Music Review: ‘Singh Saab The Great’
With Sunny Deol yet again as a Sikh, which works really well in merging his real personality to his reel personality, his action image comes out very strong in the trailers with a film revolving completely around him. On the music front, the ability to produce to commercial Punjabi music is not scarce but there are few who can do it keeping its folk purity. Anand Raj Anand is one of them who can deliver the Punjabi flavour really well��_ what needs to be seen is if he can deliver the commercial angle as well to pull audiences to the cinema hall with his music. On a roll with the recent success of ��Besharam�۪ (2013) and ��Boss�۪ (2013), Kumaar has penned the lyrics on the album.
Sonu Nigam opens the album with the title song that he has sung and composed as well and is the only exception on the album from those directed by Anand Raj Anand. Singh Saab The Great has an urban flavour beat that goes really on top of the slow dhol and deep bass guitar strumming throughout the song. Sonu uses this opportunity to feature his sister Teesha Nigam who does a good job on her part Punjabi vocals. The upbeat second half of the song is well composed and advances really well from the urban first half. What is striking on the song is the pitch Sonu is singing in stepping away from his natural voice almost making him unrecognisable!
Every Punjabi�۪s favourite sentence after a drinking session happens to be the title of the next song called Daaru Band Kal Se. This fun party tune in the voice of Sonu Nigam and composed by Anand Raj Anand has the lyrics penned by Kumaar & Anand Raj Anand himself. With inspirations form Missy Elliot’s Get your Freak On in the music to a digital dhol beat this tune makes a good mix between the modern and retro of the Bollywood music world. This song sure has potential of high radio play with a lot riding on its video appeal that with good execution can push it to be a hit!
Palang Todh is a crude item number set to a UP/Bihari style of music and lyrics that almost put you into the village setting. The vocals of Sunidhi Chauhan and Anand Raj Anand himself are appropriately placed for the songs appeal. But they lack the oomph to take it all the way to the level of songs like Beedi or Ban Than Chali in the same category. The lyrics are mediocre and so is the composition making this is luke-warm item number.
Jab Mehndi Lag Lag Jave featuring the voices of Shreya Ghoshal & Sonu Nigam is an upbeat wedding number trying too hard to break into the mehndi parties of the forthcoming Indian wedding season this winter. The music arrangement is good but the lyrics by Kumaar are average so is the instrumentation as it lacks the authenticity of a pure wedding song. The use of all digital instruments and the techno style make it a little annoying at points. The vocal performances are average as well. This is one of those songs that could have been so much better.
[quote]Sonu Nigam seems to own the album mostly with his voice but with a fair contribution to the music front too on the title track. But even with the voices of the biggest names in the industry the other songs fail to create an impact strong enough to create a buzz.[end_quote]
Being the only good song with a party setting, Daaru Band Kal Se (Remix) was expected. Although the synths and beats are carefully selected they still don�۪t do justice to this Punjabi number. The remix is pretty much a waste of 3 minutes with the original beating it by a mile!!
Sonu Nigam does an acapella extension of the title song under the title Heer with super deep lyrics and soulful vocals by the king of voice. He delivers heart-warming nuances to his vocal rendition. With not much scope for music as lyrics and vocals take the lead in this song, Anand Raj Anand takes a backseat on the instrumentation but delivering really good composition with beautiful highs and lows. Really good track!
FINAL WORD
Surprisingly the music of ��Singh Saab The Great�۪ is not all that Punjabi compared to what was expected with Anand Raj Anand on the bill. Sonu Nigam seems to own the album mostly with his voice but with a fair contribution to the music front too on the title track. But even with the voices of the biggest names in the industry the other songs fail to create an impact strong enough to create a buzz. With Daaru Band Kal Se the only song with some commercial potential audiences in the UK won�۪t really warm up to this album. Heer is a beautiful song but sits sadly at the very end with some emotional depth to it. The other songs are a waste of time and barely add any value to the OST. Overall the album lacks creativity and direction at a major level making it a below average soundtrack.
RATING 5.5/10
