Reviewed by: Anish Khanna
anish@indolink.com

After WOWing music listeners with their debut album "Dus", Shankar, Ehsaan, and Loy are back with their second installment - "Shool". To categorize "Shool" as a score on its own would be rather presumptuous. Four songs. Yes, you read right. There are only four songs and another re-mix of a previous one. The film promises to be an intense vacation from the run-of-the-mill love stories, and the score follows suit.

The "frontbencher" number is really not all that to write home about. The item number was put into the film to add some glamour, what with heroine
Raveena going make-upless for her role of a housewife, so Shilpa Shetty was called upon to shake a leg (hmmm, is Akshay listening?). Anyhoo - back to the song itself - Sapna Awasthi does her throaty best with "Main Aai Hoon U.P. Bihar Lootne", but if you take away the voluminous arrangement from it, the number is really nothing to write home about. Although it is in the genre of a "Chamma Chamma", it pales in comparison. Maybe Shilpa can do something for the song's popularity like Urmila did for the former?

By far the strongest number on this album is the deep, brooding "Shool Si Chubhe", which features wonderman Sukhwindara Singh. Those who think that Mr. Singh is only good for the upbeat Punjabi thing take note. His soulful singing, Sameer's meaningful lyrics, and a unique musical arrangement (yes, we even have electric guitar in this one!) combine to form quite the depressingly moving listening experience.

Ok, so "Aaya Mere Papa Ko" is more like dialogue than a song - but the reggae-influenced tune makes the song hummable despite conversational lyrics. The song features Shankar Mahadevan, Kavita Krishnamurthy, and Baby Anagha (with an adult-like sense of pitch) in gentle family playfullness. Sweet; very sweet.

The title song - "Shool" - is too much of a chant to comment on. It's one of those big dramatic numbers with some singing provided by Shankar himself and some dramatic dialogue by hero Manoj Bajpai.

So - overall - this is a difficult album to rate, as I don't think it is really intended to stand on its own but rather complement the film. Still - going by what is provided here - I think there was a ton of room for greater creativity with the U.P./Bihar song, and moreover - if you take it as an isolated score - there is definitely room for greater quantity. Hence, the above rating....