Oru pada paadal – Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam

Wow!!! To even think of writing a review for so many songs looks a Herculean task. Imagine picturising them, writing, sequencing and acting for all of them!!! A movie, which adorns grandeur, right from its title to every single second of its running time, across all aspects of movie making. A movie, which can stand in its own right for its story (much borrowed theme) and lead stars performances and as much for its songs. Probably one movie of Salman that I can say for sure, would be many people’s favorite for saner reasons, unlike the mad craze and hype at present. In fact, he was voted the second or third most desirable person on the planet during its release I guess. And now to the man of the post – Ismail Darbar.

I hated this guy the most for a really long while, for he denied ARR of a trophy for Taal, by winning it for this movie. But if at all there was a worthy winner, it was never in doubt that it would be him. Wonder why he never composed much, considering the blockbuster hit of this album. The first ever song I heard from this movie was “Tadap Tadap” in some reality show, Zee Saregama I guess. That soulful rendition stuck with me for long and my search for the album, lead up to this treasure. This song, stretches the limit of high pitch and other than Dharmasala (mokka), this is the highest pitch I’ve ever come across!! K.K became an instant favorite post this song and his “ooooohhhhh” howler hits along with Pritam deserves a post of its own.

For long I hadn’t heard “Jhonka hawa ka” and the file that I was listening to never had this song. When my friend was going ga-ga about this album and this song in particular I almost challenged him saying there is no such song in the movie. Finally, when I did hear it, it was love at first sound(!!). Especially the way Hariharan spells “thera THUPPattAA”, it’s both funny and beautiful at same time. This song is probably one of the best ever sung by him and again finds a place in my final playlist for life. “Man Mohini” song is composed with probably all these reality shows in mind I guess. Ace this song, the title is yours. Its so complex and beautiful that, while singing it feels like you are sculpting something beautiful. If it comes out well, you’ve a sculpture on stone, else just much maligned stone. Ditto for “Albela Sajan”. Was never a big fan of the title song for its such a cryathon and so slow. But it definitely grows on you and if you can think of the movie title, without imagining Kavitha Krishnamoorthy’s voice, you’ve outgrown it.

There are 2 songs which are my personal favorites – “Chaand chupa” just for Udit Narayan and “Dholi Taro” for everything about it. “Chaand chupa” was rendered by a friend of mine in one of our office culturals and it won him his bride. Different story, different post. But what a song!! It plays on your mind long after you switch off the player. With “Dholi Taro” in your playlist, you can never feel down. Its nothing but a celebration – of mood, life, song, dance and everything around us. And with a running time rivalling a movie, the song will surely uplift your mood and would get you grooving by the time it ends, which really takes a while. I love its picturisation as well, especially, those HUGE drums and the way the dancers sway around carrying/playing them, plus the camera which tracks the swaying dancers and the amazing composition. With the singers reaching almost shouting level pitch towards the end. Everything about the song is superlative and is a tribute to our kind of music.

I never liked “Nimbooda” much and felt it was an overkill and the way Aish rolls her eyes in the song, makes you feel justified in your thought. Finally comes “Aankhon ki”. Kumar sanu manages to tame down Kavitha Krishnamoorthy and the duet is the best counter to the boisterous “Dholi taro”. It almost lulls you into silence with its pleasantness.