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Producer & Director: Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Music: Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
Lyrics: Rahat Indori & Sameer
Audio on : Tips

Reviewed by: Aniket Joshi
aniket@indolink.com

Mission Kashmir is Vidhu Vinod Chopra's next offering to the Indian screen. He's known for having a good ear for music, witness 1942: A Love Story and the recent Kareeb. Mission Kashmir has a decent soundtrack, though the word "decent" is somewhat of a low-standard for a Chopra film soundtrack, I think. His soundtracks should be in the "great" or "masterpiece" leagues. Nonetheless, the trio of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy has come up with some catchy and ear-friendly tunes for this highly awaited film.

The album begins with the foot-tapping "Bumbro" sung by Shankar Mahadevan, Sunidhi Chauhan, and Jaspinder Narula. The singers do a good job and are successful in getting into the mood of the song. Even though there are no heavy techno beats nor any loud "dhols", you feel like getting up from your chair and breaking into a jig.

Next we have two duets by Alka Yagnik and Udit Narayan: "Chupke Se Sun" and "Socho Ke Jheelon Ka". Singing is good in both songs, though I would've preferred Kavita Krishnamurthy in "Chupke Se Sun" instead of Alka. That's because Kavita's softer voice would've been better, given the pace of the song. Of the two songs we have here, I like "Socho Ke Jheelon Ka" more because of the rhythm and the lyrics.

"Rind Posh Maal" sung by Shankar Mahadevan is a power-packed number, that you'd love to listen to over and over. The song begins with a slow pace, and picks up as it goes along. Shankar Mahadevan is in fine form here, reminding you of his excellent singing from "Breathless". The electric guitar is very effective, and enhances the song.

"So Ja Chanda" is a slow lullaby sung by Mahalakshmi. I personally don't like the song because it seemed to me like a mother was singing her kid to sleep - definitely not my cup of tea.

Shankar Mahadevan returns with another solo: "Dhuan Dhuan". A grim song that describes the conflict between India and Pakistan regarding the border disputes. Not something I would listen to over and over, however the song should fit well into the film.

"Maaf Karo" is said to be the only number picturised on Sanjay Dutt in the film. Singing by Vinod Rathod is comepetent, and you can almost imagine Sanju-baba singing. Anuradha is okay. The song fails to rise above the mediocre level though due to the lyrics, and in comparison to the other songs in the album.

Overall, Mission Kashmir is worth buying, it's definitely worth your money. One thing that really disappointed me after buying the soundtrack was that there wasn't a song by Euphoria. I've heard reports that they've done a special appearance in the film and a whole song is picturised on them, which is performed by them. If that's true, I don't know why they're song wasn't included in the soundtrack. Let's just hope that, after the film releases they don't re-release the soundtrack with the song performed by Euphoria.