Within a year in Bollywood, there are very few film soundtracks that stand apart from the rest. Most stick to a tried-and-true formula making it very difficult to judge them on the basis of originality. Yet, despite this shortcoming, one still manages to find at least a handful of tracks on each album that are at the very least hummable. The soundtrack to Ali Morani, Karim Morani, and Bunty Soorma’s film Humko Tumse Pyaar Hai basically fits the description above – namely of an album whose songs are not necessarily bad, but don’t really make a huge impact either. Composed by Anand Raaj Anand, the soundtrack boasts of eight tracks, surprisingly only one of which is repeated in another version of itself. The album begins with the title song which reunites the 90’s musical duo of Kumar Sanu and Alka Yagnik. It is very reminiscent of the love songs that permeated the 90’s music scene. Lyrics are courtesy of Dev Kohli, who for once restrains himself from using vulgar or cheesy English words that is somewhat typical of him. The song begins with composer Anand Raaj Anand’s voice who vocalizes Punjabi lyrics before Sanu and Yagnik set the stage for the rest of the song. It is a typical love song that completely fulfills its purpose. Sanu is found again on the second track, Chori Se Dil Ko, but this time he is unaccompanied by a female counterpart. The song has a mid-tempo feel to it and seems to have influences from Nadeem-Shravan, composers who essentially dominated the early 90’s. In all honesty, it is nice to hear Sanu after what seems to be a considerable break. His vocals are pleasant and perfectly suited for the song. Sapna Awasthi makes her gritty appearance on Tere Ishq Mein Pagal as the first singer heard on this track. She sounds her typical self – rustic and rough – seemingly trying to recapture the magic created in Raja Hindustani’s Pardesi Pardesi. Other than intermittently, her presence is barely there in the song. Thankfully though, the track is sung primarily by Udit Narayan and Alka Yagnik, both of whom unfortunately cannot raise the song out of mediocrity. Don’t be misled – the song is catchy, but again, lacks in its ability to stand out.
The fifth song begins with Alka Yagnik, later to be joined by Udit Narayan. Entitled Kaise Tumhe, the song is a bit on the slow side and basically relates the confusion of a man in telling his lover his feelings towards her. It’s an ok track that really does not do much to make it memorable. Babul Supriyo joins Yagnik and Narayan in Ye Mehandi Ke Boote, a song that portrays the dilemma of a woman torn between two lovers. It is probably one of the few tracks that will be picturized on all three actors – Arjun Rampal, Bobby Deol, & Amisha Patel. It makes numerous analogies to the union between bhagwans Radha and Shyam, making it a song that seems misplaced in today’s musical world that has heavy Western influences, bhangra beats, and oftentimes rap. Nonetheless, the singing trio does an adequate job. The last original song is Bajne Lage Hain, featuring Udit Narayan and Alka Yagnik for the fourth time together on this album. Of their numerous duets, this track stood out the most to me, perhaps of its infectious melody and simplicity. Consistent with the remainder of the album, it stays within familiar territory, but Yagnik and Narayan make the song well worth a listen.
This film was conceived many years back, originally casted near the time Amisha Patel was basking in the successes of Kaho Na…Pyaar Hai, Gadar, and Humraaz. In fact, I remember attending the Bollywood concert that featured SRK, Saif, Preity, Rani, Arjun, and Priyanka in September 2004. During that time, promos for this film were shown. Since then, a year and some months have passed and the film is still unreleased. The untimely demise of director Bunty Soorma obviously complicated matters, but with Vikram Bhatt taking over the reigns, the film will now see the light of day. Perhaps the delay provides an explanation to the very 90’s feel to this album. Even so, it still manages to offer some melodious albeit unoriginal songs.
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