Happy New Year Music Review - “Sad New Year”

Anup Pandey

Music: Vishal – Shekhar/ Dr. Zeus/ Manj Musik

Lyrics: Irshad Kamil/ Kumaar, Vishal-Shekhar/ Jiwan Mann

1. India Waale

 
India Waale has a very celebratory feel to it, and the eclectic ensemble of singers- Vishal Dadlani, K.K., Shankar Mahadevan and Neeti Mohan lives up to the mood and feel of the song. However, this could have been elevated with traditional and more percussion based arrangement, but is let down by its EDM setup. 

Now that this is already an EDM based track, what point did “India Waale (Electronic)”- which sounds exactly same- serve?

2. Manwa Laage

 
Arijit Singh enters with a breeze in this one which could have been a templatised too-sweet-to-bear Shreya Ghoshal song. The consistent use of dafli is beautiful. And, hat-tip to Irshad Kamil for playing with words so amusingly.

3. Satakli

 
The “Raadhe raadhe” hook is catchy. Give that to Pritam and he would have constructed a damn infectious song out of it. But sadly, Vishal-Shekhar is no Pritam when it comes to masala genre- they make it sound downright pedestrian despite being backed by Sukhwinder Singh. 

4. Lovely

 
Dr. Zeus enters as guest composer with this track called “Lovely” which is not at all lovely. The beats remind of Shamur’s rage hit Let The Music Play. Also, they could have taken Arabic bit to develop a really catchy pop number but the sampled sounds and cacophony of singers- Kanika Kapoor, Ravindra Upadhyay, Miraya Varma, Fateh makes it a letdown.

5. World Dance Medley

Medley of few tracks of the album. Largely a useless track. 

6. Nonsense Ki Night

 
Would you listen to Hindi proverbs transliterated into English sung by Mika Singh, set on a harrowing tune that make 3 minutes feel like 30? I did. Only to tell you, don’t. 

7. Dance Like A Chammiya

 
An item number in which Sunidhi Chauhan doesn’t sound too energetic. (Definitely, some software helped her to “mellow” down). The only good part is Vishal’s entry with lezim in this largely forgetful song. 

8. Sharabi

Composed by former RDB vocalist Manj Musik and supported by his wife Nindy Kaur in vocals, Sharabi is a fun club number. The essence of Bhangra and Punjabi folk is lost to techno here, though neatly done.

9. The Heist

A short instrumental by John Stewart Eduri that has nice blend of trumpets, guitars and violins. I found a bit Tees Maar Khan hangover though.

10. Kamlee

As if of not sure what would bring Kanika Kapoor of Baby Doll fame one more hit- a “Lovely” or “Kamlee”- they are selling the same track again with different name.

Vishal-Shekhar delivered one of their career’s best with Farah Khan’s Om Shanti Om. Sadly, they just delivered their career’s worst for the same filmmaker in this overpopulated album.

Rating: 1.5/5