Cineplot Music

Album Review – Tees Maar Khan: A musical bag of mixed nuts

Tees Maar Khan (2010)

For all those who loved Main Hoon Na and Om Shanti Om, it is time to rejoice! Farah Khan is back with her world of cinema, which gives a new definition to a huge star cast, extravagant sets and costumes, larger than life fictional characters, extremely filmy stories and upbeat soundtracks. Farah’s latest offering, Tees Maar Khan is a thriller garnished with a Bollywood tadka, releasing on December 24. Considering how Farah never seems to disappoint, the year 2010 couldn’t have a better ending for Bollywood.

Tees Maar Khan is a comic escapade, which stars Katrina Kaif as an aspiring actress and Akshay Kumar as a con man who steals, cons and cheats all with such boldness that even shame shies away from him! He and his gang, which includes Dollar, Soda and Burger have managed to keep the police, world over, on their toes. Then one fine day international antique smugglers, the Johri Brothers, assign Tees Maar Khan the most important con job of his life. The job involves robbing antiques worth Rs 500 crore from a heavily guarded moving train. To find out whether Khan along with his girlfriend, Anya (Katrina Kaif) and their gang succeed to pull off the greatest heist in history we will have to wait till December 24. Till then we have the soundtrack of Tees Maar Khaan, which has been composed by the superb team of Vishal Shekhar.

To begin with the album has five original tracks and an overabundance of remixes. There’s almost a remix for every track, which is slightly disappointing. Vishal Shekhar should be the last ones relying on remixes. The album has some high and low notes. Read on to hit the high notes and avoid the low ones.

The album opens with ‘Tees Maar Khan’, the title track. This is a very interesting number for many reasons. The fact that Sonu Nigam has given 54 different voices to this track is one of the reasons. It is Bollywood’s sardonic and melodic take on James Bond’s signature tune which is mixed with Bollywood tunes from the ‘70’s and ‘80’s and the lyrics revolve around the character sketch of Tees Maar Khan. Squeaky, electronically tuned with loads of comical sounds makes this one artistically hilarious. The end of this track has dhol beats in it. There is a remix version of ‘Tees Maar Khan’ in the album too. The remix is more bubbly and fast-paced. Both the original and remix have foot tapping tunes which makes you want to press the repeat button for sure.

Next up, in the album is the much talked about Katrina’s item number, ‘Sheila Ki Jawani’. They have advertised it to be the item song of the year and the kind that you haven’t heard before. Well, I will have to agree now that I have heard it a couple of times and seen the video too. The tune of this track seems to be a fusion of desi and urban vibes. Sunidhi Chauhan’s racy vocals stand out even with the energetic tunes. All that can be said just yet is that you will forget poor old “Munni” after listening/watching to ‘Sheila Ki Jiwani’. The remix which is more hip hop and highly pulsating with the sounds and the grooves, is just as good as the original but such songs make me wonder what is Bollywood’s obsession with item songs?

Farah Khan’s films are incomplete without classic Indian songs and that’s exactly what the next track in the album is. ‘Wallah Re Wallah’ sung by Shekhar, Shreya Ghosal, Kamal Khan, and Raja Hasan is a pure qawwali track. This is precisely the reason why it might not appeal to the masses but nevertheless the tune is energetic. Despite that ‘Wallah Re Wallah’ does not make a first impression. You might have to listen to it a couple of times before it grows on you. Even though I cannot understand why, this track has a remix too, which was completely unnecessary. The remix doesn’t impress either.

The album regains its strength with ‘Baday Dilwala’ after a disappointing track. This catchy number is a mixture of English and Hindi lyrics that stand out amidst the fast beat. ‘Baday Dilwala’ is sung mainly by Sukhwindar, who I might add, has done a tremendous job with the vocals making it sound nothing less than perfect. Shreya Ghoshal has also contributed her sweet voice to this track and even though she has a limited part, she has shown a unique side of hers. The lyrics are also very interesting mentioning the most unexpected things like gossip and Filmfare. Coming back to the tune, this is the kind of track that makes you want to get up and tap your feet. Needless to say, you will get to see lots of people dancing to ‘Baday Dilwala’ in the next shaadi season. The remix continues with the fast beat adding a few more energetic notes to the original one. Both are superbly done and trademark Farah Khan songs!

‘Happy Ending’, the next track in the album, is another trademark of Farah Khan’s cinema. This track is made for showing end credits and brings together some of the major contestants from various music talent hunt shows including Abhijeet Sawant, Harshat Saxena, Debojit Saha and Prajakta Shukre at the vocals. If I had to pick out the low notes of this album, ‘Happy Ending’ would be one of them. Though it doesn’t put you off from the track but it doesn’t instantly get you addicted either. The tunes in the introduction sound like acknowledging everyone, wishing everybody success in their future endeavors as the curtains fall to show ‘THE END’. And this is probably exactly what this track will be about in the movie.

The album promises cheerfulness in every track but since it has only five original tracks, it leaves the listener wishing for more. Nevertheless, ‘Tees Maar Khan’ – the title track, ‘Sheila Ki Jawani’ and ‘Baday Dilwala’ are the highlights of this album! – Hafsah Sarfraz

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