Reviewed by: Avinash Ramchandani
avinash@indolink.com

Basically Jatin-Lalit’s album, Khoobsurat includes 2 songs by Narayan Parshuram which are quite small and insignificant on the audio cassette, and a punjabi "item" number by Sukwindara Singh. This isn’t J-L’s best, or even close to J-L’s best, but comes out to be a decent album. Probably J-L’s third best of the year after Sarfarosh and Sangharsh. Dillagi comes a close fourth, though the best songs in that album are not by Jatin-Lalit; Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy steal the show in that one.

Let me start by saying that Abhijeet and Sonu Nigam have been the two winners with songs this year. Abhijeet has had several big hits, including his top singing in Baadshah, Dillagi, and brief exposure in other songs. Kumar Sanu, so far, with the exception of this film, has been the big looser this year. His songs have been everywhere, but his singing has been the pits… especially in his songs in Dillagi and Sangharsh. I wish he could get a pill to clear his nasal passages. Udit Narayan has stayed on top form this year, and Sukwindara Singh and Shankar Mahadevan have both arisen in ranks. Also, Amit Kumar has made a couple surprise appearances in Dillagi as well as Silsila Hai Pyar Ka. On the woman’s side, Alka Yagnik and Kavita Krishnamurti have stayed where they have been in the past few years—on top. Anuradha Paudwal has made a strong re-appearance, though she will have to revert 10 years to be on top. Other singers have made sparse appearances, including Sadhna Sargam, Poornima, Chitra, and of course Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhonsle. But the real surprise of the year is Jatin-Lalit’s younger sister, who first sang in Khamoshi-The Musical as Shraddha. She now appears as Shraddha Pandit and is part of two songs in this album.

Furthermore, Neera Pandit (presumably another sister) makes an appearance in the first song, "Bahut Khoobsurat Ho." She doesn’t have to do too much in the song but sing a couple scales and the occasional humming. Abhijeet dominates the song and though he only sings two of the eight songs, he dominates the whole album with his singing. This one is going to be a hit! Oh yeah, and by the way, the lyrics are also wonderful; Gulzar puts his pen into a wonderful song.

Or maybe, Sanjay Dutt’s anticipated appearance as a singer will appear on the hit charts. Sanjay is opposed by Shraddha Pandit. "Aye Shivani" has a quick beat with decent singing by Sanjay—unlike Aamir, Sanjay sounds a bit off pitch when raising his voice past a certain note. Oh well, good try Sanjay, and I hope you continue acting.

I wish I could say the same for Kumar Sanu sometimes, but not this time. Sanu sounds surprisingly good in the third love song in the album, "Mera Ek Sapna Hai". He is joined by a not top form Kavita Krishnamurti in this song. Her singing is not as good as Sanu’s in this song, though it is adequate. The song is a little bit above average.

The fourth song is the best love song in the album. Sanu is joined by Anuradha Paudwal. Her singing is okay. And Sanu is pretty good—though I still wish he could improve the nasalness of his voice a little bit. He is still a little bit annoying. Anyhow, this song is good, its slow and peaceful.

The next two songs are the two by music director, Narayan Parshuram. They are very short—probably in combination about 2 minutes. Just to mention, Sanjivini, former Sa Re Ga Ma finalist, sings a short portion of the first of the two songs. Her appearance is promising (again), though I would like to hear her voice in more songs. It would be nice to hear her instead of the same old Kavita, Alka and Anuradha—though just for a change, not that those three are bad.

With weird lyrics—I really don’t know what Gulzar was thinking with this song—"Azmale Yeh Formule," Abhijeet makes another appearance with Shraddha Pandit. Her singing is not heard too much again. Abhijeet excels again. His rendering includes a small part that is in qwaali style. The singing is so nice, I wish that he would have sung the other duets! Oh well, variety is good also.

"Main Adhuri Si" is sung by Anuradha. Her rendering of the song isn’t great, but isn’t bad. Its just passable. Her high notes are still strained, though when her voice is low it is bearable. The song has a nice peaceful beat, but her singing makes some of the words undistinguishable.

The final Jatin-Lalit song is another Sanu-Krishnamurti song with an Indian-style beat. Its a decent, passable song. Nothing special, but not bad either.

The Punjabi "item" number is the final tune of the album. Sukwindara Singh sings it with ease, though the number isn’t the best Punjabi number I have heard.

Overall, this album contains a variety of numbers. Mostly, they are average, but since the album is on T-Series, it may be worth buying a nice cheap compact disc. As far as the movie goes, Sanjay Dutt and Urmila have promise, so we shall see the outcome.