Planet Bollywood
Ungli
 
Producer: Hiroo Yash Johar and Karan Johar
Director: Rensil DSilva
Starring: Emraan Hashmi, Randeep Hooda, Kangana Ranaut, Angad Bedi, Neil Bhoopalan and Sanjay Dutt
Music: Salim Sulaiman, Sachin Jigar, Gulraj Singh and Aslam Keyi
Lyrics: Amitabh Bhattacharya, Kumaar and Manoj Yadav
Singers: Vishal Dadlani, Anushka Manchanda, Gulraj Singh, Neeti Mohan, Armaan Malik, Dev Negi and Shipra Goyal
Audio On: Sony Music    Number of Songs: 5
Album Released on: November 2014
Reviewed by: Anish Mohanty  - Rating: 4.0 / 10
 
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Salim Sulaiman had churned out one of the best Hindi film albums of 2009 in the form of ‘Kurbaan’. Despite the film’s commercial failure, the songs went to become very popular and are played even today. The composers were, then, signed up to compose for Rensil D’Silva’s next venture. Unfortunately, Salim Sulaiman got busy with shows and managed to compose just one song before opting out of the project.

Sachin Jigar and Aslam Keyi are credited with a song each and Gulraj Singh gets to compose two songs. While Sachin and Jigar are respectable names in the music scene today, the other two composers are largely unknown entities. While Aslam Keyi had composed the music for the Jaaved Jaafery-Sharman Joshi starrer ‘War Chhod Na Yaar’, Gulraj Singh did a couple of songs for ‘Masti Express’. It is common knowledge that both these aforementioned film (and their music) sank without a trace. Hence, Ungli is, undoubtedly, is a much bigger opportunity for the composers to prove themselves.

After shaking a leg with Munni, Sheila, Shalu, Raziya and several other ladies, the hero now wishes to dance with Basanti! Amitabh Bhattacharya seeks inspiration from the character played by Hema Malini in ‘Sholay’ and brings back memories of a popular dialogue from the film. 'Dance Basanti' has some club friendly beats which, unfortunately, come across as very familiar. Despite featuring two spirited singers like Vishal Dadlani and Anushka Manchanda, the song fails to excite because of its insipid tune. The song qualifies as a routine dance number at best and fails to bring anything new to the table.

Gulraz Singh lends his voice to his own composition ‘Pakeezah’, a soft romantic number. The song has a very relaxed vibe to it and puts percussions, acoustic guitar, flute and keyboards to minimal but good use. The song takes some time to grow because of a laid back tune. Give it some patient listening and you will warm up to it. Manoj Yadav uses several Urdu words in the song, aptly justifying the significance of the word ‘Paakeezah’. One should not question Gulraj’s decision of casting himself as the singer as his smooth voice does complete justice to the song.


‘Aadarniya Ungli’ is a satirical song that speaks about the corruption prevailing in the country and showing it the proverbial middle finger! Vishal Dadlani seems to be more prolific as a singer than a composer as he features in every second soundtrack as a vocalist these days. As was the case with ‘Mary Kom’, his name too crops up twice in this album. After ‘Dance Basanti’, he has been given another mediocre song to sing here! To his credit, he makes his presence felt in a tuneless number riding on a wave of cacophonous sounds. After impressing the listeners with 'Pakeezah', Gulraj Singh brings in some disappointment with this song.

The protagonist talks to the Almighty about his plight; pleading with him to get him out of the darkness he is engulfed in and show him the right path. And yet, 'Auliya' fails to move. Salim Sulaiman’s composition is alright with the antara portions carrying the duo’s trademark sound with the song moving back and forth between different chords. The composition demanded more elaborate orchestral arrangements. The way Armaan Malik has sung also acts as a bummer. The singer needs to get out of his ‘pop star’ mode and should learn to emote while singing.

Aslam Keyi comes makes an entry with the last song on the album ‘Ungli Pe Nachaalein’, which happens to be a promotional song. The song has lines like ‘First Pyaar Hai Lust Yaar Hai, Kissi De De Oh Teri’ and a steamy promotional video has been shot for it. That makes it clear that the makers are trying to capitalize on Emraan Hashmi’s image as a last resort to help this delayed film gain some visibility. The video might just be able to do that but the song as a standalone entity does not work. The song sounds horribly dated, almost like a badly remixed version of a dance number that arrived a decade ago.

It would be a sin to compare this album to the superlative soundtrack that Kurbaan was. With names like Salim Sulaiman and Sachin Jigar, one had hoped for a good, if not an excellent soundtrack. Unfortunately, their efforts just pass muster. Gulraj Singh shows some promise with 'Pajeezah' but falters with 'Aadarniya Ungli'. The less said about Aslam Keyi's contribution to the album the better. Ungli has the weakest music for a Dharma Productions’ film in recent years.

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