Kick: Music Review

Starring: Salman Khan, Jacqueline Fernandez, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, & Randeep Hooda 

Music Composers: Himesh Reshammiya & Meet Bros Anjann

Himesh Reshammiya is continuing on with his 2014 Bollywood escapade in Salman Khan's latest film, Kick, after the musical disaster that was Humshakals. Alongside him, are the Meet Bros Anjann still rivaling in the Hate Story 2 success of Pink Lips.  In this 12 track Bollywood music album, we see repeats of several songs. Having multiple versions of songs seems to be the trend in Bollywood as of late. We have also been seeing many actresses and actors stepping up to the plate and singing behind mike, like Shraddha Kapoor in  Ek Villain and Shruti Hassan in D-Day. Salman Khan lends his vocals to the Kick soundtrack. His leading lady, Jacqueline Fernandez, and co-stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Randeep Hooda, unfortunately, have not contributed to the vocals of this album. 

The Kick soundtrack opens with duo Mika Singh and Palak Mucchal's Jumme Ki Raat. This is exactly the type of song we would usually see Mika Singh in. Himesh seems to be sticking to these desi folk compositions, like Humshakal's Khol De Dil Ki Khidi, also sung by Mika Singh. However, Reshammiya definitely improves on this song injecting it with more life, and making it sound like a pumped up version on Bodyguard (title track), whistling included. Muchhal's vocals come across as decent, but weak. Sunidhi Chauhan, or a stronger female vocalist would have been the prime selection for this kind of song. The winning instrument is,in fact, the Shennai.  Jumme Ki Raat (Version 2) Remix amps up the drums and base, making the song much more enjoyable than the original.  3/5 & 4/5

Jumme Ki Raat (Version 2) features Salman Khan and Palak Muchhal as the vocalists. It is exactly the same as the original version of Jumme Ki Raat. Sadly, Salman Khan does not excel above Mika Singh here. He seems a bit pitchy, almost screaming the lyrics and unable to reach the heights that Singh took it to. Jumme Ki Raat (Version 1) Remix also the same as the Mika Singh's remix version, instead featuring Salman Khan. 3/5 & 3.5/5

Salman Khan is able to redeem himself  in Kick with the duet Hangover . The song is surprisingly mellow for the title, Hangover. Shreya Ghoshal and Salman Khan's voices melt into one another in Meet Bros Anjann composition. This Kick song is multidimensional as this starts as a high class track with the violins preceding Khan's voice, and evolves into an R&B style song as they repeat "Hangover". Perhaps, Hangover, was not the best word choice, as it detracts from the quality from the song, but as in Meet Bros Anjann style they do title this Hindi song with a English word. Thankfully, it wasn't anything like Pink Lips, Pinky or Baby Doll. Something in Hindi seems to be the better choice for Kick, but somehow this track doesn't disappoint too much. 3.5/5 

Hangover (Remix) keeps Salman Khan and Shreya Ghoshal, but adds an additional, and arguably unnecessary layer of beat to the song, detracting from the orginial beauty of the song. 3/5

Hangover Promo Video

The Hangover is redone in Hangover (MBA Swag). This version is the kind of version you would expect from Hangover combined with Swag. The violins and guitar are stripped from this version and are replaced with EDM fused with Punjabi style Desi Beats. We see the some Hindi rapping from the Meet Bros Anjann additionally. This song does detract from Salman Khan's original, and tends to work on the nerves after some time. 3.5/5

Tu Hi Tu is the second romance song in Kick, featuring rising singer, Mohammad Irfan. Irfan has been up an around the scene, making his territory with Banjaara from Ek Villain. His vocals are just as impressive as his previous songs. Light and airy, he sings this song solo, reaching incredible highs and lows with his voice. This song has a light tone, beginning with piano, and having light guitar and violins later on. Extremely tasteful. 4/5

However, the downside of this song has six versions that I will pay little attention to. So the Tu Hi Tu (Version 1) also by Mohammad Irfan, kicks off with a rap and then a reggae, and R&B beat. No. 2/5

Neeti Mohan also has her own version, Tu Hi Tu (Reprise) and Tu Hi Tu (House Mix). Her reprise version is identical Mohammad Irfan's version and is on par with his vocals. The House Mix takes an EDM reggae twist, that is not at all feasible for this type of romantic song, and uses words like "Grind on Him" and "Shine on Him". 4/5 & 2/5

The third set of versions of Tu Hi Tu are done by Salman Khan, in Tu Hi Tu 2 (Version 2) and Tu Hi Tu (Version 2) Remix. This song doesn't match to Mohammad Irfan's version, but isn't horrible either. Khan's voice sounds a little raspy here and isn't as smooth as Irfan's original vocals. This fortieth Kick remix the same as Mohan's remix and just as bad. 3/5 & 2/5

Yaar Na Miley featuring Yo Yo Honey Singh and Jasmine, is surprisingly the only song that isn't remixed on the Kick soundtrack. This is supposedly the item number of the soundtrack, with Nargis Fakri as the main dancer, which is pretty much all she is good for at this point in her career. This EDM song is a little bland, and offers nothing we haven't heard before. Lyrically, like all item numbers, the item girl is boasting how great she is. Yo Yo Honey Singh's rap is the only bright part of this soundtrack, however he is only it in for a little bit of time. 3.5/5

In the end, Himesh Reshammiya outdoes himself in the Kick soundtrack. Despite the album being weighed down with multiple remixes, this Hindi soundtrack is able to come out as a winner. The soundtrack will definitely help promote the soundtrack, but according to history a Salman Khan movie can't be a failure during Eid. 

My Picks: Tu Hi Tu, Jumme Ki Raat (Version 2) Remix, Yaar Na Miley, Hangover

Keep Reading:

Hate Story 2

Ek Villain Music Review

Lekar Hum Deewana Dil Music Review

CityLights Music Review

Humshakals Music Review

CityLights: Music Review

Starring: Raj Kumar Yadav, Patralekha

Music Composer: Jeet Ganguli

Any Bhatt involvement in any Bollywood film usually indicates a fantastic musical score, and such is the case for CityLights. Produced by Mukesh Bhatt, under the Vishesh banner this film carries serious weight in the industry when it comes to musical content and film content. Bengali music producer, Jeet Ganguli reemerges from the woodwork as he toggles between Bengali and Hindi Cinema. His last two Hindi cinema ventures, Raaz 3 and Youngistan, were widely popular. Boasting experienced singers like Ustad Rashid Khan and Usha Utup with younger newcomers like Arjit Singh and Neeti Mohan, this CityLights fuses both of the best worlds.

CityLights begins with Muskurane by Arjit Singh.  This song captures the romantic yearning reminiscent of Raaz 3.  Lyrically and musically, this song follows the somber trepidation of most Bhatt film music, but is different from its predecessors with the special Ganguli touch.The angst of Singh's vocals are smoothed elegantly with a touch of piano and guitar 5/5.

Later in the album, we have a second rendition, Muskurane (unplugged) by Mohammad Irfan. Mohammad Irfan is a rising star in Bollywood, he was seen most recently singing for the Bollywood film Ek Villain, which I address in my music review. This slows the tempo down more than Arjit Sigh's version, bearing a lighter piano sound mixed with violins. Even though slightly different, this song is better than Singh's version. 4/5

The most comfortable way to sit

Darbadar by Neeti Mohan is a haunting song obviously set in the cityscape that  manages to keep the somber trend of the album. Mohan's voice has the tone to masterfully capture a feeling of wandering and loneliness that is expressed throughout CityLights. Again, a rich piano sound and deep emotions adds to the quality of the song. 5/5

Arjit Singh returns once again to CityLights with Ek Charraiya, and this is not the last we see of him. Hitting higher notes than he did with Muskurane, this song is a little more folksy than the first two on the album. Ganguli, I'm sure, has made sure that this captures the essence of Bengali folk songs with the slow beat. This is definitely one of the more optimistic songs on this album, however refined the happiness is kept. Despite the differentiation with Bengali folk, this song doesn't really offer too much. Decent. 3.5/5

Unsurprisingly, Ek Charraiya (unplugged) follows with Ganguli himself behind the microphone. This song is nearly identical to the first version and is not really as unplugged as it says it is.It depends on personal preference, which singer you choose, Jeet Ganguli or Arjit Singh. Ganguli's voice seems to be more suited, this time, to his own composition. 4/5

Arjit Singh has his third win on CityLights with Soney Do. Although this song works to only add to the slow pace the album has set, it intrinsically has its own personal music quality compared to the other. The alaps that Singh does towards the ends of the song add value to this song. Although, it can be more seen as a song to move the film along, it does have its own place, content wise on the album. It has rich instrumentals like the songs before it. 3.5/5

The album ends with an upbeat CityLights(Title Song) that deviates from the rest of the album . Ustad Rashid Khan piece starts beautifully as it is classical against electric guitar. This song gets tarnished quickly, when Usha Utup, who bears a voice bordering on masculine enters the song. Think back to the title song of Hare Rama Hare Krishna in the seventies. She has the hook of the song, unfortunately, and presides over a majority of the song, thus bringing it down with her. Despite all against it, this song is still decent. 3/5

Jeet Ganguli is able to bring the music of CityLights to the heights of Bhatt soundtracks. The music of this film surpasses many of the current albums that are out in Bollywood at the moment with songs that are rich in both musical and lyrical content. Expect this soundtrack to create wave throughout Bollywood.

My Picks: Muskarane, Darbadar, Ek Charraiya 

Read My Other Reviews:

Ek Villain Music Review

Humshakals Music Review

Humshakals: Music Review

The Men of Humshakals in 3
different roles

Starring: Ritesh Deshmukh, Saif Ali Khan, Ram Kapoor, Bipasha Basu, Esha Gupta

Music Composer: Himesh Reshammiya 

Similar revolting soundtracks like Humshakals were once heard from our composer Himesh Reshammiya when he went off the deep end in the mid 2000's. He practically sung every song and starred in many flop films. Although recently he somewhat has had success with his film The Expose, Reshammiya seems to be trying too hard again. At least he is not dominating this whole soundtrack. In Bollywood, excluding Salman Khan Ajay Devgan, or Akshay Kumar films, music for comedies are not held to a standard of any regular soundtrack due to the fact that they are usually ridiculous. With an experienced composer with tons of hits and successes like Reshammiya and mid-grade actors like Saif Ali Khan and Ritesh Deskmukh, the bar for Humshakals is very low.

The Humshakals album begins its continuous up tempo soundtrack with Caller Tune by Neeraj Sridhar and Neeti Mohan. This duet is obviously influenced by Reggaeton songs which attributes for its catchy beat. It is heavy with English phases with forced rhymes like tune and moon and random violins. However, Mohan and Sridhar are perfect for this song. The hook "Caller Tune Baby" simultaneously annoys and snags. This is the kind of a song a listener would love to hate. By far the best song on the album. 4/5

Surprise surprise, there is an item number in Humshakals. With the item number queen, Bipasha Basu starring we hear phrases like Billo Rani in Piya Ke Bazaar Mein. It is not the traditional item song, but it is not unordinary. Palak Muchhal's voice is a little timid for this three woman item number, and Reshammiya's weak voice doesn't add much to it either. A little folksy and not very catchy, this item number will not please the masses. 3/5

Piya Ke Bazaar Mein Still

Just Look Into My Eyes gives Humshakals a peppy upbeat feel. Ash King and Neeti Mohan are the perfect choice infuse youth into this album. Perhaps the lyrics a little basic, but if you don't pay attention to exactly what they are saying and listen to the electropop beat, it is not too bad. Although verging on a cheesy teen song, this is levels above the other songs on the album, and does not fit in at all in terms of melody. 4/5

Barbaad Raat combines the female vocalists, Shalmali Kholgade and Sanam Puri in this R&B Hip Hop number. Following the trend of the other songs, this one also uses English in pieces. The clapping and trumpets add an interesting twist, but the "Ooo woaao' pieces don't really do much to really hook you fully to the song. 3.5/5

The ladies are out for a swim

I'm sure everyone was wondering where Himesh Reshammiya's solo song was coming in Humshakals. It is humorously titled Hum Pagal Nahin Hai, and can be taken with dual meaning. Wondering if Reshammiya thinks he's crazy or as shown on silver screen. We see rather interesting rhymes again, such as Obama and DeGama. This song isn't as headache inducing as the ones before it, but is pretty boring and becomes nasal towards the end. 3/5

What would a comedy soundtrack be without Mika Singh? Mika pairs teams up with Palak Muchhal for Khol De Dil Ki Khidi which somehow manages to fuse a Punjabi rhythm with an exasperating country banjo. This song annoys is unforgivable ways that the Caller Tune didn't have. There are so many things going on in this song it is hard to pinpoint what is really happening. This song will, of course, add to the comedy of the movie but it is annoying for the listener to listen for their own enjoyment. 3/5

In the end, Humshakals offers a lively, yet irritating music. This soundtrack somehow manages to exceed expectations, slightly. It is a pretty good effort on Reshammiya's part, although the songs in which his vocals are incorporated in are by far the worst.

My Picks: Caller Tune, Just Look Into My Eyes