Music Review: Lamhaa

By Sudha (Lakshmi) Rao

(Lamhaa

Producer: Bunty Walia, Jaspreet Singh Walia

Director: Rahul Dholakia

Starring: Sanjay Dutt, Bipasha Basu, Anupam Kher and Kunal Kapoor

Music: Mithoon

Lyrics: Sayeed Qadri and Amitabh Varma.

Music Label: T-Series 

Lamhaa scheduled for release in July has a star cast of Sanjay Dutt, Bipasha Basu, Kunal Kapoor and Anupam Kher and is directed by Rahul Dholakia.  Music score is by Mithoon who was responsible for some lovely songs in Anwar and The Train – his maula mere maula from Anwar is still fresh in our minds and ears.  Lamhaa is set in Kashmir and the film’s audio combines Kashmiri folk music and lyrics and some of the compositions conjure up and invoke the distinctive and magical aura of the mountains.

Madhno Re

A lovely lilting song falling into the genre that Pritam, Shankar-Ehsan-Loy etc have now honed to perfection in their recent albums – romantic and dreamy ballad – slow and minimal but yet impressive orchestration which allows the listener to experience and enjoy the very talented vocals of Kshitij Tarey that start off soft and culminates in full throated baritone splendour.  Chinmayee is the perfect foil for Kshitij as she contributes romance and tenderness combined with an easy and relaxed rendition.

Salaam Zindagi

This anthem like song that is an ode to life starts with the lovely sound of children’s laughter and their innocent voices reciting Kashmiri verse.  Once again a simple straightforward tune –a charming meld of Indian and western – there is some lovely swara singing over the refrain and in the interlude.  Arun Daga with the combined support and back up of Mohammad Irfan and Saim Bhat skillfully endow the song with passion and zeal yet retaining a pleasant and enjoyable mood all the way!

Main Kaun Hoon

Sounds of the santoor tinkle and tease in this slow and long drawn song.  In the beginning Palash Sen (lead singer of the Indian group Euphoria) sounds a tad nasal but as he progresses into the song, he invests the song with such heart tugging angst and pathos and the listener is drawn to the song unconsciously as the communion between the listener and song is established not just with the ears but with the heart too!

Saajna Re

Mika Singh’s version of Madhno Re (which means the same as Saajna re) is as graceful as the other and while Mika’s vocal nuances may not be as intricate as Kshitij’s, he still delivers a raw and more intense version of the song with his poignant and very down to earth rendition.  

Zameen O Aasmaa

This melody has a soothing piano intro and once again Kshitij has the chance to display the tremendous range of his vocal cords.  He takes the high notes as effortlessly as the lower – he has a great control of his sur and his modulation is really good.  The song might be one that is written and composed keeping the narrative in mind and may not be an easy song to listen to because of the slow and dragging pace.

Rehmat Zara

Not the most distinctive or remarkable composition on first listen.  Exploits the vocal ranges of the singers, Mithoon and Mohammad Irfan and slowly starts growing on the listener as it becomes more interesting and attractive.  Not pure hard or soft rock but somewhere in between!

Lamha’s songs are mostly delicate and gentle and lyrics a combination of romantic, philosophical and self/soul searching with the requisite patriotism and love and concern for one’s native soil thrown in for good measure.  The element of Sufi-mysticism that has been a strong point in Mithoon’s earlier music is also very palpable in this album that combines, love and philosophy, melody and poetry and the end product is a very commendable effort by Mithoon who has retained the magic he created in Anwar. Most of the songs are fairly long – which is detracting in some songs but for most part the listener is thankfully kept engaged by the overall sweetness of the melody. My rating for this album would be 4 stars!

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