Just okay. Review on Om Shanti Om Songs

In the soundtrack of ‘Om Shanti Om’, Farah Khan’s music sensibilities are on display more than that of Vishal-Shekar’s. The feel and the kind of music is exactly how ‘Main Hoon Na’ was, with full of predictable masala but nevertheless enjoyable. As the script travels through different periods of Hindi cinema, there are heavy influences of R.D.Burman, Lakshmikanth-Pyarelal and Jatin-Lalit kind of music in most of the songs; in fact one of the songs is arranged by Pyarelal. Lyrics penned by Javed Akthar and Shekar.

‘Ajab Si’ is obviously the best song of the soundtrack in all aspects. It has a very simple melody oozing with romanticism. The minimal orchestration with mild beats, strings and flute add up to give a feel of floating in the air out of ecstasy. KK is brilliant in the song giving right emotional touches all through.

‘Dard-E-Disco’ is that typical catchy bollywood number which goes totally Arabic in its orchestration and arrangements and to add to the euphoria, we have energetic vocals of Sukhwinder singh.

‘Deewangi’sounds like a poor Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’s composition. The format of the song, instrumentation, the build up to the English parts and the English lines are all like how it would be in a SEL’s dance number. But it doesn’t work because of the lack of good melody. The synth motif is good though.

‘Main Agar kahoon’is a sweet romantic ballad with Sonu and Shreya giving their usual romantic touches. The melody takes time to sink in. The pleasant strings and the breezy orchestration evokes nostalgic. The song is likeable mainly because it comes in between other average numbers heavy on beats.

The melody of first few lines of ‘Jag soona soona lage’is actually good and especially that synth motif in the background has the necessary feel. The song soon becomes very painful and boring as it proceeds further with lines lacking an emotive melody.

‘Dhoom Taana’ is very enjoyable because it faithfully replicates the sound of early 90’s festive songs. The dholaks, drums, Shehnai, motif like ‘Dhoom taana’, sudden shift from dholaks to rock and roll beats and the final percussive crescendo are all quintessential elements of a festive song in early 90’s Hindi cinema and everything is there in this song.

‘Daastan’ starts promisingly with an orchestral piece and the problem arises when a flat vocal melody begins. The Bollywoodish vocal melody and the intermittent operatic outbursts don’t gel well and what we get at the end is a totally confused mesh. Even the vocal version of the main theme melody of the movie is spoiled by change in tempo and amateur beats. Just skip this track.

‘Om Shanti Om Theme’is a pleasant piano melody which is used in almost all the songs of the soundtrack.

Except for two songs, I enjoy listening to this just-okay soundtrack because I didn’t expect much from it. Vishal-Shekar didn’t strive hard to strike any balance between their influences and their own style of music which makes the songs so predictable. But Farah khan would make these songs enjoyable on screen with her dazzling choreography. Let us wait and watch.