out of

Producer: Quest Films
Director: Mahesh Manjrekar
Music: Anand Raaj Anand
Lyrics: Dev Kohli, Praveen Bhardwaj

Reviewed by: Akhlaq Hussain
akhlaq@indolink.com

After the eclipsing of JACKIE SHROFF's maiden venture GRAHAN, the 80's macho man tries his luck with a typical-GOVINDA light-hearted film JIS DESH MEIN GANGA REHTA HAI. Produced by his wife AYESHA's production company, QUEST FILMS, the film has been made by the busiest director around MAHESH MANJREKAR. Will Manjrekar's direction work in a comedy? We will know in about a month or 2, for now we can analyze the music.

The soundtrack opens with O PIYA with ANURADHA PAUDWAL and SUKHWINDER. It is a nice, slow number but doesn't grab you like any of GOVINDA's opening numbers of his previous soundtracks like KUNWARA or even JORU KA GHULAM. The track is passable as both singers lend able effort.

Next we have CHAL JHOOTHI with ANURADHA SRIRAM and UDIT NARAYAN. It is a teaser number but finally with the girl expressing her love to our hero GANGA. The girl is RINKE KHANNA and the boy of course the VIRAR KA CHOKRA GOVINDA. Anuradha does her greatest effort in the song, while Udit lends able support. It would be great to hear more from Anuradha Sriram in the near future as she suits some of the younger heroines very aptly.

After PUNJABI NUMBERS, it seems JACKIE is trying to start a GUJARATI trend with the following number KEM CHHE. Both BALI BRAHMBHATT and SAPNA AWASTI come out of hibernation to sing this Gujrati-dance number The song has a catchy beat but definitely will need mega-promotion to revive the careers of the respective singers.

MATARI KOMTARI TUMBA follows with S. JAIRAM. The song is passable but doesn't have you reaching for the rewind button after it is done. The MARATHI in the song may appeal to a certain section of the audience.

The title track is next with ABHIJEET. JIS DESH MEIN GANGA REHTA HAI almost brings life to the album which seemed to be dragging with the last few numbers. Abhijeet brings liveliness and emotions to the song describing the beauty of INDIA. Maybe the soundtrack should have opened with this number as it is the title track and is well sung by Abhijeet. The song also describes the plight of GANGA in the film, a villager who goes to the big city to meet distant relatives.

The obligatory ITEM number PREM JAAL with SUKHWINDER and ANURADHA SRIRAM is next. This is the song used in most of the promos for Jis Desh Mein Ganga Rehta Hai. It is interesting to hear Sukhwinder being used as a playback singer for GOVINDA as SONU NIGAM was the current favorite for the HERO NO. 1 in most recent films. This is perhaps the only number in the soundtrack which may actually have you hitting rewind after it is done. Both Sukhwinder and Anuradha do a good job of the peppy track and will definitely find this song in the top 10 of most countdown charts in the next month or so.

A remix version of KEM CHHE follows which does not need any special mention.

The soundtrack closes with SHAADI KARVADO with UDIT NARAYAN and SAPNA AWASTHI. Udit has sung bucketloads of these kinds of numbers so it is safe to say he can only do an excellent job with this number also. Awasthi sings only in the refrains and lends able support The song of course describes our hero's plight to get married.

All in all the music of JIS DESH MEIN GANGA REHTA HAI leaves much to be desired. ANAND RAAJ ANAND falls short of his last GOVINDA film HADH KAR DI AAPNE which musically was no great shakes either. Maybe it is the mixed rural and urban settings which caused the clash in music and clash in Anand's thinking of what kind of music to give to the film. Who knows. As for the film itself, it is another comedy-vehicle for CHICHI but this time he is without RANI or KADAR KHAN but with SONALI BENDRE and SHAKTI KAPOOR. He is also opposite TWINKLE's younger sister RINKE in the film for the first (and probably only) time. The story is basically about a village-bred GANGA who comes to MUMBAI in search of his relatives and of course making it big. The city people laugh and make fun of the simpleton's ways but in the end it is the simpleton's ways which make the city-folk believe Ganga was much wiser than them all along. If the film sounds much like a certain PARDESI BABU released exactly 2 years ago, don't look at me.