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By Joginder Tuteja, July 1, 2004 - 16:00 IST
When you have names like Vijay Mallya, Mahesh Manjrekar, Sanjay Dutt, Sunil Shetty, Abhishek Bachchan and Bipasha Basu associated with a project, you know that it is going to one BIG project! And when the first song promo to hit the screen features the sizzling Yana Gupta, you know that you can't skip the movie. The project in the question is Mahesh Manjrekar directed supernatural thriller 'Rakht' that is produced by Vijay Mallya and Suneil Shetty (who had a failure in his first stint as a producer with 'Khel'). Rakht has a good dose of female power with the central role being played by Bipasha Basu, a sizzling dance number by Yana Gupta and supporting actresses as Amrita Arora, Neha Dhupia and Payal Rohatgi. There are number of musicians and lyricists involved with this project ranging from Anand Raj Anand to Shamir Tandon to foreign band 'Blue'.
When the first song promo on the air blazes the screen with sizzling Yana gyrating to excellently composed westernized track ‘Oh! What a Babe! ’ you realize that this woman is Number One for an item song in current scenario. Such is her confidence in front of camera, oomph appeal and 'on the face' sensuality, that it pales any other competition in sight. Lyrics by Ajay Jhingran and composition by Shamir Tandon provides her ample scope to prove that 'Babuji Zara Dheere chalo' from Dum was indeed just a beginning and there are many more to come. The number appears in three different versions - regular, techno mix and the club mix. The regular is on the air and has another item queen - Sunidhi Chauhan - crooning this one, with support from C21 and 'creative vocals' (as the composer may like to call it!) by Shweta Shetty. Techno mix is by Ritika Sahni while the club mix is a solo for Shweta Shetty. All the singers sing it with a class and never let the song down while Shamir Tandon (CEO of Virgin Records) proves that it was not a bad decision after all for him to debut as a composer. Overall a winner from the first note on!
When you get into a full throttle with amazingly composed and choreographed ‘Oh! What a Babe!', the least you expect is to hit a road block that comes in the form of horribly predictable, old fashioned and drag composition 'Ishq Bedardi'. 'Lesser said the better' is the phrase that should be used to describe this inane composition that has a feel of 'Rabba Ishq Na Hove' (Andaaz) and is straight out of T-Series music bank. Naresh Sharma (who was till now generally restricted to composing the background score of films) composes this track and shows a way of how to ill compose an even badly written song by Dr. Deepak Sneh. Sung by Anuradha Paudwal and Alka Yagnik, it is surprising to see that they were willing to sing such a song that could well have been rejected even in the 80s, when such songs were usually composed. Neither Neha Dhupia nor her 'Girlfirend' (Oops! Amrita Arora) manage to stir a lost-looking Dino Morea on the screen, let alone the audiences, and one shudders to sing how will the song be received when it will be played on the screen? A completely forgettable song in today's time!
'Hadh Se Zyaada Sanam' takes on exactly from the hit number 'Hadh Se Bhi Zyaada Tum Kisi Se Pyaar Mat Karna' from last year's release Qayamat. While the latter boasted of good melody, the same theme falters here in this track by Naresh Sharma. One may in fact want to see if this track sung by Sonu Nigam and Shreya Ghoshal even finds a place in the movie's narrative on the screen due to it's non-happening flow and utter-predictable factor. The sad version by Sonu Nigam is in fact even more painful and threatens to touch the danger mark of being utterly boring and non-consequential. Very avoidable!
Anand Raj Anand gives music and lyrics for 'Zannat Hai Yeh Zameen' that is an attempt on creating sensuality on the screen but fails to get the effects right. Though Swarnalatha and Krishna do their best in the song, the oft-heard tune lets them down big time and there is not much that the singers are able to do to revive the song from being plain mediocre. A slow track sung in a mellowed tune that tries to be seductive, it may have some visual pull due to the horde of beauties in the movie but audio wise people will definitely like to stay away from it.
'Sach Hai Sach Hai', a solo by Krishna (sound alike of Late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan sahab) is composed by Anand Raj Anand and at least has some different and less predictable composition. It is listenable mainly due to Krishna's singing style and vocals. Though again it is not one of those 'memorable types' by any standards, it is still somehow better than the rest and manages to stay afloat.
'Quiero - How Much I Love You', mainly a Hindi number, is sung by the pop band Viva, has music by Anand Raj Anand and lyrics by Salim Bijnauri. A track composed around Spanish folk music, it is good to an extent. Going by the theme of the song and the music, the number calls for a lavish choreography and grandeur presentation. Now this has to be seen that on whom is the song picturized and how well does it go down with the audience. But this is the only number that comes at least close to the high standards set earlier by ‘Oh! What a Babe! '
'Kya Maine Socha', a collaboration between Shaan and western band 'Blue' is supposed to be the surprise packet of the movie and in all probability is going to star Abhishek Bachchan. A very well composed track that has great class appeal due to it being mainly in English! Also, the current craze around Abhishek amongst the mass audience should ensure that the song would prove to be one of the USPs of the album of Rakht.
While one listened to drag tracks like 'Ishq Bedardi' or a 'Hadh Se Zyaada', one really doubted the prospects of 'Rakht'! But with the successive arrival of 'Quiero', 'Kya Maine Socha' and two versions of 'Oh! What a Babe', 'Rakht' manages to rise to an above average level and helps its cause. Overall, the album is just about fine but fails the gargantuan expectations one had from a Vijay Malla - Suneil Shetty collaboration. The album may pick up if the movie has a long run at the theatres, but till then you may just have to be content with Yana Gupta in 'Oh! What a Babe!'.
 
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