Jukebox-Short Kut & Kailasa Chaandan Mein
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Strange are the ways of Bollywood. Fair enough. Argument taken. It doesn’t take a genius to guess it’s been a bad year. Post Delhi-6/Gulaal/Dev D that is. And the thing about bad times is that it kills one’s senses to acknowledge something minutely good that comes on the way further. I do not remember which was the last hindi film I saw and enjoyed. I guess 13B or CC2C (had written a review on it but now even I can’t find it). Both were wholesome experiences, with their fair share of music and moods to munch on. There is some fun in exploring a tune lesser heard, and embracing it and gracing it with your own Grammy(s).
CC2C had Tere Naina, one of the most soothing tracks heard in the better parts of this year. Shankar sounded fresh as ever, and the song had a ‘khanak’ rarely heard off late. Thankfully it didn’t become a hit (may be because they didn’t ask Rahat Fateh Ali Khan to sing it)and still remains fresh in airplays. Then there was that track in Sikandar, Dhoop ke Sikke. Excellent in all departments except for a film connection. Enjoyed it a lot, right from the inspired melody to the polished execution, guitars et al, to the highly original poetry that worked wonderfully with the SEL set-up…
Baarood jab bachcha tha
Wo titli pakadta tha
Wo ambiya bhi churaata tha
Patango se jhagadta tha
I could go on, but I guess you can hear the track, and know for yourself why it will feature in one of the best to come this year. The album also boasted of Gulon Mein, Maanzaraat & Chaal Apni.
Then there was the Aasmaan track in 13B, melodic interludes, the ever puzzling Chitra, the flowing and haunting harmony. Another was the laidback SEL, the way they shift the mood to shaayraana, with harmonium and matching poetry. Another track that remains fresh. 13B also had Bade se shehar mein and sab khairiyat, which struck the same magic the film created. Surprise. Shock. Fun.
Then one odd track here and there, but that was it. Not that I expected some miracle to come my way. You always have bad phases everywhere, and you should embrace them as a sign to look elsewhere. Music anyways will not disappoint you if you are willing to look. And like I said, once you look away, you need a stronger reason to come back. 99 had a nice track, Baadal/aaye hain baadshah/Delhi Destiny. Another case of matching mood with images. The song was a nice approach to Delhi in those times, at in spite of all oddities, it looked convincing for some weird reasons. I played it a lot, and relished Raja Hassan’s rendition. I saw the film, and it suffered the same ‘don’t look back if it’s not worth it’ fate.
SHORT KUT – COMFORTABLE TERRITORY read DHOL TIME
The other day, after throwing up a few times (read Love Aaj Kal, Kambakth Ishq, and other inanities), as I approached the TV with caution, I saw some more disturbing images. One of them was this Short Kut film. And I skipped the thought. Few days later, I caught the PATLI GALLI song, and I looked for the composer. SEL! I was like this shit is going down. Somewhere, along throwing up and flipping channels, I thought I should check out the songs, for love of SEL, and knowing that they always attack the Masala obliquely, in their own classy fashion. And I wasn’t disappointed.
SHORT KUT has 4 songs, and are a nice mishmash of inner-references (to their own albums), and some new experiments. I was reminded of the SEL of EK AUR EK GYARAH (Beimaan Mohabbat) and I got my groove back. Kinda.
KAL NAU BAJE
Sonu Nigam, Alka Yagnik
Hated the song at first, for its soppiness. But the same factor made me like it after few hears. Because you can always separate good soppy from bad soppy (think OM SHANTI OM), it didn’t take much time. The same SEL angle, a mild rhythm, a soft violin and a mood reminiscent of the softer tracks of ARMAAN and KUCH NAA KAHO.
Kaun keh sakta hai
Kal main hoon kahaan
Tum ho kahaan
Seeing JAVED AKHTAR’s name was another surprise. Soon, I was back at familiar territory, and I thank the score for that.
Not an everyday song, and I am not even thinking about the images, but it does have some enjoyable sides to it.
MAREEZE MOHABBAT
Nikita Nigam, Kirti Sagathia, Hrishikesh Kamerkar and Shankar Mahadevan.
Heavy BEIMAAN MOHABBAT & SALAAM E ISHQ hangover but it’s ok. We don’t get them often. A fun assortment of folk and club, the song kicks some patient ass. And trust Shankar to elevate his songs by adding his vocal/magical touch at places least expected. Even with a very conventional Dhol hook, MAREEZE MOHABBAT manages to steer on its own by the midway. Love the Jise pyaar karti ho bits.
Certainly the pick of the album and an infectious track at once, this one is for the Sufi fun in SEL. And do not even try to decipher what is being said in the folk intro. You got better things to do here. Even the matching similarities to RICHA SHARMA ain’t that much fun as it is to explain the LA-DAWAA portion.
PATLI GALI
Shankar Mahadevan
Funny hook, the Shankar of JHOOM, and the whole connection of PATLI GALLI and LE LE SHORT KUT doesn’t require a readership of AV ONION CLUB either. So have fun with the mischief, and go lazy. Nothing great or memorable but it’s not meant to be. And SEL know their game, and they make sure they sound like they are having fun. And the ARSHAD WARSI connection only makes you a little hopeful than not.
KYUN HOTA HAI DIL DEEWANA
Shreya Ghoshal, Javed Ali
The DHAMAKA dance number track of the album, it retains the ensemble mood of SEI, and the characteristic JAVED AKHTAR sawaal-jawaab format. You want to write the song off, but it comes back.
So that was SHORT KUT, have fun while it lasts, and before we get to more important issues. Like love and reviving a lost heritage…
CHAANDAN MEIN – KAILASA- BACK AT THEIR GAME
KAILASA, the band have, through last couple of years and a couple of albums and a handful hits, defined their own genre. Which is not quite EUPHORIA, not quite JUNOON, not AR RAHMAN either. And that’s quite an achievement. When you catch any of their interviews/videos, on one hand you see KAILASH KHER completely immersed in the songs, in their soul, and speaking of them in divinity, on the other you see two brash, spoilt (going by the looks) young kids looking like they couldn’t care less, who would fit in any college band night out that you might choose to skip for a film. And you wonder, what exactly do they smoke?
I have never written on their previous albums, both of which are well deserving of an analysis each, so yes there is the hangover of KAILASA(TERI DEEWANI, DILRUBA, KAISE MAIN KAHOON, TAUBA TAUBA) and JHOOMO RE(BABAM BAM, SAIYYAAN, CHHAP TILAK, TERE NAINA, JOBAN CHHALKE) haunting my thoughts. Of the two, I thought the latter was a more evolved album, for all the valid reasons. BABAM BAM was a league apart, of course, in terms of musical daredevilry and innovation. I classified KAILASA’s music into two broad categories – fast and slow. And they were rewarding in both. Yes, they have done films also, and I did write about their knowledge and intelligent use of songs to match a film’s dramatic terrain when they did CC2C in that godforsaken review I can’t find, but they are an absolute delight in the contemporary Indian, more so Hindi music section, ESSENTIAL almost, I must say. And they are always consistent with their efforts, though the songs might not always make you jump, as there are myriad moods at play here, but one thing you always get is QUALITY.
I gave CHAANDAN MEIN around 10 days to simmer, and now it rates very high in my scale, I do not know how it stands against the other albums, but yes, it is very approachable and ever-fresh in its offerings. It is certainly much evolved and experimental in sound, it is only fitting that Putumayo is associating with the band now and they are flying up and away.
CHAANDAN MEIN
The frontrunner, it’s a winner. It’s closer to SAIYYAAN than TERI DEEWANI, you would have all heard it by now thanks to the airplays, so not much to add. Except that it is delightfully Rajasthan, from its flavor to execution to soul . Hear TERI DEEWANI and then hear CHAANDAN MEIN and you will know how far they have come. The restraint bodes of long practice and an understanding that comes through immersing one in a world of unknown sounds.
I did see the video a couple times, and loved the use of color and the framing. Directing their music is always a delight I guess, given the pathos and the dramatic possibilities.
NA BATATI TU(NA DHIN DHIN DHIN NA)
The guys get a little badmaash here. And it’s a ball. The music takes a back seat for Kher to take over the stage, and he does a swell job as usual, more in the league of BABAM BAM, minus the occult connects. This should be an on-stage clincher.
Go fishin!
BHEEG GAYA MERA MAN
Now that’s what I am talkin’ about! Kher exercises his strength to the max, with the pleasantly mild intro and backings(mostly flutes), and brings the house down with this one. The global sound gets only reaffirmed here, with the smart use of percussion; you can almost make out the distinctive use of rhythm as the song gets groovier through the stanzas. There is a guitar and an almost indipop mood kicked in, but Kher still retains the elemental beauty that he so singularly anoints each song with. One thing that separates KAILASA from other players in the league (SALIM SULAIMAN, CHOWTA of earlier times when he cared to produced songs and albums, ASHU DHRUV, INDIAN OCEAN, MIDIVAL PUNDITZ etc.) is their faith in the rustic. They repeat the patterns to no end, and that faith wins you over. And BHEEG GAYA proves the point. Post first stanza, the ensemble finds its own, with tablas and strings creating a quiet riot.
A pleasantly long song, and one that stays.
PIYA GHAR AAVENGE
A nod to the classical genre, and the dry craving of a lonely heart full of promise, this one starts off with vintage piano, and it blends so well with the band’s regular elements that you never notice it. The vocals are almost like a lullaby. Kailash’s voice has a strange eclectic grip, something you can’t put words to. Check out how he transitions from the sedate mood to ae ri sakhi mangal gaao ri and you will know the feeling. He transcends gender in ways you can only imagine. And that might be a sufi element too, I can’t be too sure.
And why all the talk about the album being evolved and all? For an answer to that, check the finale of this song, the way it pulls all the bits together and created some noise worth an ear.
ISHQ HO GAYA
Bad hair day. Something is not right with this song. More of a conflict of moods/genres. But it never feels consistent, and to make things worse, it is a dead slow track at that. Have a beer, guys!
RANG RANG MA
OK, so I see that you had some pints on you. Good.
Annoying at first, it goes down Predictable Road, and leaves you miserably chanting the same over and over. You are in a trance, and you don’t know it. Kher screams much like BHEEG GAYA, only faster, and a slick treatment makes it dance friendly. And please leave that wig at home.
KAR KAR MAIN HAARA
Heavy sitars kick this one off, soon you are in saccharine vocal territory, and you go “Uh!”, redemption isn’t too far away. Trust me. stay for like 15 seconds and you will love to smile. A nice comfortably fusion track, it is only helped by the ‘ambar ko dharti se milaaoonga’ line. One of those tracks that tend to stay longer in your memory. Some great aalaaps and vocal chhechhad are an added attraction apart from the masterstroke of reprising the opening line(yun to teri yaad mein bhi swaad hai tera, par aankhon ko manaaoon kis tarah) on a sitar towards the end, KAILASA can only get better.
TERI YAAD MEIN
Sung mostly mellow and gloomy, this one has a passable structure and aftereffect. After the riot the other tracks seem to be creating, it fades away. No regrets though. The elaborate strings are enough reason to come back some other day.
OK, now I can get back to my WOLFGANG AMADEUS PHOENIX, DIRTY PROJECTORS & VAMPIRE WEEKEND. Later.
Tags: akshaye khanna, Javed Akhtar, Kailasa, kailash kher, Shankar Ehsaan Loy
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
nice to read your thoughts about kailasa chaandan mein! although i feel babam bam was way better than na batati tu. i thought rang rang ma was “more in the league of BABAM BAM” than na batati tu.
short kut…i tried listening to each song twice and then was like why am i making myself suffer this musical attyachaar? so, took the short cut way out and deleted all the songs from my iPod :-)
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i love the song “chandaan mein”…its video is very interesting as well…i actually love the video as much as i love the song…
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I love the album ‘Chaandan mein’. More than Kailash Kher, this one belongs to Naresh and Paresh who let their hair lose! This is so an act of jumping in the territory of Paki bands by the duo while showing them a middle finger by not following the sufi tones themselves!
Short-Kut somehow isn’t doing it for me. May be I am expecting a lot more from SEL after Rock On!!. I found some songs of Luck better. And now, Kaminey is taking away all the slices!
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by the way, Kaminey and Chaandan Mein are two albums that took me away from Dev D. Finally!
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@Tejas, you are right about Chaandan Mein. It’s been just a few minutes into Kaminey for me. Sounds nice as of now. But I wish guys like Vishal could do more in terms of including background pieces and all, more so in these deprived times, one can certainly have more than 5 tracks in a album like this.
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Except for Kal Nau Baje, all the songs in Shortkut looked horrible to me. I was wondering how S-E-L can come with such a soundtrack, especially after giving some really brilliant tracks in LBC, 13B and Sikandar this year.
Chaandan Mein is really good. I liked most of the tracks after a few listenings.
I liked Khudaya Ve and Jee Le from Luck. Salim has done a really brilliant job in Khudaya Ve, his best track for me so far(in terms of singing).
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