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Review |  27 Dec 2008 12:39 |  By chiragsutar

Raaz - The Mystery Continues

Label - Sony BMG,

Rating: 2.5/5

Apparently, Emraan Hashmi has been very lucky when it comes to music. Director Mohit Suri too has a knack of identifying good commercial music (Kalyug, Wo Lamhe, Aawarapan and now Raaz - The Mystery Continues). In Raaz – The mystery continues, Maahi and Soniyo are the only tracks that stand out (perhaps, that's the reason they have multiple versions?). Looking at the album, it looks like the trend of getting multiple music directors to work on a film is catching on . The album has five original tracks along with three remixes and four music directors featuring on the album.

The opening track Maahi is an out an out commercial - radio friendly track, the lyrics on this are by 'Jiya Dhadak Dhadak' fame Sayeed Quadri. However, as far as lyrics go, 'Maahi' should be one of those words to be avoided –– haven't we had enough 'Maahi' songs in the past? But lyricists use it for reasons they know best! The arrangements are great and so is Toshi – both as a singer and composer. The Maahi 'Rock with me' version is better than the former – punchy and aggressive, surely impressive!

It's difficult to make out the otherwise distinctive voice of Sonu Niigaam's in 'Soniyo' – at least till the 'antara'. Raju Singh composes the love song 'Soniyo', Kumar gets the flow right with the lyrics. However, Neeraj Sridhar's English rendition in the prelude seems to be forced. Soniyo 'From the Heart' version is sung by Krishna – probably made to fit sentimental scenes of the movie. This song has an unplugged ambience – good for easy listening.

KK, who is known to deliver velvety soft numbers, sings 'O Jaana' – a track with a rather heavy bassline. The sound is reminiscent of that of Himesh Reshammiya's! With beats like that no one will pay attention to the lyrics… they can be overlooked. After all, it's a fun track tailor made for discotheques – some things will never change in Bollywood!

'Kaisa Ye Raaz hai' is a spooky haunting track with operatic ahh's and ooo's – KK takes the mic for this one. The lyrics are by Sayeed Quadri and music by Pranay M Rijia. 'Kaisa Ye Raaz hai' is an average piece. Having a haunting track sounds tacky – one does not hum a song spooky track, do we? A background 'instrumental' score is enough sans any lyrics for effects feel, whatever.

The next track 'Bandoo Re' is composed by Gourov Dasgupta, the song has Krishna singing in a la Kailash Kher style. The song is definitely not someone would want on their I-Pod! A lot depends on how the song is picturised. If the screen play is weak – this one would be the final nail in the coffin.

The album doesn't offer much, just two songs worth a repeat – Maahi and Soniyo. Usually, the remixed version tend to be a spoiler, but for the above two songs, both seem to have been done aesthetically. Forget the rest.

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