Music Review: ‘Cocktail’
Talk about heightened expectations for a soundtrack and ‘Cocktail’ would clearly fit the bill. Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone pair up again after their successful pairing in ‘Love Aaj Kal’ (2009) and ��Aarakshan�۪ (2011)��and bring��another romantic film in a modern, multicultural and youthful setting with ‘Cocktail’. The project comes��under the direction of Homi Adajania, of the ‘Being Cyrus’ (2006) fame, and the Eros International banner.��The film is written by Imtiaz Ali of ��Jab We Met�۪ (2007), ��Love Aaj Kal�۪ and ��Rockstar�۪ (2011) fame and this��automatically makes ��Cocktail�۪ one of the most anticipated movies of the year.
Director Adajania is proficient with niche concept films but his ability to deliver a frontline big budget Bollywood romance like ‘Cocktail’ almost has��his whole career riding on it. Choosing the right star cast, technical and most importantly the music team would be crucial to this purpose as music plays the most important role in driving the viewers to the cinema. Pritam, riding on the musical success of ‘Bodyguard’ (2011), ‘Desi Boyz’ (2011) and ‘Agent Vinod’ (2012), is by far the best choice made with Irshad Kamil. Amitabh Bhattacharya��provides lyrical magic��to deliver Adajania’s vision of a contemporary modern romantic score.
Tumhi Ho Bandhu is by far one of the biggest tracks to hit the radio and Bollywood parties scene this year. A record that has already been declared a commercial success in a matter of a week of its release has been headlined by Kavita Seth�۪s classical Sufi voice that made Iktara from ��Wake Up Sid�۪ (2009) one of the biggest award-winning songs that year. Her perfect vocals have been programmed perfectly with the clap house beat of Pritam and Neeraj Sridhar voicing��Khan once again on the chorus and��making this song one of mass favourites. The lyrics are meaningful and exceptionally well laid out making this song an anthem for 2012.
Playing all across TV channels is the extremely fun and groovy song called Daaru Desi which is one of the most innovative and path breaking compositions this year. The amazing Benny Dayal and newcomer Shalmali Kholgade complement and balance out the vocals really well on this funky and cool song. The more you listen to this song the more it will engage you and the more you will enjoy the intricate work of Pritam�۪s musical programming genius. Press repeat on this song for sure!
Next on the soundtrack is a soft rock ballet called Yaariyan with Shilpa Rao on the female vocals. But totally noteworthy is Pritam�۪s new found talent named Mohan Kanan delivering his first commercial song which one can easily agree will make him one of the most sought after singers in 2012. The soulful vocals carry the extremely beautiful poetic lyrics. Yaariyan is an ideal song to listen to when in a chill out mood with Coldplay music vibes.
Queen of Bhangra, Miss Pooja, finally makes her appearance in the B-town and a big thank you to Pritam for that��_ especially for giving her such a smashing number! Second Hand Jawani is on a next level of item numbers with the vibes of any smashing Miss Pooja numbers. The instrumentation and arrangement of the song is perfect blend of UK Bhangra and Bollywood and is thus right up the alley of global audiences who��may��enjoy a fusion of music. The vocals and lyrics will get��you totally hooked onto this track.
Tere Naam features Pakistani singer Javed Bashir along with Nikhil D�۪souza and Shefali Alvares. This is one of the ideal drive-time radio songs also for party warm-up in a club. The lyrics and composition are not extraordinary on this song but it delivers a good listen.
Luttna is another path-breaking songs on the ��Cocktail�۪ soundtrack that fuses another Pakistani singer Masuma Anwar�۪s spotless vocals with Dubstep music genre on a Bollywood soundtrack! This song truly demonstrates the versatility of Hindustani music and the talent in B-town with the ability to elevate music expectations and step away from simple commercial music. The lyrics of Luttna are truly mesmerising making it a must listen!
The only thing missing on the soundtrack so far has been a Punjabi folk song and Jugni fills that gap with Pakistani singer Arif Lohar�۪s amazing vocals. Harshdeep Kaur does a great job on the supporting vocals as well. The harmonies and composition are really good on this song even though one cannot understand the lyrics and it��is therefore��a special song.
Sunidhi Chauhan does a fantastic job doing a reprise version of Yaariyan to a simple double bass and piano delivering a very soothing acoustic version of the song.
A second traditional lounge version of Lootna further sets the low tone towards the end of the soundtrack delivering a really good vibe that would make one love this song even more.
��Cocktail�۪ further differentiates itself from the rest of Bollywood albums with just one remix on the album of Tere Naam which is the most suited song for a mix since it was set in the dance music format. The uplifting beat ads great value to this song making it another fab number to move along to.
Pritam decides to end the soundtrack with another original rather than a remix which comes as a pleasant surprise with Main Sharabi to the rap of Honey Singh and Imran Aziz Milan. This song has a different Punjabi rap characteristics to it making it just another chart-topper on the OST.
Final Word
��Cocktail�۪ is an overall masterpiece of modern Bollywood music. It has all the elements of style, experimentation and just overall perfect mix of radio and club hits. Pritam has utilised one of the biggest list of singers and the best team of lyricists to deliver the vision of the film. Every performance is simply brilliant and Pritam has jumped hoops to deliver perfection in many ways. For the UK audiences there is every flavour that one can ask merging Bhangra, Bollywood, Urban and Dubstep together under one soundtrack. If one decides to buy just one Bollywood CD in 2012 then it has to be ��Cocktail�۪ as the music delivers much more than the expectations.
Rating ��� 9/10
