Label: Tips,

Music: Pritam,

Rating: 2.5,

It's becoming a trend among music composers to have multiple versions of the same songs – Pritam is undoubtedly leading in this space.

Starting from New York to Tum Mile, all his films have had multiple versions of one or more tracks. In Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani, he is no different. The film offers seven originals, and an additional six tracks with remix/ reprise versions.

The album opens with Main Tera Dhadkan Teri. Hard Kaur does her rap, Sunidhi sounds fun, while KK goes full throttle. The lyrics by Irshad Kamil on this song are quite unconventional, but not something we can relate to. However, the chorus is definitely catchy.

One of the essential listens on the album is Tu Jaane Na. Though this track has been sung by Atif Aslam, and trio Soham, Rana Muzumdar and Ashish Pandit, nothing really beats the Kailash Kher's unplugged take on Tu Jaane Na. Pure genius.

Pritam gives a fun spin to the generic shehnai instrumental in the next By God, and comes with an interesting hook. The song has Sunidhi Chauhan who is known to ably pull of such fun tracks with ?©lan – it's hard to stop breaking into a jiggy once she starts. However, after hearing Mika on the song, one wonders why he has never been accused of nasal singing 

Alisha Chinai makes a come back in playback and sings alongside Atif Aslam on romantic number Tera Hone Laga Hoon – it does take a while to believe it's her. While Chinai sounds intense, Aslam is his usual high pitched self. After a few listens, the song does grow – but can we have one version without the hinglish bwah-wah?

The folk rooted Prem Ki Naiyya sung by hinglish crooner Neeraj Sridhar and Suzanne D'mello is another cracker, or at least an attempt  Though its seems like a good experiment to bring on singers that are more known to sing contemporary tracks,  Prem Ki Naiyya doesn't impress much. As far as visuals go, it's tough as old boots to watch helluva lookers Ranbir and Katrina dance to a simian tune 

When the next track Aa Jao Meri Tammanna opens, you might just open into singing Rahman's 'O Bhavre'. The arrangements and treatment of this song is very similar to what Rahman is known for. However, that's that. As the song progresses, it doesn't impress much – except for Javed Ali's vocals. The last track is Hard Kaur's 'Follow Me', where Indian rapper Hard Kaur goes solo – you may like this, unless you are a hard core Hard Kaur fan 

Last Word

Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani is quite an energetic album with its thumpy-pumpy beats n' all. Besides a couple of tracks like Tu Jaane Na, fun track 'By God', and a Rahman influenced Aa Jao Meri Tammanna, the album is rooted to contemporary- workable tunes.

However, for this album, Pritam does move from his loyal singers – KK, Neeraj Sridhar, Javed Ali, and experiments with popular singers like Atif Aslam, Mika,  Hard Kaur and Alisha Chinai. Does it work? You may ask – except for Kailash Kher unplugged version of Tu Jaane Na, not really   

Our Pick

1-Tu Jaane Na- Kailash Kher's unplugged version

2-By God

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