Music Review: ‘Kaabil’
Hrithik Roshan is back in a solid role to showcase his true acting talent in a serious role in ‘Kaabil’ under his dad Rakesh Roshan’s production. Director Sanjay Gupta is known for his intense action dramas with a mix of emotions and solid defined characters. ‘Kaabil’ looks like a mix of all of that with Yami Gautam playing the female lead also as a blind girl & Ronit Roy as the baddie. Rajesh Roshan is the obvious music director choice for this family project. With a mix of lyricists, the album should have a range of genres typical to the Roshan style. He has not been hugely successful in producing big hits in his recent projects but let’s see if ‘Kaabil’ can deliver a different outcome.
Title song Kaabil Hoon feature the lyrics of Nasir Faraaz and the voices of Jubin Nautiyal & Palak Muchhal. The song starts with an international Chainsmokers vibe to it thanks to trumpets but then blends in a rather jumpy way into a typical Bollywood melody with a duff beat. The arrangement is rather typical for the bridge but the trumpets & Spanish guitar give it a chillout vibe. The lyrics are nice and have a good range of emotions to them. Nautiyal vocally rules the song with the softness to it that works well on screen for Roshan’s voice. Muchhal doesn’t have a big role to play and her performance is very average too. Not a very memorable song with a lot of potential for success but not a bad song either. The typical 90s arrangement & thus the lyrical style is its real downfall.
In trend with the recent remake era Rajesh Roshan goes on to recreate his ‘Yaarana’ (1981) Haseeno Ka Deewana classic. This Amitabh Bachchan super-duper hit is a legend of a song till date but the new version is not bad at all thanks to the desi rap additions by Raftaar. Making this into an item song rather than just a remake gives it a sexy angle too. Payal Dev delivers a powerful vocal to make this original Kishore Kumar sound ready for 2017. Kumar contributes to the original Anjaan lyrics giving them the perfect treatment without overstepping the classic feel of them. The electronic music treatment is a bit too forward but overall this works well as a powerful club song.
Kuch Din perhaps the best lyrics on the album as a very romantic song that is about the getting used to each other in love and not being able to do without the other. Manoj Muntashir does a great job in capturing very intricate moments in love specific to the situation of two blind characters in the film. The music is quite basic as they lyrics & vocals rule the melody. The composition is very warming though and has a strong calming factor. Nautiyal’s vocals are warm and soft with a very moving texture to them. He really holds your attention to each word that is commendable to listen to.
Vishal Dadlani brings out the star song of the album Mon Amour that is iconic for any Roshan family film. Think It’s Magic or Dil Na Diya and this song is in the same space. A party tune with a difference and perfect for a participation song. Roshan takes the Spanish approach for this one with typical Spanish instrumentation & composition. Muntashir throws in a couple of Spanish words in the lyrics as well along with a lot of fun and excitement in them. The sing-along-ability of the song is really high as it is very catchy with easy flowing dance lyrics. The arrangement is the highlight of the song as it can get a dull person up in high spirits in no time. With Hrithik Roshan’s super dancing abilities, the visual should make it easy for this song to climb up the charts consistently. It sure will be a party favourite around the world with its strong international vibe. Dadlani is perfect as always on his vocals making this an easy hit!
Kaabil Hoon (Sad version) is a background music piece situational to the movie with minimalistic music and deeply ambient vocal by Nautiyal. The echo on his voice and the slow execution is very well delivered by him with strong emotive characteristics to them. As a standalone song this piece has no potential.
‘Julie’ (1975) is where Rajesh Roshan really started off and really arrived on the Bollywood scene. He recreates one of his biggest classics with Kisi Se Pyar Ho Jaye. The great Anand Bakshi’s lyrics make this song one of the greatest romantic ballads ever in Bollywood and even in 2017 this still sounds like one of the most beautiful songs ever! Kumaar gives the stanzas his own take and his version of lyrics are really good and worth listening to on an endless repeat. A big salute to him and Roshan for reviving this song with a phenomenal amount of elegance to it. The rhythmic treatment and ambient lounge instrumentation is gorgeous to listen to. Part of the credit is to Nautiyal whose vocal is exotic with note perfect execution. The texture & control is really worth listening to.
FINAL WORD
At the age of 61, Rajesh Roshan still proves he has still got it and can deliver a modern sound in trend with what the audience likes to listen to. The music album of ‘Kaabil’ has a good mix of romantic, sad and party songs with a good variance in music, lyrics and compositions. Some initial songs are not up to the mark musically but they get better as the soundtrack moves forward. His remakes of his own classics give the songs a lot of credibility and he treats them with utmost care so as not to overdo or ruin his superhit work. Jubin Nautiyal is the clear vocal lead of the album and does a really good job with his pitch perfect & well controlled vocals on every song. Vishal Dadlani & Raftaar are other noteworthy singers on the album with Manoj Muntashir & Kumaar delivering the best lyrics. Kisi Se Pyar Ho Jaye and Mon Amour are the best songs on the album. Haseeno Ka Deewana is the big party song but it’s the original that will stand the test of time while this version will be lost in time soon. Overall the album does not go on and on delivering just the right level of mix of songs for a dramatic action film. It’s a fairly decent album with some good songs that are worth listening to.
BizAsiaLive.com Rating – 7.5/10
