Soundtrack of ' Black ' was awaited for a long time. Especially so after the movie has been released and the background pieces at number of situations in the movie have been extremely impressive. Strategy of Yash Raj Music and Sanjay Leela Bhansali to wait for the movie's release and audience acceptance before releasing the soundtrack by Monty (who does the composing and arrangements) works well as it becomes much more identifiable now than it would have been before in case the music was released earlier.

Comprising of as many as a whopping 23 tracks in total, there is just one song ' Haan Maine Chukar Dekha Hai ' written by Prasoon Joshi and sung by Gayatri Iyer, while the rest are all theme/situational background pieces from the movie. The song is one of the best soft tracks in recent times and it's a pity that neither has it been publicized nor has been placed in the movie. Revolving around the spirit of living life, the number's strength lies in all the departments – music, lyrics and the vocals. Very good!

' Michelle's theme ' is an excellently orchestrated piece of work that has an effective use of violin to create a poignant mood. This is the same piece that is used during most part of the movie (during Rani's presence) and has a haunting effect. Same holds good for ' Debraj's theme ' (Debraj is the name of the character played by Big B in the movie) that builds on the mystery. There are little chunks of Amitabh's dialogues in the scenes ' Signs ' and ' The Bulb Is Dying '. While in the former, he talks about expressions of thoughts through the use of hands and fingers, the latter is a masterpiece where he relates his life with that of a bulb that is about to fade out. Personal favorite if ' B-L-A-C-K ' where he teaches Rani on how she should treat herself 'special' and 'different' from the rest.

One needs to hear tracks like ' Michelle's First Day At School', 'Mama I Failed', 'The Colour Of Achievement', 'A Teacher's Miracle' and ' A Student's Miracle ' to get that sinking feeling time and again that makes you sit up (literally) and take notice. ' 50 Steps ' covers the funny sequence on the Charlie Chaplin lines where Amitabh gives Rani the directions to walk on her own. That's precisely the reason why there is a bill board of a Chaplin movie in the background too! ' Jazz ' is another entertaining sequence about a party time at home that has a very European feel.

After a point of time, one starts ignoring an instrumental pertaining to a specific scene/theme and starts enjoying the wonderful piece of work by Monty. Truly belonging to International standards, after ' Satya ' by Sandeep Chowta, this is the best over Indian theme score to have hit the stands. One should have either watched the movie or should immediately get the tickets booked for ' Black ' in order to visually realize the impact the music creates. Music of ' Black ' works both ways. One - after the movie, it is a trip down the memory lane. Two – it makes you watch the movie again to catch the finer nuances of both the movie and the music.

Commercially speaking, the album may not make inroads into the CD stands of every music lover. But where it does, it will stay there forever. Well done Mr. Bhansali! Well done Monty! This is the MOST touching theme music ever for a Hindi movie.