Lata Mangeshkar, her brother, Pandit Hridaynath Mangeshkar and Gulzar. Anticipation and hype would be an understatement when one recalls the superb talents that each of these people have. It wasn’t surprising then, that once Sanjiv Karambelkaar released the information on the music credits for his film inspired by raw truth – Lal Salaam- audio labels were fighting for it. It’s interesting now, that after all the hype that was produced when HMV- Saregama paid 1 crore for the soundtrack before hearing any of the songs, that the audio has been released on the Universal Audio Label! If we’d have to name a loser, it surely wouldn’t be Saregama. This combination doesn’t amount to what would have been expected, a set of effervescent songs from a team of effervescence. Perhaps that was the reason HMV dropped the soundtrack. Pandit Hridaynath’s effort pale in comparison to his counter part’s classical tunes in that its tunes are strung out in mediocre backdrop compositions with Lata as its only saving force and she doesn’t supercede her greatest works, even for the more recent Zubeidaa. Lata sings five out of the six songs on the soundtrack and in fundamental nature, she is the heart of the soundtrack- and the only reason one would pick it up. If you’re not a fan of semi-classical music, of different lyrics (in its true sense) and of Lata Mangeshkar you can safely give this soundtrack a pass. Lata Mangeshkar pairs up with Roop Kumar Rathod in “Mitwa”, a melodious and meaningful romantic duet. This is the best song in terms of natural sense and ordinary musical composition. The classical tunes and instruments take precedence but it’s easily Lata’s vocals that distinguish the track. “Hunkara Jage” stands out for its lyrics but that’s about it. Nothing spectacular and it seems pretty situational, Lata too sounds a tad bit ordinary. This is one of the songs where Pandit Mangeshkar tries too much to infuse too much into one track and the result is nothing uncommon. To parallel “Hunkara Jage” is “Chand Gufa Mein”- a tune that has a lot of content but poor organization. Lata Mangeshkar does her best to salvage the mixture of unmixable tunes. Lata Mangeshkar and Roop Kumar Rathod’s second duet, “Beeta Mausum” is an apt follow up to Mitwa and is the only second number in which the Mangeshkars have succeeded in attempting a mixture of classical tunes. The song is listen able. Roop Kumar Rathod certainly doesn’t add comparison when he’s singing with Lataji (understandable) but lends a good amount of support. “Jara Sa Aao Na” is probably the worst song on the soundtrack, funny how it lacks Lata’s vocals to salvage it to any extent. Ravindra Sathe and Rathod don’t make their vocals distinct amongst Pandit Hridaynath’s musical base. Lyricist Narendra Sharma and Lata Mangeshkar as well donate, “Tum Asha Vishwas Hamare”, which originated in Satya Chitra’s “Subha”. The song is a soft meaningful beautiful number that solemnly ends off the soundtrack. The best thing about Lal Salaam is the anticipation for the hard-hitting film (promised), with Nandita Das in tow we should expect nothing less than a good film, especially when she’s portraying a female who pretends to be a man of the army. The soundtrack is surely much ado about nothing for those that were looking for a parallel cinema soundtrack (Zubeidaa; Umrao Jaan), and stands out solely in terms of Gulzar´s excellent lyrics. However, it should satisfy Lata Mangeshkar fans and those who like a mixture of classical and semi-modern tunes. If you don’t fall in that category skip it, if you do, take advantage of it, even if it is faulty. This combination- Gulzar, Pandit Hridaynath Mangeshkar and the nightingale Lata Mangeshkar may surely never come again. |
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