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Producer: Yash Chopra
Director: Aditya Chopra
Music: Jatin Lalit
Lyrics: Anand Bakshi
Audio on : RPG

Reviewed by: Avinash Ramchandani
avinash@indolink.com

After 1998 and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Jatin-Lalit’s albums have not been as successful as they were from 1995-1998 with Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Khamoshi: The Musical and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. Maybe influence by Aditya and Yash Chopra will allow them to compete in 2000. Mohabbatein stars several newcomers (Uday Chopra- son of Yash Chopra and brother of Aditya Chopra, Shamita Shetty, Kim Sharma, Jimmy Shergill, and Preeti Jhangiani) as well as Jugal Hansraj (Papa Kehte Hain, Aa Gale Lag Ja), Shah Rukh Khan, and Amitabh Bachchan. Jugal also wrote the first line of  “Tum Paas Aaye” from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.

The first song on the album, “Humko Hamise Chura Lo”, sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Udit Narayan has touches of Jatin-Lalit’s previous album with the Yash Chopra-Aditya Chopra-Anand Bakshi hit,   Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and also touches of the Shiv-Hari musical Lamhe. Orchestration and a tabla beat dominate throughout the song, along with humming by both Udit Narayan and Lata Mangeshkar. Udit Narayan sings the song with outstanding command, while Lata Mangeshkar still sounds like a nightingale, though her humming makes her sound like her tongue has gotten thicker over the years. Overall, the song impresses with excellent lyrics and a catchy rhythm and the whole album would be worth buying if this was the only good song. Luckily, that is not the case. .

“Chalte Chalte”, “Chalte Chalte 2” and “Pairon Mein Bhandhan Hai” have six new singers to fit the faces of the new actors in the movie, Udhbav, Manohar Shetty, Ishaan, Shweta Pandit, Sonali Bhatawdekar, Pritha Mazumdar. Differentiation between their voices is a little bit difficult on the first listen, but their voices are all excellent for new singers. Udhbav and Shweta Pandit are the best by far. Their voices do resemble some singer’s voices, but each of their voices is different and unique in their own way. Both songs are above average songs with little if no synthesized beats and therefore a very Indian beat with tabla, payal, and bongo. .

“Aankhein Khuli” starts with a monologue by Shah Rukh Khan, and then Udit Narayan and the other six singers take over followed by a short appearance by Lata Mangeshkar. The song has a nice beat and is reminiscent of R.D. Burman numbers of the yesteryears, though Jatin-Lalit have put in their own style into the song. .

“Soni Soni” is a Punjabi song, with the six new singers, as well as Udit Narayan and Jaspinder Narula. All sound great in this number. The melody of the song is extremely catchy and the beat is similar to “Aankhein Khuli” and “Mehndi Laga Ke Rakhna” from  Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. This song is extremely catchy and will probably hit the charts very soon if the dance on this song is good. .

Finally, the last song “Zinda Rehti Hain Mohabbatein” sung by Lata and Udit is another shorter rendition of the first song, “Humko Humise Chura Lo”. .

The last two numbers of the movie are music. “Mohabbatein Love Themes” is basically taken from the songs from the movie. “Rhythms of Mohabbatein” is the best music track I have heard for a long while. It starts off slowly with a mix of tabla, bongo, and drums. The music builds up into a fast paced number and ends off extremely fast. I imagine that this has some sort of dance number involving several of the actors. .

“Mohabbatein” is an outstanding album with several new singers making a splendid debut, as well as a commendable job by Jatin-Lalit, and brilliant lyrics by Anand Bakshi, especially in “Humko Humise Chura Lo”. Hopefully the music fits well with the movie and it becomes a hit also.