Contributed by Avinash Ramchandani
avinash@indolink.com

Jatin-Lalit are on a streak of five in a row. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, The Return of the Jewel Thief, Khamoshi, Fareb and now Mr. Aashiq. Being a relatively low budget movie starring Saif Ali Khan and Twinkle Khanna, this movie's music has already started to move into the charts. Jatin-Lalit have already done magic to another low budget movie turn mega-grosser, Fareb starring three relatively unknown actors, Milind Gunaji, Suman Ranganathran and Faraaz Khan. Showing potential from their first few movies, like Yaara Dildara, Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander, Khiladi, Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman and Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa didn't do anything for these young music directors, but recently, DDLJ and Khamoshi has brought them nearing the numero uno spot as composers.

This lively album starts out with a mellow song sung equally mellow by Kumar Shanu. "Mera Chand Muje Aaya Hai Nazar" is a song strikingly similar to the song "Raju Awaara Barsaat Main" from the movie Gunda Mawali which also has music by Jatin-Lalit. Shanu is excellent, Jatin-Lalit's music is superb, and Indeevar's lyrics are equally great. The next song, "Teri Chaahat Ke Deewane Hue Hum" a better derivative of "Chura Ke Dil Mera" from Main Khiladi Tu Anari, the music in that album is ironically given by Anu Malik who is known for "deriving" songs from others. Also ironically, this song is sung better by the same singers-- a spirited Alka Yagnik and Kumar Shanu. "Waada Kiya Humne" is a moderately fast paced love duet sung by Shanu and Yagnik again. Jatin-Lalit's music is different and more western than his other numbers in this album.

The first song of the second side starts with a moderately paced number sung by Shanu and Yagnik once again. "Humko Aawaz De" is another one of those spirited Jatin-Lalit numbers. Shanu is outstanding in this song and Yagnik is back to her number one form. The music is typically Jatin-Lalit-- a beautiful blend of Indian and western instruments played in harmony. Indeewar's lyrics are again par excellence. The next song shows the real potential of the album, although the song isn't the best of it. "Tu Bada Gazab Ka Yaar Hai", sung by (surprise! surprise!) Sonu Nigam, Kavita Krishnamurty and Abhijeet, is a "modern qawalli" type song. There is a blend of normal qawalli instruments and singing and modern instruments and electric instruments. This blend of modern instruments and classical instruments show the potential of the album and Jatin-Lalit as a composer. Sonu Nigam shows his potential with several classical lines in the song. Kavita Krishnamurty has a few lines, but is on par with Alka Yagnik in the other songs. Abhijeet is slightly annoying and he isn't as great as in his recent songs "Jhanjaria" from Krishna, "Sheher Ki Ladki" from Rakshak, and "Yeh Teri Aankhen Jhuki Jhuki" from Fareb.

Finally, "Yeh Ghadi Sanam Tere Bina" is a very western number rendered by Alka Yagnik and Kumar Shanu. The singing is a mix of a western style and Indian style-- suited perfectly for Yagnik but not as well for Shanu. Shanu's singing sometimes overlaps with Yagnik's lines to provide with a western effect in his voice. The music for the song is mostly western but some effects are given in the typical Jatin-Lalit, Indian style.

Mr. Aashiq provides with another chartbuster for Jatin-Lalit, as it might insert him into the number one position as a composer. With looking at recent compositions of other composers, like Anu Malik, Bappi Lahiri, Anand Milind, Nadeem Sharavan and even Rajesh Roshan, in comparison to Jatin-Lalit's recent compositions, these two young composers have already made it into the number one position.

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