Producer: Prem Krishen
Director: Puneet Issar
Starring: Salman Khan, Arbaaz Khan, Shilpa Shetty, Amrish Puri
Music: Sajid-Wajid and Anu Malik
Lyrics: Jalees Sherwani, Shabbir Ahmed, and Dev Kholi
Singers: Shreya Ghoshal, Sonu Nigam, Udit Narayan, Sunidhi Chauhan, Sukhwinder Singh, Vinod Rathod, Kumar Sanu, Anuradha Paudwal
Audio On: T-Series
Number of Songs: 8
Released on: May 05, 2004
Reviewed by: Aakash Gandhi
Reviewer's Rating: 6 out of 10
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Garv – Pride and Honor is an action-thriller with Salman Khan in the lead. After Tere Naam and Baghban , Salman has been pretty lucky when it comes to music as last year’s Tere Naam lead the music industry in sales. Here, Salman will be accompanied by his brother Arbaaz Khan and the very beautiful Shilpa Shetty. Will Salman get lucky for a third time? Let’s just have a listen…

The album starts off on a nice note. Hum Tumko Nigaahon Mein is the usual romantic song by Sajid-Wajid. Although it doesn’t really offer anything new, the song will probably be accepted by the masses due to its constant appearance in the promos. Udit Narayan is very casual in this number and does a nice job in rendering the track. Shreya Ghoshal accompanies Udit Narayan nicely here as well. It seems as if her vocals are adaptive to many actresses today. Shabbir Ahmed’s lyrics are not out of the norm but he succeeds in arousing that lovey-dovey feel. Nonetheless this is a light-hearted love song that will either be loved or neglected.

Fariyaad is the sad version of the previous track. Rendered by the sad-master Sonu Nigam, this track doesn’t do much to give any justice to the original track. The composition is quite bland. The lyrics are pretty lackluster here as well.

Dum Mast Mast brings some memories along with it. One can’t help but remember the ever-popular Mujhe Mast Mauhal from Fiza . This one contains nothing to make it stand out from the plethora of item numbers that the industry has been dishing out in the past couple of years. Sukhwinder Singh and Sunidhi Chauhan can’t help the song struggle out of the Average category with their hot n’ heavy vocals either. Pure Average!

Soniye follows the three mediocre tracks. You would think that after 3 lackluster attempts, Sajid-Wajid would get back in form to give us a nice bhangra flavored track sung by Sukhwinder Singh and that is full of life…right? Wrong! This track is even worse than the previous ones. Sajid-Wajid really disappoint here and create a piece that seems as if it’s a remake of over hundred’s of old tracks bunched together! Sukhwinder fails to shine in this number. Shreya’s supporting role is probably the best part of the song yet she still isn’t able to save this track. It’s not their fault…this just isn’t their type of song!

Although being a novice, debut director, Puneet Issar the best decision of his life…choosing a guest composer! Thank God for that! I was really beginning to lose all hopes for Sajid-Wajid and Garv. Luckily, Anu Malik comes to the rescue with Marhaba Marhaba. This is the third Marhaba track in the past year now. First it was Sukhwinder’s composition in Janasheen (the best of the three) then there was Aadesh Shrivastav’s version in Deewaar and now Anu Malik gives it a shot. Although it’s not the best of the three, it‘s not the worst. One similarity that flows through all these versions is that their most appealing aspect lies in the melody of the title words Marhaba Marhaba. Anu Malik, once again, creates an addictive effect with that one word. Apart from that, the song is still Above Average and is pretty much the saving grace of this entire album! Dev Kohli' lyrics are pretty conventional here.

The next track is a mix of tapori and marathi folk. Yup, you read it right! Titled Khaaya Piya, this one tries very hard to appeal to the masses but just fails. The only reason this song will stay on the lips of many (mainly Salman fans) is because of it’s picturization on Salman Khan. This reminds one of the early 90s when these songs were composed for the likes of Sanjay Dutt or Govinda. Vinod Rathod tries hard to inject life into this number and it shows. Sunidhi Chauhan appears for a small segment to recite the ever famous marathi melody, which is probably the best part of the song. The lyrics go like this…”Chokri patte nahi…nokri mili nahi…Bhai-giri try kari…bilkul chali nahi…khaaya piya tho kuch bhi nahi…saala gilaas thoda bhaara anna…” Even though being in the realm of a tapori song; Jalees Sherwani’s lyrics are quite disappointing and sad. If you have to listen to this song, listen to it for Sunidhi’s ten second presence!

Sunidhi Chauhan sings her fourth song of the album, Saiyan More Saiyan. Adding to the album’s item numbers, this one has some appeal going for it. Finally, Sajid-Wajid compose music of quality here. They take the creative path and succeed in making this song catchy and appeasing. Sunidhi is in her hard-core mode and sings this song with a fresh touch to it. Sajid-Wajid electronically alter Sunidhi’s vocals as she renders Saiyan, which adds to the freshness of the piece. The lyrics by Jalees Sherwani are interesting to listen to...Unfortunately by the end of all four minutes and fourty-six seconds, the song becomes tiresome. Nevertheless, give this one a listen and decide for yourself.

The album ends on a pretty decent note. After composing twice for Salman Khan, Sajid-Wajid dig deep in their Salman songs and pull out their Hello Brother hit, Teri Chunariya. With some alterations in the female vocals and musical approach; they create a remake titled Tera Hi Deewana Hoon. Kumar Sanu joins with Anuradha Paudwal this time to render a nice song. This one is a typical Sajid-Wajid number with the catchy harmony and a pleasasnt melody. Coincidentally, Jalees Sherwani was the same lyricist who wrote Teri Chunariya. Here he uses almost the exact same words. The song is nice…it just lacks in originality.

All in all, Garv is a purely average album. Listeners will be disappointed if they are expecting another Tere Naam or Baghban, in which Salman was able to dance (or try to) to Himesh Reshammiya’s and Aadesh Shrivastav’s soulful melodies. Being an action-thriller, music will probably not play a major role in the film and most probably will take a back seat. Nonetheless, Sajid-Wajid are unable to create anything new here.