Producer: N.R. Pachisia Director: Deepak Shivdasaani Starring: Neha Dhupia Music: Himesh Reshammiya Lyrics: Sameer Singers: Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik, Anuradha Paudwal, Sonu Nigam, Jayesh Gandhi, Sunidhi Chauhan Audio On: T-Series Number of Songs: 9 Released on: July, 2004	Reviewed by: Rakesh Budhu Reviewer's Rating: 5 out of 10 Enter your Rating: 1 out of 10 2 out of 10 3 out of 10 4 out of 10 5 out of 10 6 out of 10 7 out of 10 8 out of 10 9 out of 10 10 out of 10

Himesh Reshammiya’s multitude of soundtrack releases continue with director Deepak Shivdasaani (Yeh Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke, Bhaagi)’s Julie. In the talks for the usual as of late, with the heroine almost baring it all, Julie follows the trend of griping on popular themes and ringing them out for their last drop. After Chameli, Chandni Bar and others, here is another film on prostitution where a relative newcomer Neha Dhupia (Qayamat) has opted to strike a pose. Unlike its most recent contender Chameli, the musical compositions in this T-series release seem like they will end up taking unnecessary time and will bore the audience unnecessarily. Unlike the soulful compositions in Chameli, most of which were refrained to the background, the songs for Julie are regular romantic numbers composed Himesh Reshammiya style lacking the thematic approach or for that matter, that spicy item number with “hit” written all over it.

The album opens up with its two major attractions, an overstatement if there ever was one. The romantic numbers “Hum Tumse Dil” and “Dhadkan Ho Gaye” feature Udit Narayan with Anuradha Paudwal in the former and Alka Yagnik in the latter. Both are your typical T-Series songs with the Himesh Reshammiya likeable stamp. And as is usual the case, T-Series or whomever asks for the repeats, milks both songs for all they are worth with Hum Tumse Dil being repeated 3 other times on the soundtrack, one as an instrumental and the others as sad versions by Udit Narayan. “Hum Tumse Dil” is absolutely nothing new, but as is usually the case with Narayan and Reshammiya, Udit is particularly refreshing in his renditions of both tracks, despite Sameer’s unsurprisingly regular lyrics.

Sonu Nigam is in his element as he attempts to create an emotionally apt tune with the title track “Julie”. However, as he cries out the main protagonists name one can’t help but reach closer to the forward button. Supported by Jayesh Gandhi who is used for typical background support and leaves little impact, the songs orchestration and interludes as well as Gandhi’s vocal support make the song a little more than passable.

Music composers often try and take things that work and repeat them often. In almost every of his soundtracks, Reshammiya has once or twice used the musical beat and background that is found in “Bheegi Bheegi”, which is in itself similar to the “Khaliyon Ka Chaman” remix heard earlier in 2001. This time, however, he has jazzed it up with a bit more variety of musical tunes making it a bit better than its many previous sisters. This one comes to being the song that could have propel the soundtrack in terms of a pacy, thematic approach but doesn’t quite meet that point. Alka Yagnik, however, is a pleasant listen, which is rare considering that these numbers have often been left for other singers.

After that attempt at something to get people’s feet tapping, Sunidhi Chauhan has been roped in to infuse (hopefully) some life into the soundtrack. “Ishq Tezab”, like the previous song, has just a little bit of potential and a lot missing making it seem like there is just a small chance of it hitting the right notes. A regular beat; a regular chorus (Jayesh Gandhi), regular lyrics can only do so much to help Sunidhi Chauhan’s strong efforts. She is probably the only highlight of the song.

To keep romance alive, Alka Yagnik and Sonu Nigam team up for the slow ditty “Aye Dil Ye Batta”, another song that has lyrics that have been rehashed immensely. In addition to that excess of familiarity is oddly regular music and singing which is also typical. Alka and Sonu fail to make the song exciting.

The theme of Julie maybe different than your typical love story, albeit not anything groundbreaking considering the theme has been frequent and not far in between lately in Bollywood, but its music is nothing of the sort in any sense. A little listenable, particularly “Bheegi Bheegi”, it may be, but the word forgettable is probably better fit for this one.