Lakeer marks the directorial debut of choreographer Ahmed Khan. It is also for the first time that A R Rahman has given music for a film starring either Sunny Deol or Sunil Shetty. Even though Deol or Shetty’s films are almost never expected to have a chartbusting or memorable soundtrack, there will always be a few expectations when Rahman’s name is associated with any project. Also considering the fact that Rahman’s last release (Tehzeeb) didn’t have a great soundtrack, it’s interesting to see if Rahman can deliver the goods once again and come up with an overall quality soundtrack. Unfortunately, Lakeer isn’t able to get farther than Tehzeeb..

The album begins with Nachley sung by Daler Mehndi and Kunal Ganjawala. Rahman’s touch is all over the song as we hear everything ranging from pianos to dhols. This is one will have you hooked in no time and will stay on the charts for awhile. Daler Mehndi breezes through this song as it belongs to his home turf (bhangra), Ganjawala lends able support.

Paighaam is a very soft and soothing romantic track sung by Shaan and Kavita K. Subramanium. The singers do their job well and Rahman’s touch is again evident in the little piano trills and slight orchestrations.

Sadiyaan is a little hard to get used since the song doesn’t have a regular flow. However, this situational cum romantic number is still one of the better songs of this soundtrack. Hariharan, Mahalaxmi, and Udit Narayan are the the singers.

Offho Jalta Hai is sung by Asha Bhosle and Sonu Nigam. Both the singers are able to get into the song and make it a winner. Though it may take a few listens to get used to, as with quite a few Rahman songs.

Rozana (sung by the pop group Viva) and Shehzaade (sung by Kunal Ganjawala) are the two songs that hamper the quality of the album. The former sounds like a cheerleader song and the latter is filled with chants of “whats up” which evoke unwanted laughter in the listener..

There are two versions of Nachley and Paighaam which are identical to the originals also included on the soundtrack; wonder why T-Series would do this? Just to fill the CD/audio cassette?

Lakeer’s music is a letdown, much more is expected when the music director is A R Rahman. The only two songs that have any lasting impact are Paighaam and Nachley. Let’s hope Ahmed Khan’s sense of film-making is a lot better than his sense of choosing tunes/music…