Love Aaj Kal – Music Review
The team that gave super-hit music for “Jab We Met” is back again and this time they have a huge monkey on their back which would certainly result in comparisons . The music of “Love Aaj Kal” is out and I must say I was looking forward to this album with lot of anticipation . The film has an all new cast for director Imtiaz Ali who has never worked with them before and as a result expectations are running high . Pritam’s recent work , New York , is already on the charts and has got positive feedback .The lyrics which are done by Irshad Kamil , last worked on Jab We Met where he did a great job . This album has a total of 10 tracks with 3 remixes and 7 originals.
The first one on the track is the one that is already on air , “Twist” , which is a nice peppy track to begin the album . It has vocals by Neeraj Sridhar who is good with English vocals as always and has his distinct style of singing . The song starts with the famous “Been” tune from the hit song “Tan Dole mera mann dole” of Nagin originally composed by Hemant Kumar . The old classic tune has been given a modern feel and it is probably the best thing in the entire song music-wise . The lyrics don’t have much to offer and there’s nothing so great or catchy about them . The only catchy phrase that is there is “And We Twist” which has been given by some guy Indie according to Album Credits so lyricist gets no point for this song . The only two positives of the song are the classic music and the phrase “And We Twist” . Interestingly the credits to both these positives have been given in real small fonts somewhere in the corner on the Album Credits . Overall , a nice track , will get popular for sure but I guess in the long run wont work .
Then comes “Chor Bazaari” by Neeraj Sridhar and Sunidhi . How ironic , Pritam gets to compose a song by the name of “Chor Bazaari” , he he , he would have had no problem composing this one . Well , the song has nice music , I hope the source is Pritam only . The lyrics here are much better than the first track and add to the song . This song would be of the league of “Ye Ishq Haaye” from Jab We Met and I guess in this one also Saif and Deeps would be roaming around in some beautiful locales . I am looking forward to see this song on-screen . Niraj and Sunidhi have sung it effortlessly and did a good job . Pritams Chor Bazaari is of the better tracks on the album .
Remember the cool music in First Trailer of the film . Well , that was from “Aahun Aahun” which comes next . This was the part that made me look forward to the music and as always the best part was in the trailer itself , nothing more to offer . I just loved the first 50 seconds from this track after which it takes a whole different path . And guess what , the first 50 seconds that I loved again have an outside source . Both the lyrics and melody of the this part are from a Traditional Punjabi Track -”Kadi Te Hass Bol Ve” . Good part though that this part has been sung by Master Salim who I think has done a great job . At first I thought it was Mika (considering Jab We Met) but to my surprise it was not him . Anyways Salim does a great job in that part . Apart from the first part , the song in my opinion has nothing much to offer , neither lyrically nor music wise . The guitar piece in the beginning and throughout is good . Music is all about Passion and Feelings and that is very much visible in that first part of this song which are no where else in the entire album . I just loved it .
Then comes “Dooriyan” by Mohit Chauhan . Mohit got a great song in “Jab We Met” but I guess history doesn’t repeat itself so fast . This one is a good track but not a great one . This track would make much more sense after the film releases and when we watch it along with the story . The lyrics are also good . The song has a slow sad feel to it and Mohit adheres to it . He does a good job with vocals . Overall , its a nice slow track that would work with the film .
“Ajj Din Chadheya” comes next by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan which is a nice soulful track with a simple bit of music . The song has some nice lyrics with some inputs from Shiv Kumar Batalvi . The entire track has an element of simplicity to it yet it is certainly worth listening. The Punjabi lyrics have been very well sung by Rahat who as always does a great job . Irshad has done a great job with lyrics and his best on this album . In all , its a nice track that might grow on you with repeated listening and would grow even more once film releases .
Then comes a folk song like track “Thoda Thoda Pyaar” which is a bit different and has some traditional music in it . Though it has a folk song like feel but it is not something like “Genda Fool” which was a pure folk song yet done brilliantly . This one is meant only for film and would look good only in the film . Nothing so different about it and is just like usual traditional Punjabi track . The lyrics and singing both are good .
Finally comes “Mein Kya Hoon” by KK . He has sung this one in similar style that Shaan had sung “Aao Meelon Chale” in Jab We Met . I guess Pritam is responsible for that . Pritam though has failed to compose a good tune for this one . The music is pretty much average for this track and lyrics are also not that good either . The music of this track though would sound good on a good music system and bass lovers would love it . Overall , its an average track and doesn’t provide a good end to the soundtrack .
Then there is a series of remixes of tracks “Twist” , “Chor Bazaari” and “Aahun Aahun” all done by DJ Sanj . These are just like any other remixes , faster and some beats in it for the discs n clubs . The remix of chor bazaari has some bad English lyrics that make no sense as such . Last comes a remix of Aahun Aahun in which the part that I loved has been cut short so that leaves pretty much nothing in it .
Overall , a nice album but falls short of expectations . This one would not be a blockbuster like Jab We Met and would go down as an average bollywood film soundtrack . The songs that are a bit good also don’t impress that much . But still , it aint that bad and Pritam somehow manages a soundtrack that would at least not hurt the film and add to it in a certain way .
Album Rating : 3 out of 5 ; Good but only in parts .
Tags: Deepika Padukone, Imtiaz Ali, irshad kamil, KK, Love Aaj Kal, Love Aaj Kal Music Review, Pritam, Rahat Fatheh Ali Khan, Saif Ali Khan
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
I was disappointed to see that Sandesh Shandilya didn’t get any song in this album.
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Nonetheless, a very commendable effort by Pritam. I am sure the songs will gain (even more) popularity after the movie release – as Imtiaz has a knack for picturization of songs.
I have been listening to all of them since 2 days now and trying hard to find one REALLY good ’nuff..
Aahun Aahun I liked of all but that Neeraj song.. Gosh, I am tired of him and his monotonous style…
To top it, any soft slow number; bring KK
Mohit is disappointing after path-breaking ‘Tum Se Hi’… 2 out of 5.
Didn’t mention this in the review , if u liked “kadi te hass bol ve” then I would recommend a full version of it by some punjabi singer madan maddi ..its a good one … you can also find its video on youtube …cheers!!
@vishal:
you are right , even I am disappointed he didn’t even get a single song ..he did such a fabulous job for Socha Na Tha and also for Jab We Met …Sandesh doesn’t work too often ..
@Vee :
I like Neeraj’s style of singing but even I think he is now overused in the music scene or should I must say Abused … he should work a little less
All songs have a certain likeability but nothing more than that,nothing exceptional..Seems like Pritam is really struggling to come up with original tunes this is just old wine in new bottle..
Yeh Dooriyan-irritating and weakest song
Mei Kya Hoom-just about OK..
Rest of the songs are just variations of usual Punjabi music..
i thought the music is pretty good, much better than the others floating around like ‘kambakht ishq’ and ‘luck’. it lacks a bit of freshness, especially the chor-bazaari
; but its nice overall. here’s my short review of love aaj kal music
I liked the Chor Bazaari song the most. The picturization is also good
@Rohit:
Well I was hoping to catch it in cinema-halls but watched in on tv and I also liked it .. deepika looks good in it and the choreography by bosco-ceaser is also good ..
nice review. totally agree with your views about aahun aahun. the first 50 seconds are awesome…master salim’s does a superb job. but after the first 50 seconds it kinda goes downhill…i’m kinda bored of hearing neeraj’s vocals, lol. Twist is an addictive song. The rest of the songs in the OST are aise hi…nothing special.
probably the picturization will add more to feel of the songs…Chor Bazaari i guess will have delhi locales as mentioned in the song ;)
Thanx Amanda …n u r right most of the songs are “aise hi ..nothing special ”
..Hey this could be a nice line for a song …
Status Update :
After repeated listening , Chor Bazaari has grown on me , this 1 would be most popular and would take over “Twist” once film releases … Last night watched the making of the song and I think the concept is nice in the song …. while shooting this song Deepika fell down and almost had a terrible accident but Saif managed to hold her in time .. real life hero ;) …. I don’t believe in Superstitions but I had read somewhere that in most of the Karan’s films that have worked , his leading lady had fell down once while shooting … Preity in KHNH , Rani in K2H2 … lets hope so this film also gets lucky … luck or no luck , this song would get popular for sure ..Deeps would benefit most from the song .. she’s an angle anyways ..
The first time I listened to “Kadi te hass bol ve” reminded me of good old Laxmikant Pyarelal days. Each song is different from each other. It will be interesting to see how Imtiaz will capture the two very distinct generations.
I am not a big remix fan but I am hooked to the three remixes in this album. It was refreshing. Beats are awesome in “Aahun Aahun Remix”.
Pritam raised the bar high with Jab We Met and he definately failed to raise it again with Love Aaj Kal.
I really liked the original kaddi te has bol ve song and was hoping to have that in the album after listening to it in the trailer. But Aahun Aahun is nothing but disappointment. And yes i agree to the first comment, Sandesh should have got a chance like in Jab we met for Aaoge jab tum. But having said that i think that yes the album might go well with the movie and people would like it more after watching the movie. But for now it seems to be an average effort from Pritam.
this is one of the best efforts by pritam…i hope original too…
in aahoon aahoon…he has used kaddi te hans bol ve..i hope he has given credit to original artist too…
Twist, aahoon aahoon and chor bazari are rockinng numbers
aaj din chadeya and ye dooriyan are gud too…
a totally addictive album…:)loving it…
PS: I hope there are no other “sources” of these songs!!;)
Hey guys .. I loved Priam’s work too… the experts have a also appreciated the film’s music! You can check this out HERE to listen to the songs and read the review at the same time!