare) makes the track worth pinning your expectations on. A sure superhit from the word go.
Let me defy my own suggestion (spare the comparison) and observe the interesting difference between the original track and this one. Though no semblance whatsoever, I believe and rather assume the overall effect must be the same. I mean I don’t really expect anybody in any biological or technical capacity to ape that magic man dancing on a rotating record, but reworks always bring something to chew on.
The original om shanti om never brought the hook on a rhyme, it announced the protagonist’s youthful spirit through just a sheer announcement(wo na kahegi to khudkhushi se mar jaaoonga main yaaron/wo haan kahegi to bhi khushi se mar jaaoonga main yaaron/to gaao om shanti om), whereas here HRji treads a tested terrain(tere ishq mein dooba rahe shaamo sehar mera rome rome/ hari om hari om). Rome. Om. Interesting.
Lut Jaaoon
HR/Harshdeep
This is yet-another superhit material. Starts on a a-a-ashiqui beat(36 China Town) but then goes on to an altogether different realm with fantastic female vocals that go something like
Tumse mohabbat kar loon jee bhar ke
Poori hasrat kar loon jee bhar ke
HR then launches into an all-out cathartic mukhda
Nazron mein teri kashish ka aalam
Dil mein hai armano ki sargam
Jo bhi diya mere jiya ko jaanejaan tere ishq ne
Kiya mujhe tere noor ne ghayal
Jazbon mein machi dard ki hulchul
Jo bhi diya mere jiya ko jaanejaan tere ishq ne
Lut jaaoon lut jaaoon main
Lut jaaoon us karz pe
Jo tune diya ishq mein…
The song by now is a comfortable ambiance, the beat feels much more familiar and the overall feeling is ‘hit hai yaar, superhit hai’.
Female verse-
Dekh ke tumko tamanna machal jaati hai
Har ek fariyaad dil se nikal jaati hai
Masha Allah
HR
Nothing new about this song, except another take on the whole ‘dard-e-dil’ mood.
Kuchh lamho ke baad juda honge hum
Dil mein reh jaayenge dil ke armaan sanam
Par ek vaada jaate jaate karte jaana
Doge tum dubaara deedaar ka
Sisak sisak ke
HR
This song works because of HR’s strong efforts at creating winning hooks that just can not go wrong. So here also we have sisak sisak bilakh bilakh tadap tadap doing the trick.
Jo lagaaye na lage
Ishq aisi lagan hai
Baukhlaa de jo dil ko
Aisa deewaanapan hai
Anjuman mein tanha
Ranjishon mein bhi raahat
Ye to jannat-jahhanuum
Dono ka Milan hai
Tabaah kare barbaad kare naakaam kare marwaaye
Is duniya mein…
The conviction that he puts in these lines does the essential much required magic to a normal song and makes it worthy of inclusion in the album.
Soniye je tere
HR/Tulsi Kumar
This song uses or rather attempts a Indian-western mix of percussion, much heard in the UK based songs a la Sukhsinder Shinda, RDB, Mehsopuria, Bally Sagoo and the likes, and also may be a little bit of Get your freak on(Missy Elliott) for decent measures. And the results are impressive because HR does add in an ethnic harmonium after silencing all the other sounds and begins his much-revered heartfelt crooning.
Such tracks are very music video friendly but I wonder how it could be used in a film. Which is in fact a wrong suspicion, as songs are just about the easiest filling in films lately. Good song nonetheless.
Tandoori Nights
HR, Sunidhi
Wow! Hand it to them. Whoever came up with it. And not bad at all.
Another angrezi rang mein rangee hui shuruaat leading to a funky beat and HRjee crooning tak tana na tandoori nights(emphasis on tandoori). Then some sharaabi business in HR style accompanied by the I can sound sensuous only at a London recording Sunidhi jee.
Fun track.
What else do you expect me to write here? Quote Gulzar?
Tere bin chain na aavee
HR
If you wanted your good old Himesh-Tulsi Kumar track, here you go! Watch out for a funky remix though.
wow! I actually wrote a Himesh Reshammiya music review!
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Himeshbhai is the best!
The album’s pretty good. You’ve got to hand it to him for trying out everything producing, music, and now acting. Like him or not, you can’t ignore him.
Smells of spam here…
“Himesh Reshammiya has been doing a world of good to the Hindi film music scene for some time now.”
Oh yes, with no music release in the last one year, he’s done a whole world of good!!
My disdain for his self-obsession notwithstanding, one must credit him for getting the hit formula right. And there have hardly been any instances of blatant plagiarism.
simply coz you can compose doesn”t mean you can sing also ,and because you can sing doesn’t mean you can dance as well ,if Himesh has done bollywood a whole lot of good then I don’t want that good ,Himesh symbolizes everything that is wrong with this industry.
I am a big fan of Himesh. Because He is different and 2nd, He is completely Original …
But this time Himesh copied some part of the track “Loot jaau …”
The lines crooned by the female singer ..
‘Dekh ke tumko tamanna machal jaati hai
Har ek fariyaad dil se nikal jaati hai..’
Its a complete lift off Karunesh’s track – Punjab …
Listen it at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?=R0E3FgJ_mT4
I am disappointed with Himesh this time ..
I thought he was Best because he was original at least .. not like pritam and Anu malik who delievers but pilfer from foreign tunes …
Haven’t heard other songs of the album .. so cant comment right now …
One has to give it to him …he delivers some very catchy numbers. If only he would use himself as a singer more selectively (he does have his strengths, especially in certain type of songs). Anyway, I never get tired listening to his songs. Hats off to him for progressing despite everyone loving to look down on him
Himesh directly lifted a song of Haider Ali in his movie Aashique Banaya Apne.!
Originality?
The two songs on air:
1) Lut jaoon- “inspired” by Hai re mere rabba : Karunesh
2) another Urmila/Himesss song, dont know how it starts: that one is “inspired” by tempted to touch by Rupee
i don’t like horror
so after watching ‘audition’
i remain away from miike for some time
i revisited him again
and, man
today
there are two gods working in international cinema
kim ki-duk
and
takashi miike
I think Himesh Reshammiya embodies everything in music that PFC stands against in cinema. A singer and a music director so pathetic, with such penchant for raunchy and sacrilageous music, only goes on to show that like films, indian mass has a commercial mass taste for music too. Blessed are we, that Rehman was there, otherwise, Bollywood music on the turn of the millenium would have been the most abysmal.
Guys like HR hogging the popularity charts gives you a perspective about the taste of the nation. I think when it comes to creative art or music, there’s a basic lack of education that exists in India with youngsters having no time chasing the IITs and IIMs. And this cumulative lack of basic education allows such forms of art or rather non-art to succeed.
I have a theory about Pritam Chakraborty also. I don’t think any of his hit numbers are actually done by him. Bhigi Bhigi si was an original composition by Bangaladeshi singer James, originally called as Telephone. Like wise, listening to “Tum se hi”, I’m hundred percent sure it’s a composition by Mohit Chauhan himself. I’m listening to his bits and pieces of music for a decade now and the song is so much Mohit’s genre, it can’t be composed by any one else.
Till the time such unholy nexus and mediocrity dominates mainstream music, I see genuine talent being pushed back.
Also if you listen to Vishal Shekhar’s latest compositions, like the hit “Khuda Jaane”, you can listen such regressive back ground scores in between, the song almost feels like a struggle between two different genres, one very progressive and the other regressive.
I look forward to fresh music from Rehman and Shantanu Moitra. The latter’s Baanwra man is my all time favourite.
From Masoom to Rangeela to Satya to Karzzz… Urmila ben is definitely coming down… eeemeesh bhaiii.. i dislike him. but nevertheless, he has made the nation babble from the nose.
Dekhoon Tujhe toh pyaa aaye in Apne is one of the decent HR songs in recent times. I always liked his earlier tracks such as Kahin Pyar Na ho Jaye, Humraaz (rate it as one of his best), Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge… Didnt like when he started singing but quite used to it now….
good on you subhashish
…
have you seen himesh’s promos recently…the hari om track?….MAN!!!….they way he goes haarrrrryy om, harrrry om…its ridiculous…..i cannot wait to see (Karzzzzzzz or is it Karzzzz), this guy is the king of all things ‘ SO BAD, IT’s ACTUALLY GOOD!!!’
himessssssss………woohooooo….
can someone please tell him to stop dancing
@Tushar
“main jahaan rahoon arguably could be his best overall song ever”
hmmmm have you heard ‘aawan akhiyan’ from ahista ahista?
Yes I have, Neeraja.
What a song, and what an album! Wondering how I missed that.
That song is a decent contender for the spot.
Neeraja: Agree that Aawan Ankhiyaan is among Himesn’s best compositions. However, I think (just a conjecture) that Main jahan rahoon would have been the more difficult one for him to compose. Being a qawwali, there might have been many reference points for Himesh while composing Aawan Ankhiyaan. I am not saying that it sounds like any other qawaali, but it has melodic segments very similar to many traditional qawwalis one has heard. He did not do anything innovative within the qawwali structure (like the way ARR has done with his sufi qawaalis in Meenaxi and Jodha Akbar). So, while Aawan Akhiyan is one of very, very few Himesh songs that I like, I rate Main Jahan Rahoon slightly higher.
Aditya, you mentioned rehman’s qawalis and you didn’t mention haaji Ali from fiza that he had composed….
For a second I felt like converting in to a Muslim. Thats the power of his music.
I meant when I heard haji Ali, I felt like converting..
I was waiting for this album for so long….bt i m vry disapointed after listening all the songs. All songs are litrally irritating and maily because of himesh’s voice….. you can feel his arrogance and disrespect for music in this album.
i like himesh the composer
as a singer works occasionally…like aashiq banaya aapne
he has a different voice…
he shud sing selectively….
as an actor he is miserable……
by the way i have the distinction of watching his first movie in the theatre…
first of all the tickets were free and secondly i thought it wud be so bad that it would be funny like jaani dushmann…
i bet ull definitely laugh at his mithun act in Aap ka Suroor ..the moviee …the reall luvv story…
Awan Ankhiyan? Really? I found Allah kare better than that song. His singing suits this tune where as in the qawwali – his voice is so heavy.
I was in India when this soundtrack came out and one of the guy in the society used to blast Allah Kare song every day!!!
As a composer he is just above mediocre stuff – can surprise you some times. I used to like this song: Life Ban Jayegi from Humraaz
Anyway, I reckon Ishq Ne Tere is the best song of the album. And Main
Jahaan Hoon is way better….
…………….
I don’t like any of the songs from this album. Tandoori Night song cracks me up – it’s so unbelievably cheesy!!!
You’ll be surprised by listening ‘Kitna Pyar Kartein Hain’, from Banaras – A mystic love story, sung by him not in his usual high pitch singing.(http://tinyurl.com/6rjgdt or http://preview.tinyurl.com/6rjgdt)
And couple of songs (”Aane Do (Thumri)” and Title Track) from Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye are good too!
plagiarism at its best.. just take one of Karunesh’s songs copy the beat and background sing a few of your own lyrics and DONE!! common any one can be a composer like that.. expected more from Himesh.. only Pritam can do something like that.. he’s the master of copy.
@ Honhaar Goonda -
I agree- Ishq ne tere … was the best composition on the album …
Beautifully sung by KK …
Other song of the album were good too … But this one scores above all …
I think Ahista ahista is most underrated work of Himesh till date ..
People go gaga over Namaste London but Ahista Ahista was eqaully soulful, Its just that the movie was a dud so ppl didn’t notice the soundtrack …
@ BD …
Himesh’s Best till date I think …
It has been sung by Alka Yagnik as well but u cant feel that passion in her voice with which HR has sung this song …
And yes … Dhoom is the best track of Karzzzzz…
Both musically and Lyrically …
I hope Himesh get to work with better lyrics writers (like Javed Akhtar, they created magic in NL and Irshaad Kamil, again a very decent album Ahista Ahista ..)
One of the reason that ppl dont like his songs is the asinine lyrics …
He should take a break from Sameer’s chalu lyrics …
He can do wonders with good lyrics .. I bet …
I have started liking a few songs of Karzzzz, some of them are really good …
I wrote this in a forum a couple of months back and I still maintain what I said in this post…
“I used to love HR at one time. His Dulhan hum Le jayenge, Humraaz, Kahin Pyar na Ho jaye.
Its unfair to compare him with SEL and Rahman. I still remember in one forum where people were saying that HR is the best composer in India. I agree and disagree . for the simple reason that I dont think he is the best composer but to think of it a common man may not relate to the compositions of AR Rahman or anybody for that matter. nothing is forced upon the public. it is their choice and therefore HR is thier choice.
I hated him when he started singing. Not because he is nasal but I thought he could have made a lot of others sing. But now as lots have put it, U can hate him, love him but cannot ignore or avoid HR, Iv started to like his songs. (NOT ALL) but a few and I have been on the recieving end from then on in my friends circle. The music may be repetative, copied but it makes me smile and dance sometimes.
For me the concept of music is very simple. It should be appealing. Like i said in one of my earlier posts, I never liked the music of Hey babyy initially. It didnt appeal to me. ‘Shankar Ehsaan Loy’ are one of my favs. It doesnt mean that I will blindly accept anything they compose. But I started liking the songs eventually.
HR may not be the best composer in India but I dont think we can deny that he is one of the most happening composers in India and has delivered numerous hits and hummable tunes.
Subhashish – Puh-leez! The Telephone song wasn’t James’ composition in the least – what you said is nothing short of blasphemy! The original song was composed by the legendary Bengali band Mohiner Ghoraguli. James merely sang the Bheegi Bheegi composition.
Any blame for plagiarizing the Mohiner Ghoraguli song is squarely on Pritam’s shoulders, I doubt this was James’ idea.
And let’s not be too flippant with those plagiarism accusations. Himesh, on the whole has a very credible professional record – hardly any major accusations of plagiarism.
Well, looks like Himesh made another great experiment with the movie. he earlier proved that guys can sing with the nose too, apart from throat and heart…. Now, in this movie he sings with his arse…. Try listening to the words “Hari Om” again and again and you will realise it….. Kudos to him….
Himesh is not the best….bt if he will start giving chance to others to sing his compositions and works harder as a music director…he has that kind of talent that he can be the best. I was expecting so much from karzzzz bt i m disappointed. A below average album.
I don’t think the tracks are copied they are original.Sometimes it does happen that few tunes sound similar like “Dil Hara” song of Tashan was sounding same like “omkara” song from omkara.May be himesh has been inspired but it not complete lifting of the song.As for album it is one decent album which I have heard after long time. The combination of western and indian instrument is great.Himesh done decent job as singer and composer.
heee haasss not copied anything he might have used a few soft lines which resembel the kaurnesh;s punjab i have heard both songs and know that it is not lifted just rumours going around/…………
i knowwww i didn’t get what we expected from Karzzz
but still good himesh ji is the best
i will give it 3 stars out of 5(actually i was not asked to do any such thing)
***
In the song Lut Jaaon us karz pe,
The tune is lifted from Karunesh’s song called Punjab.
This song was also used in the movie Boom.
The paragraphs that the lady is singing is directly lifted from a song from 80’s movie Bazaar’s song “Dekh lo aaj humko jee bhar ke.”
Even the last words “jee bhar ke” are same in Lut Jaaon.
@Mahesh
The Karunesh song itself samples/redoes ‘Hai o mere dadiya’ by Surinder Kaur.