Reviewed by Mukul Deshpande
mukul@indolink.com

Aarzoo is a delayed project. And very often in a delayed project, the people involved lose interest in it. But if you're trying to get yourself interested in this film, the album might be a sensible place to start.

The first song, "Ab tere dil mein to", has Alka Yagnik pretending to be uninterested in Kumar Sanu to test his love for her. And boy, this is some test! Alka finally passes Kumar just before he is about to say "I'm even ready to lick your feet!". The song is not instantly likeable, but stick to it, and you'll be humming the tune for the rest of the day like me.

Anu Malik is at his near-best in "Sajan sajan teri dulhan", a song that has a bride waiting for her dulhaa. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about Alka. She misses the tune quite often and her range falls just short of what is required. I feel the more classically-trained Kavita would have done better justice to this song. A rare case of good music let down by mediocre singing.

Kumar and Alka lend their voices to a ghazal-like composition with thoughtful lyrics by Anand Bakshi. "Mil jaate hain" is not a song you'll enjoy in a hurry. Sit down, relax and listen carefully. You'll like it.

The image of Akshay or Saif making a grand re-entry on horseback or on a bike quickly comes to your mind as you listen to the next song. "Main aa rahan hoon", rendered by Udit Narayan, leaves you thoroughly satisfied with Side A.

Side B kicks off with "Rabba rabba I love you" which has a love-smitten Sonu telling us what he'd do for his girl until he is out of breath. The beats and the orchestration do remind you of "Tera rang balle balle" from Soldier, but the song is different and enjoyable in its own right.

Sonu is at his crying best in "Maa", which I think will be picturised on a cancer-ridden Saif who is going to die very soon. In my cassette, the song ends rather unceremoniously, the volume decreasing until you cannot hear anything. Surprising, because nowadays, this happens only in pirated cassettes which use such tricks to cut songs so that more songs can be crammed.

Then we have the pleasant "Dosti karte nahin" sung by Kumar Sanu, Udit Narayan and an off-key Alka Yagnik. But it's "Tu soni kudi" which steals the show! This is a really cute bhangra number sung by Udit who's very listenable as always.

Now that's 'The End' according to the cassette sleeve. But the last time I listened to this audio, I discovered that there is another song hidden at the end of Side B. I don't even know if this is a song from the film or if it's just a bonus song. In either case, HMV-RPG should have told us more about this.

In Aarzoo, Anu Malik has tried something different from the usual candyfloss he delivers. He's partly successful and partly isn't. The songs are consistently good, but there is no single chartbuster (except for maybe "Tu soni kudi") that will make you run for the album. Still, you won't regret buying Aarzoo. Just remember that every song needs a second or a third or even a fourth chance.