MUSIC REVIEW : ABCD 2

Looking at their current form, Sachin and Jigar are one of the most successful composers in the last year. After the immensely well made “Happy Ending” and “Badlapur” and a top notch Gujarati album “Bey Yaar”, they gave us a brilliant episode of MTV unplugged and then finally Coke Studio and LAADKI.

It remains to be seen how they fare with ABCD 2 as they team up the third time with Remo D’souza. The first movie had a highly successful run at the music charts. Let us see how the sequel fares.

“BEZUBAAN PHIR SE” is aptly titled. The composers re utilize their most successful song from ABCD. This time however, the honey voiced Mohit Chauhan is replaced by a full throttled Vishal Dadlani. And he completely owns the song. The rap portions as well as the other parts are sung brilliantly by him. Joining him is Madhav Krishna who floors you with his rendition of the title loop. The contrast between Vishal and Madhav’s voices is superb. Then there is Anushka Manchanda who is as usual top class.

The song starts with the familiar tune we heard in the background in the first movie. The rap portions blend in well. Like the song “Bezubaan”, here too the composers try increasing the tempo towards the end of the song, trying to finish off on a high note. Only it falls flat here. Unlike the lovely climax in “Bezubaan”, this one is a bit of a letdown as far as the end is concerned.

It is wrong to compare, but I will always love Mohit and Priya’s version more.

“SUN SAATHIYA” – I still remember those days. I had just watched ABCD and like many others, I was mesmerized by a beautiful song that featured in the background when Kay Kay Menon lustfully eyed Lauren. I remember searching the net daily for that background song sung by Priya Saraiya. I remember having finally got it from youtube.

And then in February 2015, on meeting Jigar and Priya Saraiya, I come to know that all my efforts 4 years ago have been finally rewarded. There will be a full song in ABCD 2 titled “Sun Saathiya”.

Coming to the song, this one is a beauty. Right from the lovely piano to Priya’s gorgeous voice and Divya Kumar’s superb rendition, this song is a sure shot winner. As for Priya, after singing many songs, finally she is HERE. This is the song which actually puts her in league with the rest of the mainstream female lead singers of today. And she makes a grand entry. This one is award winning stuff; a strong contender of the “BEST FEMALE PLAYBACK SINGER” category. I can listen to this song on and on and continue to fall more and more in love with Priya’s voice. The way she sings “Barsa DE” at 1:05 minutes is outstanding – That emphasis on “DE”…

“CHUNAR” – Arijit Singh is back in form after delivering some pretty mediocre and ordinarily composed songs. After belting out a phenomenal “Jheeni” in Badlapur, Sachin – Jigar once again extract gold out of the goose. This time it is “Jheena”.

 Arijit singh is simply marvelous. He proves yet again that given a rock solid composition, he can create sheer magic. Speaking about mothers, the composition in itself is a beauty. I could feel traces of Gujarati garba tunes somewhere in the middle when Arijit Singh sings “Rang teri preet ka, rang teri jeet ka…”

The first interlude where the electronic guitars are coupled with tabla is simply awesome. The antara is even better. By the time the song ends, you are completely sucked into the musical magic created by Sachin – Jigar and Arijit Singh. This one is going to be on repeat mode in my playlist for a long time.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY” – There is this genre of music invented by Sachin – Jigar which I call “4G”.

It stands for the “GO GOA GONE GENRE”.  It is a genre which consists of songs that are not just the routine happy go lucky songs. It consists of WACKY songs – songs that push the envelope of craziness a little further. These are songs which make a lovely audio as well as visual treat. And Sachin – Jigar are the supreme masters of this genre. “Happy birthday” is one more such song which belongs to the 4G genre. It is full of addictive beats and crazy singing by the director duo themselves. There is also some really good rap by Varun dhawan. I particularly loved that rap part where Vaishnodevi ka naara “Jay Mataji” is replaced by the words “Happy birthday.”

Overall, this one is a song that will rule the dance floors as well as birthday parties.

The way “NAACH MERI JAAN” begins, you are struck with a very strong déjà – vu feeling. The groovy beats, the Spanish arrangements all seem familiar. (Remember “Salaami” from Dhoom?)

And yet the song manages to keep your feet tapping. The four singers Benny Dayal, Shalmali Kholgade, Rimi Nique and Siddharth Basrur sing in chorus in majority of the song and the result is a very hummable, catchy and thumping song that will definitely be liked. The female chorus is particularly addictive and well done. Expect a good video to this song.

Things go the romantic way with “IF YOU HOLD MY HAND”. And who else but Benny Dayal could make it work? Compared to the other songs, this one falls a little short on novelty but Benny’s singing and Sachin – Jigar’s arrangements make it an instantly likeable indipop – ish material. I could even feel a resemblance to VTV (Omana Penne, incidentally by Benny himself.)

But I liked it. On first listen, it seemed pretty average. But it grew on me. I kept on humming it and soon fell in love with it. Bingo!!

Then comes that mandatory Ganpati song. This time it is “HEY GANARAYA” dedicated to the Shambhu Sutaaya. While the former one was a bit fast paced, this one focuses more on intensity rather than pace. The result is absolutely stunning. Divya kumar – you truly are amazing. I salute you. The way he sings this song is simply brilliant. But the true hero of the song is the fantastic arrangements by Sachin – Jigar. Be it the dhols, the orgasmic “Namo namo namastey” loop, the chhands, the tabla bols recited at rapid speed – everything about this song is superlative. The tabla towards the end is fabulous. The climactic finale and that “Tihaai” in the end give you goosebumps. By the time the musical frenzy subsides, you truly feel blessed by Ganpati himself.

“HAPPY HOUR” begins with an amalgamation of wacky instruments. This one is another 4G song. Now there are few times I actually appreciate Mika singing. This is one of those times. His ever familiar drawling voice seems apt for such a song. The song begins with that ear piercing whistle type tune before Mika starts crooning. With Prabhudeva showing his dancing skills, this song is a sure shot hit. The music has been so arranged to help him showcase all his talents. Like “Bezubaan phir se”, here too the composers opt for a fast tempo ending. Here they get it bang on. Overall, a fine dance track.

“TATTOO” starts with a highly addictive “e e e” chorus – a tune we heard in the background in ABCD. And that itself is hell catchy. The female chorus which follows is lovely. The only thing I didn’t like was Shefali Alvares’s portions. I mean, there is a limit to which one can listen to a voice that is hardly original and more digitally modified. It is a big turn off. I wonder when she will sing in her original voice. I am reminded of Shibani Kashyap.

Coming back to the song, I liked it in bits and pieces but overall, it gives you a feeling of being a sophisticated item song. Maybe the corny lyrics make me feel so. Not the best from Sachin – Jigar but still above average, only due to the arrangements.

 “VANDE MATARAM” - You don’t need to be a genius to figure out that this song will feature in the climax of the movie where we will be subjected to an orgasmic dance performance. ABCD showed an Indian competition; hence the climax featured a ganpati song. This one shows a world level competition, hence a patriotic song depicting our own country.

The song starts off promisingly with our very own LAADKI Tanishka Sachin Sanghvi singing beautifully. By default, I can visualize her cute spectacled face singing the song. Joining him is Daler Mehndi who sings quite less these days but aces whatever he sings. The song sounds very lovely upto this point. It is not easy to compose a version of “Vande mataram” when there have already been a dozen versions till now. Yet Sachin – Jigar manage to compose a tune which is easily hummable.

Rapper Baadshah replaces Hard Kaur here. Now there are many people I know who didn’t like the inclusion of Hard Kaur’s portions in the first movie finale song. Somehow it diluted the aura of a Ganesh song. Nevertheless, once again there is rap. Overall, Baadshah does a much finer job than Hard Kaur. The portions feature lyrics that are quite good and suit the mood. But I still have a wee bit of apprehensions towards this portion. The composers have advised us to “WAIT TILL YOU WATCH THE SONG IN THE FILM”, so I am hoping for something great.

The song again sucks you into it when Divya Kumar stars the song. It is brilliant how Sachin – Jigar blend “CHUNAR” into “VANDE MATARAM”. The end again sees an elevation in the tempo, beats, arrangements, and then finally “Laadki Tanishka” ends on a soulful patriotric note.

I loved the song. No two ways about it. However, I feel I will love it even more when I see the song in the movie.

 OVERALL, ABCD 2 is everything I expected. Just like its predecessor, it is a mammoth soundtrack with more than ten songs, out of which 7-8 songs are excellent while the rest are very good too. Sachin – Jigar are unstoppable. They are on a roll here as they compose a diverse variety of songs which show their creativity, versatility and knack for delivering chartbuster stuff. Having started from “Teree Sang” (Which will always remain their best), they have reached a long long way.

It is difficult to compose such a huge OST for a dance film, as usually the songs are meant only to showcase dancing skills. But Sachin – Jigar prove once again that even as a lone audio album, they are awesome. Keep it up!

MY RATINGS – 8.75 / 10