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Music Review: ‘Hungama 2’

Director Priyadarshan is back again with his next Hindi comedy with a mammoth star cast in ‘Hungama 2’. Styled to be a “spiritual successor” of ‘Hungama’ (2003), it is not a sequel. Shilpa Shetty is back to the big screen (OTT is the new big screen in the Covid world) after 15 years and she looks as gorgeous like she always did. Releasing on Hotstar OTT platform, the movie also stars Paresh Rawal, Johnny Lever, Ashutosh Rana, Akshaye Khanna, Rajpal Yadav and Meezaan Jaffery on his second movie. The movie has mostly been shot during Covid and that is quite some commitment to bring laughs to the pandemic stricken subdued world. The music for this movie is entirely composed by Anu Malik with lyrics by Sameer. Anu Malik’s appointment seems to have evolved from having Shetty leading the movie and so the remake of one of her most iconic songs composed by Malik. Nonetheless the soundtrack should have fun pouring out of every song if any of Priyadarshan’s previous projects are to go by.

Shockingly it’s taken up until now for someone to deliver a remake of this superhit but Chura Ke Dil Mera 2.0 is finally here. The monster hit from ‘Main Khiladi Tu Anari’ (1994) is one of the most famous songs in Bollywood let alone of Shetty. Malik had originally composed this and he had done a fair job in recreating the magic of it for 2021 audiences. The original melody is intact and rightly so as it is the defining sound that makes this a hit. It almost sounds like he has used the original music recording and layered with a new programmed beat and some additional electric guitars leading the bridge. The composition & arrangement are untouched and the flow of the song is exactly that of the original while the new vocals and lyrics are newly done. Malik’s daughter Anmol Malik delivers a sassy vocal with a stylish charisma to her delivery. She does not have much depth to her voice but that works for her part while the amazing Benny Dayal makes up for range and depth on his side of the leading vocal. Dayal is just terrific and his vocal just works for this song. Rather he makes it work with his very dynamic delivery bringing in excitement, romance and a vibrant personality to the song. The additional lyrics by Sameer are spot on and continue the great flow that Rani Malik had developed for the original. The new lyrics are current and quite easy to enjoy. Although these new lyrics will never become as synonymous as the original, but they are good alternate lyrics that work for the current time. Overall this is a good remake on vocals and lyrics front and only missing a new take on the music. 3.5/5

Nakash Aziz & Neeti Mohan deliver Sameer’s lyrics next on Chinta Na Kar. The composition and melody of the song is very Anu Malik of the 90s. The song grows from what sounds like a deep romantic song at the beginning but turns into a fun upbeat romantic number. The song almost sounds like many of his works from that era thanks to the instrumentation that stays away from any modern sounds. The use of electric guitars is the only real difference here on the bridge music but the rest of it is quite standard programming typical to his original style of music. Aziz leads the song well on the vocals while Mohan’s vocals don’t really impress or tune in well with the male lead. Aziz brings more of the fun and excitement to the vocal than Mohan although they both try hard to make this song sound more current. But even the lyrics are quite dated and so the vocalists land up lost in the 90s style. The lyrics are perhaps the better part of the song and work perfectly in sync of the musical styling that Malik has given this number. Overall the song is dated and seems to try hard to impress but falls flat to mediocrity. 2.5/5

With a title like Hungama Ho Gaya one can expect Mika Singh to be leading the song, but not in this way. The music is absolutely pants on this song! For a title song of the movie doubling as the second dance number this is quite a big disappointment. The music is a really artificial sounding programmed music. It seems like Anu Malik has not updated his samples collection in a couple of decades! The composition is overall really poor and the mastering is terrible making this sound like a B-grade Bollywood movie song. The lyrics are just too simple with very little quality to them. They try to bring out fun but don’t get anywhere with that. Anmol Malik’s vocals are better than Singh but just the whole sound of the song is so wrong that the singers can’t do much here and land up sounding flat. Easily skip-able song. 2/5

The album makes a quick recovery with a cute romantic number called Pehli Baar. What makes this song good is all credit to Benny Dayal. His upbeat and vibrant vocal almost gets the sun shining in this song. He has a good range and evident excitement that connects well with the listener. The lyrics are the next good thing about the song with a decent flow and expressive lines that Dayal is able to make his own and that is the best space for a singer to deliver. The music is perhaps not the best here and could have been a lot better. The arrangement doesn’t really work too well with some odd parts of the song. The instrumentation has some pleasant guitars but then some really loud synths ruin the feel of the song. The overall melody lacks lustre and that brings down some value of this track. Nonetheless it is worth a listen for Dayal. 3.5/5

Aao Chalen Hum feature the vocals of Antara Mitra leading the vocal with a small part for Aziz making an appearance towards the end of the song. He clearly doesn’t have much to do here and Mitra is the real star of the song with some good expressions to her vocal. For a song with kids she does deliver it well with soft tonalities and a positive delivery. The music is good on this song finally with well balanced sound. There are some nice variations and the programming is delicately done. The acoustic guitars give the song a soothing aura that makes the song easy on the ears. The lyrics are rather dull in parts even for a kids song but they work. Overall this is a fair average song only limited by its appeal. 3/5

FINAL WORD
For a Priyadarshan film, the soundtrack of ‘Hungama 2’ is quite mediocre. Roping in Anu Malik pays off with rights for the big superhit track for a remake but other than that his contribution on the originals doesn’t deliver an impact. He does bring in a mix of sounds and genres but they are mostly quite average in their rendition. Sameer disappoints with lyrics on most songs except for the remake of Chura Ke Dil Mera 2.0 and Pehli Baar, the same two songs that have the best vocals courtesy of Benny Dayal. He is the star of the album and goes from the dance number remake of a classic to a beautiful romantic number. Antara Mitra does a good job too on Aao Chalen Hum. As the movie relies on the return of Shilpa Shetty to the big screen, the soundtrack hedges on the return of her biggest hit Chura Ke Dil Mera. Other than this song there is not much for the album to offer. Malik fails to create a sound that would impress audiences of 2021 and that is the big let-down of this album.  In all there is decent variety here but all the talent don’t deliver a great result here.

 

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.