Kumar Shanu said Sonu Nigam has ladies voice.

Kumar Shanu said Sonu Nigam has ladies voice.

In a recent interview given in Bengali newspaper Anandabazar Patrika on 26th December, 2009, Kumar Shanu had said a lot of things. He said most of the deliberations will be found in a book which he recently wrote.

When he was asked that why he is hardly found in latest bollywood films, inspite of ruling bollywood films from 89 to 95, he said that a number of lobbies influence music, and he may not be part of them.

He mentioned that music was at its zenith in the 90s when Nadeem Shravan had composed tunes for him in films like Phool Aur Kante. Most of the films became super hit due to the music. He said that at the moment Indian films are filled with westernized compositions and hence the soft romantic numbers that existed during Shanu’s time is disappearing.

He did not agree about the fact that just because Kishore Kumar died in the late 80s, he got break and gave hits after hits. He said that Abhijeet, Amit Kumar, Vinod Rathore, Sudesh Bhosle everyone were in the race but he made it to the top by his sheer brilliance. He did not give any positive comment about Sonu Nigam saying that the tone quality of his voice is not good but praised Shaan and Shreya Ghoshal.

As far as his lessening of domination in bollywood films, he said nobody ruled bollywood music for indefinite period. He said that Mohammad Rafi did not get songs after the 70s and got a heart attack due to that. He said that Kishore Kumar featured in less number of songs before the 70s.

He talked about a present film that he was working on relating to the life of young boys of Goregaon who earned their living by boot polish. He also talked about his business that he is running in Dubai.

As far as his comments on Sonu Nigam are concerned, it is difficult to ignore his success in bollywood music inspite of Kumar Shanu’s comments. The audience is going to judge the relevance of Shanu’s comments.

The Three Idiots will entertain the viewers.

The Three Idiots will entertain the viewers.

Rajkumar Hirani, the successful director of bollywood films, had experimented with Amir Khan, Kareena Kapoor, R Madhavan and Sharman Joshi, in the film The Three Idiots. Amir Khan, R Madhavan and Sharman Joshi were college friends.

The story of the film was related to Chetan Bhagat’s novel Five Point Someone, and the production was controlled by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. In the film Madhavan and Sharman Joshi recollected an old bet they were involved with. The bet was related to a wedding that they would have crashed into and a funeral which went out of control.

They searched their college friend Amir Khan who was involved in an affair with Kareena Kapoor and also was rebuked by Boman Irani. After the college days, all of a sudden, Amir Khan disappeared. Madhavan and Sharman Joshi could not trace him.

The music of the film had been composed by Shatanu Moitra who had followed up his successes in Parineeta and Lage Raho Munnabhai. The main songs which were catchy include “all izz well” sung by Sonu Nigam, Shaan and Swanand Kirkire, “behti hawa sa tha who” sung by Shaan, Shantanu Moitra, “jaan nehi denge tujhe” sung by Sonu Nigam, “give me some sunshine” sung by Suraj jagan, Sharman Joshi, to name a few.

Raj Kumar Hirani had only tasted success from the time he had made films related to Munnabhai series. Both Munnabhai MBBS and Lage Raho Munnabhai had been super hit. Going by that track record The Three Idiots is also going to be hit.

Besides Amir Khan, Mr. Perfectionist is destined to put his stamp with the success of the film The Three Idiots after the successes of Ghajini and Taren Zameen par released in the previous years respectively.

Review of the film Kurbaan.

Review of the film Kurbaan.

Rensil D Silva experimented with Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor in the film Kurbaan. Karan Johar produced the film with the backdrop of terrorism.

In the film Kareena Kapoor who previously lived in US returned to India after her father had cardiac arrest. Kareena Kapoor met with Saif Ali Khan when they were in Delhi University and fell in love with one another.

Kareena got a job in US and took Saif Ali Khan to US. She helped him to work as Professor of Islam in the same University where Kareena Kapoor worked. Kareena Kapoor developed intimacy with Dia Mirza, Vivek Oberoi and Nauheed Cyrusi. While Kareena Kapoor was pregnant she heard that Om Puri and others planned to blast the flight in which Dia Mirza was flying.

Kareena Kapoor later found out that Saif Ali Khan was involved in the same terrorist activity in which Om Puri and others were involved. Saif Ali Khan kept Kareena Kapoor under house arrest and threatened her that in case she disclosed anyone about the conspiracy, her father in India would be killed. The flight exploded and everyone in the flight were killed.

Vivek Oberoi joined the terrorist group with the mission of taking revenge against Om Puri, Saif Ali Khan and others. Om Puri preponed the plan of blasting three subway stations in New York. Ultimately Saif Ali Khan sacrificed his life to save Kareena Kapoor and the child in the mother’s womb.

The music composed by Salim Sulaiman was very impressive. The song “shukran allah” sung by Sonu Nigam, Salim Merchant and Shreya Ghoshal became superhit. The other songs like “dua”, “ali maula” all were very impressive.
The critics fear one fact. Films based on terrorist activities did not do good business in the past. So obviously Kurbaan can face the heat in that respect. Otherwise the performance of Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Om Puri and Vivek Oberoi were excellent.

The film should do well.

Mai Aur Mrs. Khanna got a slow opening.

Main Aur Mrs. Khanna got a Slow Opening.

This year 3 of the bollywood films were released on 16th October, 2009, including Blue, Mai Aur Mrs Khanna and All the best. The directors and producers purposely released it during the period of diwali to allow the viewers to watch the film during festival time.

Although Blue and All the best got a fantastic opening, Mai Aur Mrs Khanna lagged behind. Director Prem Soni had used Salman Khan and Kareena Kapoor in a love story titled Mai Aur Mrs Khanna. Salman Khan married Kareena Kapoor against the wishes of his parents and settled in Melbourne, Australia. There he had a successful career of a stock-broker. The moment he lost the job, the internal differences between the couple played by Salman Khan and Kareena Kapoor had forced Kareena Kapoor to stay with Sohail Khan.

Salman Khan’s friend Govinda tried to patch up the things so that the marital relationship could be restored. The film had been produced by Ronnie Screwala and Sohail Khan. Kareena Kapoor’s visa expired in Australia before she was working in a watch shop. Due to insistence from her friends she married Sohail Khan.

In the mean time Deepika Padukone also entered the scene and made the play more dramatic. Inspite of good performances from Kareena Kapoor, Salman Khan and Sohail Khan the film did not have a good opening. The music of Sajid Wajid was impressive with Sonu Nigam’s song “don’t say alvida” becoming hit.

Some way or the other the luck is not going in Salman Khan’s favour. Although his TV program “10 ka dum” had been extremely successful most of his films including Wanted are doing mediocre business. He has one last film this year titled New York to prove his stardom. But the film Mai Aur Mrs Khanna should be watched by viewers considering the cameos played by even guest artists like Preeti Zinta and seasoned performances from Kareena Kapoor, Salman Khan, Sohail Khan and others.

Did Sonu Nigam reach the level of excellence of Rafi?

Did Sonu Nigam reach the level of excellence of Rafi?

Sonu Nigam is considered the most powerful playback singer in bollywood films at the moment. The greatest debate that haunts most of the music lovers of the country is that whether Sonu Nigam had reached the level of excellence that Rafi had reached in the 50s and 60s.

The greatest achievement of a singer lies in his acceptability before diverse range of composers and lyricists. As Rafi was classically trained and could adapt any type of song ranging from qawallies to ghazals to soft romantic numbers to westernized rock and roll compositions his demand before the musical community was immense. He is probably the only singer in the 50s and 60s who had sung with compositions of all the leading composers including Naushad, Shankar Jaikishan, Roshan, Madan Mohan, OP Nayyar, Salil Choudhury, Ghulam Mohammad, Vasant Desai, C. Ramchandran, S D Burman, LP, KA, RD Burman, and others and lyricists including Shailendra, Shakeel Badayani, Hasrat Jaipuri, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Kaifi Azmi, Raja Mehendi Ali Khan, Rajender Krishnan, etc. Excepting Manna Dey and Lata Mangeshkar, no other singer were in close diameter of Rafi in the 50s and 60s, as due to lack of classical orientation some of the singers of specifically composer’s singers.

Sonu Nigam had sung songs composed by AR Rehman, Anu Malik, Shankar Ehsaan Loy, Vishal Shekar, Pritam, Shantonu Maitra and many other composers of the present age. In singing difficult and dynamic songs his name had appeared before Udit Narayan, Sukhwinder Singh, or others, including “sathiya sathiya” composed by AR Rehman, “sandese ate hai” composed by Anu Malik, “piyu bole” composed by Shantonu Moitra, “tumko bhula na payega” composed by Sajid Wajid, “ek din kahin” composed by Nusat Fateh Ali Khan, to name a few. But there is strong competition in bollywood music at the moment and Sonu Nigam is not the uncrowned king considering the challenge posed forward by Javed Ali, Atif Aslam and many new singers.

If compared with Rafi, probably the factor where Rafi remains unparallel, were the remote compositions that he had sung with. If Naushad’s “woh duniya ke rakhwale” was pure classically oriented, then SJ’s “aasman se aya farishta” had French background embedded in them, if Roshan’s “jo wada kiya ho” had royal andaz, Madan Mohan’s “tumhari zulfon ki” had ghazal andaz. Besides Rafi had given expression to Salil Choudhury’ s tunes based on east-west blend of music, Jaidev’s urbanized folk songs, SD Burman’s rural folk songs. There is no similarity of “madhuban me radhika nache re” with “aaj kal tere mere pyar ke charche” or “dil jo na keh saka”. The list can go on. The other factor where Rafi had an edge includes the standard of Indian film music reached its zenith in the 50s and 60s which is difficult to attain.

Sonu Nigam is big asset for bollywood music at the moment and has a long way to go. But those who understand music will invariably agree Rafi’s empty space had remained absolutely unfilled. Rafi-lovers only try to fulfill their thirst by hearing the singing style of Sonu Nigam which is to a big extent modeled in Rafi’s style. Sonu Nigam himself also agrees that Rafi was unparallel and will always remained the uncrowned king of bollywood music.

Viewers expect the singers of the present age to listen to Rafi’s song and improve their own level of singing to whatever extent they can.

Sonu Nigam and Salman Khan

Sonu Nigam and Salman Khan.

Sonu Nigam is considered to be the most versatile singers of the present period. In the last 10 years he had sung in the films of almost all the leading stars including Hrithik Roshan, Shahrukh Khan and Salman Khan. He had sung songs composed by most of the dynamic composers of the country including AR Rehman, Shankar Ehsaan Loy, Anu Malik, Vishal Shekhar, Sajid Wajid, etc. But his voice matches the most with Salman Khan.

In the film Mujhse Shaadi Karogi, all the songs sung by Sonu Nigam for Salman Khan like “jeene ke hai char din” or “mujhse shaadi karogi”, became super hit. The songs were composed by Sajid Wajid and the lips of Priyanka Chopra added flavor in Salman Khan’s super hit film which was mostly picturised in the sandy locations of Goa. The songs of the film Yuvvraaj, composed by AR Rehman, last year like "shano shano" sung by Sonu Nigam and picturised on Salman Khan also was appreciated by the viewers.

Even the songs in the film Partner composed by Sajid Wajid like "maria maria" or "do you want a partner" became bumper hits. The film became super hit and the combination of Salman Khan and Lara Dutta was liked by the viewers as they have liked both Govinda and Katrina Kaif in the film.

Sonu Nigam and Salman Khan combination stormed bollywood in the film Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya. The songs were composed by Himesh Reshamiya, and Sonu Nigam’s song “just chill chill” became super hit. The lips of Sohail Khan and Katrina Kaif were as impressive as Salman Khan in the song. The other songs in the film were equally successful. Sonu Nigam Salman Khan combination stormed bollywood films in the film No Entry. Especially the title song “no no no no no no no no, no entry” piscturised on Salman Khan and Bipasha Basu became super hit. The music was composed by Anu Malik.

Sajid Wajid combined with Salman Khan and Sonu Nigam to provide hit songs in the film Heroes. The song “tera mera pyar baliye” having Punjabi andaz became very successful in the patriotic. Besides the same combination had given successful songs in the film God Tussi Great Ho. Whichever song was sung by Sonu Nigam for Salman Khan became very successful.

Previously Salman Khan’s songs in the film Tumko Bhula Na Payenge became super hit. The successful songs of Sonu Nigam included “tumko bhula na payega”, “are are yeh kya hua re”. Diya Mirza and Sushmita Sen complimented Salman Khan in the film and all the songs and the film did very good business. Even the songs of the combination in the film Janemaan, including “jane ke jane na”, “tumko maloom hai” etc., became super hit.

Sonu Nigam and Salman Khan had become a formidable combination over the years and the viewers feel that the composers and lyricists should use the combination as much as possible in films in future.

Happy birthday to AR Rehman

Happy birthday to AR Rehman.

The viewers of bollywood films wish happy birthday to AR Rehman, on 6th January, 2008. AR Rehman had remained a master composer in Indians films for more than 10 years.

His variety and versatility had been exhibited with the landmark tunes given in films like Roza, Saathiya, Taal, Bombay, etc. Successful songs under his composition include “sathiya, sathiya” sung by Sonu Nigam in the film Saathiya, “dil hai chotasa choti si asha”, “roza janeman” in the film Roza, “tuhi re” sung by Hari Haran in the film Bombay, “maiya maiya” in the Guru. He had received 7 filmfare awards for the best composer only next to the genius musical duo Shankar Jaikishan who had won it 9 times. The other composers like Shankar – Ehsan – Loy, Vishal Shekhar, Anu Malik, Pritam have special regard for the versatile composer AR Rehman. He created a separate image for himself inspite of strong competition fro the above mentioned composers.

In 2008, AR Rehman gave landmark tunes in most of the films. He was sublime in the film Jane Tu Yaa Jane Na. All the songs “pappu cant dance sala”, “kabhi kabhi aditi”, impressed the teenagers with the catchy numbers.

He was totally different in Subhash Ghai’s venture Yuvvraaj. Gulzar wrote the lyrics of the film and the combination of Subhash Ghai, Gulzar and AR Rehman created magic. The songs “tu muskura”, “shano shano”, “mastam mastam” sung by Sonu Nigam, Shreya Ghoshal and other popular singers had created a lasting impact inspite of the mediocre business of the film. In fact AR Rehman compelled Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Anil Kapoor and others to work harder for giving lips in the songs created for the respective film.

AR Rehman was even brilliant in Amir Khan’s film Ghajini. Although the film was related to the revenge that was taken by Amir Khan after his girlfriend was killed by his enemies. Sonu Nigam’s song “hai guzarish” stormed the bollywood audience even before the release of the film.

AR Rehman had been so versatile that his music in one film never matched with the music of the other film. His composition in the film Dil Se, titled “chal chaiya chaiya” sung by Sukhwinder Singh and picturised on Shahrukh Khan was totally different from the composition in the film Taal, titled “ishq bina kya jeena”, picturised on Aishwarya Rai.

Again his composition for the film Roza titled “dil hai chota sa” sung by Chitra and picturised on Madhu was totally different from the song “saathiya, saathiya” in the film Saathiya sung by Sonu Nigam and picturised on Vivek Oberoi. He had blended western tune with Indian classical music. He also composed successful music in South Indian films.

The viewers expect him to make more experiments in Indian films in the years to come.

Shankar Ehsaan Loy in the recent years.

Shankar Ehsan Loy in the recent years.

Shankar Ehsan Loy had made their presence felt in bollywood films over the last 10 years. They had provided successful tunes in the many films and every year at least two films where they have composed music had become hits.

Shankar Mahadevan had the reputation of creating breathless music even at a time when he did ot shine in bollywood films. That unstoppable breathless element was exhibited in most of the creations.

The songs in the film Bunty Aur Babli, had that unstoppable element. The successful song included “dharak dharak, dhua uraye re”, “bunty aur babli”, “aisi nazar se na dekha”, etc. The performance of Udit Narayan, Alisha Shinoy and others had set the pace of the film. Abhishek Bacchan and Rani Mukherjee gave elegant lips in the film. Shankar Ehsaan Loy received the filmfare award for the best composer for their composition in the film Bunty Aur Babli.

Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsan Noorani and Loy Mendosa again rocked bollywood films with their music in the film Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna. It was Karan Johar’s venture with Shahrukh Khan, Abhishek Bacchan, Big B, Preeti Zinta, Rani Mukherjee making notable contributions. The multistarrer film had many hit songs, some of which were sung by Sonu Nigam, others by Alka Yagnik, Shreya Ghoshal and others. The prominent songs included “kabhi alvida na kehna”, “mitwa”, etc. Shankar Ehsaan Loy again received filmfare award for composition of best music again for the film Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna.

If the composition of Shankar Ehsaan Loy are analyzed from the starting of their career it will be found that they gave different type of music even at the time when they composed music for the film Dil Chahta Hai. The songs “koi kahe”, “jane kyun log pyar karte hai” became super hits.

In Mission Kashmir, their songs “bhumro, bhumro” amazed the audience with excellent lips of Hrithik Roshan and Preeti Zinta. The title songs of the films Kuch Na Kaho and Kal Ho Naho became everlasting hits.

In Shahrukh Khan’s Don, their music had folk flavour, westernized flavour and melody embedded in them. The prominent songs included “sham hai”, “khaike paan banaraswala”, “mai hoon don”, etc. They have used Suniti Chauhan, Sonu Nigam, Shaan and other singers with success. Shahrukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra and Isha Koppikar proved their strong dancing capabilities in the film.

Shankar Ehsaan Loy were even sublime in their composition of music for the film Taren Zameen Par. The song “tujhe sab hai pata haina ma” almost every viewer weep in the cinema halls.

Even all their songs in the film Salaam-e-Ishq became super hit, including songs like “tenule”, “salaam-e-ishq”, etc., sung by Sonu Nigam and others. The lips of Salman Khan, Priyanka Chopra, and others were really extraordinary.

Their composition of music in the forthcoming films like Chandni Chowk to China, Kismat Talkies, etc., had created lot of interest in the minds of the viewers. Shankar Mahadevan is like by even viewers of TV Channels when they see him as Judge of Saregamapa Music Competition held in Zee TV. All his energy and enthusiasm is even displayed in that program. His is a strong competitor of AR Rehman, Vishal Shekhar, Pritam and Anu Malik and the team is supposed to provide even better tunes in future.