By Viplove Gupte, National Programming Head – Big 92.7 FM

Album: Yamla Pagla Deewana

Label: T-Series

Composers: Pyarelal, RDB, Nouman Javaid, Anu Malik, Sandesh Shandilya, Rahul Seth, and Sanjoy Chowdhary

Singers: Sonu Nigam, Nindy Kaur, Shweta Pandit, Mahalashmi Iyer, Rahul Seth, Javed Ali, Shreya Ghoshal, Daler Mehndi,  Krishna, Sukhwindher Singh , Rahat Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Ali Pervez Mehdi  and Shahid Mallya.

Finally, the Apne in their element!  The Deol trio of the original macho man, daddy Dharmendra, a man we have loved for over 50 years, and his two tough boys – kind, simple-soul he-man Sunny and his flamboyant brother Bobby. In the days of music being essentially a complement to the story or just the elevator track for videos, how the trio use their music in the film will be seen once we watch YPD. For now though, here's my take on the music of Yamla Pagla Deewana, a full-action fun crime caper featuring Dharamji and Bobby as con artists and apna Sunny paji as the brawny cop 

In fact, before I get into the music review, I've to confess that everything about Dharamji induces a warming of the heart. Like the fact that at the recent film music release, film star Amitabh Bachchan did the honours in a heartwarming session where the Jai-Veeru jodi was on-stage, sharing funny anecdotes and hearty laughs. OK, now, to get back to the music in a middle-of-the-road fashion.

As expected, the title track of the film is the ever-popular cult song composed by Lakshmikant-Pyarelal  from the yesteryears hit Pratigya. The song is re-created and re-mixed with Sonu Nigam's voice paying tribute to his idol Mohammad Rafi. The effervescence and joy in Sonu's voice unmistakably evokes images of Dharamji grooving with the boys in his now-ready-to-be-patented dance moves. RDB, the band that's belted out many hit Punjabi songs for Akshay Kumar's films in the past, has helped re-create the song -- a fairly justified attempt. Maybe I'm a bit biased for wishing for the earthy feeling that the original offered in 1975, with Dharamji trying to woo his lady love played by Hemaji.

The next song on the album is a revelation of sorts. Composed by talented young Pakistani singer Nouman Javaid (who incidentally co-write the lyrics of the songs with Rahul Seth), and who's had his share of controversies in the past. But first, about the beautiful track he's composed for YPD. It's Charha De Rang, and is sung by the accomplished Ali Pervez Mehdi from Lahore along with Shweta Pandit. The raw flavor of the voices makes this track a real hum-along. And now a bit about Nouman's share of controversies for one of his earlier tracks O Meri Jaan in the Emran Hashmi-Soha Ali Khan starrer Tum Mile. He was discovered by the Bhatts for their musical film Jashn – the one that failed to launch the career of Adhyayn Suman. Nouman composed and sung two songs in that film, and then went on to release his track O Meri Jaan on Youtube before the release of the film! Got him into trouble with Pritam and the Bhatts, as you can imagine.

Next in line from YPD is an item number with a strange mix of earthy Punjabi and Bhojpuri flavor,  Tinku Jiya, composed by Anu Malik and belted out by Mamta â€?Munni Badnam' Sharma and Javed â€?Kajrare' Ali. Anu Malik once again tries his hand at lyric writing, but the song, except for the catchy, racy tune, has nothing to rave about. However, one expects its picturization  will see it through.

Not many people might know of this singer called Omer Nadeem,  but those who are heavily into Pakistani pop music will remember him as one of the key members of â€?Jal'  before the infamous split of Atif Aslam from the band. Omer also collaborated with Mustafa Zahid for his band Sifar, producing some good numbers including the cult hit Toh Phir Aao... (used by the Bhatts again). Omer has always been on the fringes, waiting for the big launch, and the song Sau Baar is perfect song for someone like him, and Shreya Ghosal's melifluos voice compliments it beautifully. Sau Baar is a song that will stay for long.

Chamki Jawani is a strange tune from Bhojpur and has Mamta Sharma, Daler Mehndi and the super talented Master Salim singing a done-to-death treatment of a traditional tune by Anu Malik. It will remind you of traditional folk songs from the land of Bihar used elaborately as item songs in Prakash Jha's films. People familiar with UP folk music and the Tamasha  style of singing (predominantly in Bhojpuri) can identify this song and yet will complain that the song leaves a lot to be desired. This song sticks out in an otherwise excellent album. Anu Malik, we know,  is a far superior composer to even think of such a run-of-the-mill composition  But he's gone and done it. Hmmm…

Nouman Javaid comes up with an equally strange tune called Son Titariya, which even the singer, Krishna Beura (Chak De India and Raaz fame), could not help the song. Though it sounds like a fun song, the heavy instrumentation leaves a lot to be desired. It starts like a typical Bhojpuri song and the crescendo of music with heavy usage of harmonium loses the charm that was beautifully captured in Munni Badnam. In an attempt to bring the original earthy flavor throught the use of a chorus, it gets off key and the towards the end, becomes chaotic with all instruments being blasted together.

The last official song on the album is written by none other than Dharam paji, and the subject of the song, no surprise here, is the whisky bottle. The lyrics go like Kad ke bottle dabjo, Jat muh na lag jave, dafli baaje aapo aap, nasha sar nu chad jave.... At one point, the legendary singer Gurdas Maan was known as the dafli wala singer and this song evokes the earthy feeling of an Alaav  and a bunch of handsome Punjabi farmers sitting around it and gulping it down straight from the bottle in true Jatt  style. Dharamji had first recited this song on a stage show in US and when the he-man sings, the crowd only erupts in joy. And boy, can we ever doubt the power packed Sukhwinder for the range that he has! What amazes me is that he doesn't miss a note even when he is singing in taar saptak. It will be a treat to watch Dharamji perform this song on screen… his debut as a poet!

Other songs of the album are different dub versions of Charha De Rang – one of which is sung by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan with Shweta Pandit  and Mahalakshmi Iyer. Two more adlib versions of this song actually end up doing a real injustice to the beauty of the song and could have been done away with – why should the listener have to go through the pain of listening to rehearsals? 

And like a true Punjabi film, the album ends with a Gurbaani sung by Shahid Mallya.

Over all, the album is an interesting listen. The songs will work better when accompanied by interesting visuals, and what better visuals than the three Deols in their elements?