Review

New composer, same old formula

Anand Raaj Anand follows the old Guddu Dhanoa pattern of one 'item number', one slow melody and a couple of Punjabi pop songs

Bichoo
T-Series
Rs 225 (CD)

Bichoo, starring Bobby Deol and Rani Mukherjee has music by the desperately-seeking-success music man Anand Raaj Anand. This Bobby Deol-Rani Mukherjee film has lyrics by Sameer.

Anand has roped in his younger brother Harry Anand (of Teri chahat mein fame) for two numbers, apart from Shweta Shetty and Hans Raj Hans for an 'item number' (For the uninitiated, an 'item' is something that features guest artistes and is throw into a film as a bonus).

Guddu Dhanoa's regular composers Dilip Sen-Sameer Sen are missing in this film. But Anand, after the fairly decent music he came up with in Hadh Kardi Aapne, doesn't let Guddu down.

Bichoo opens with Jeevan mein jaane jaana, an instantly catchy number. Harry doesn't sound all that impressive though. But Jaspinder Narula makes up for Harry. The rhythms are heavy. No wonder this number has been chosen for the promos. Of course the English words "Once you fall in love..." sound absolutely out of place!

Ek wari tak le is a Punjabi number with heavy rhythms again. Sunidhi Chauhan joins Harry in this 'sure-shot winner'. Sunidhi never ceases to amaze, particularly when you consider her very young age. She's bound to go places. Anand has his job cut out in this number -- compose something that hooks you the first time.

Harry in Anand's music is reminiscent of Dilip and Sameer using their sibling Lalit Sen, who hit big time with Ziddi's Kammo. Harry, however, might not hit such a high with his two Bichoo numbers.

Old-timers Vinod Rathod and Alka Yagnik pitch in for the next number Pyaar tu. This is where Anand falters. While the orchestra and interludes are excellent, the basic tune just fails to impress. The qawwali-style Pyar ho na jaaye with Shankar Mahadevan, Ram Shankar, Raj Bhatt and chorus is just about okay. No great shakes.

Guddu Dhanoa's movies usually feature one mandatory slow melody, preferably with Hariharan and Chitra -- like Hum tumse na from Ziddi and Tu maange dil from Aflatoon. This film is no exception. You have Tere honton ki with Hariharan, and instead of Chitra you have Swarnalatha. This song doesn't quite match the quality of Dilip and Sameer's slow melodies for Guddu.

And then, you have the big 'item number' Tote tote ho gaya with Hans Raj Hans and Shweta Shetty. It is fast and catchy, and is picturised on the singers. That makes it one hell of an item number! Shweta is a favourite in Guddu's movies; her 'item numbers' in his Ziddi (Ore ore), Salakhen (Pichu paden) and Aflatoon (Poster lagwa do) did well on the charts.

Bichoo cashes in on the craze for Punjabi pop. But there's little that's new. It follows the same old Guddu pattern -- two fast Punjabi numbers, one item number, one slow Hariharan melody... Isn't it time Guddu came up with a different kind of soundtrack?

Karthik S

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