Contributed by Ramesh Kainthla
kainthla@cy-net.net

It is time to launch another star son -Akshaye Khanna. To launch his son Vinod Khanna chose a macho title, story with lots of action ("inspired" by Cliff-Hanger), two new heroines Anjala and Shazia (so that the hero is not overshadowed by established heroines), a hit music director, Anu Malik. Then, a dubbed version of "Cliff-Hanger" was released in India. Now the story has to be modified, which has resulted in delay in the completion of movie. Anu Malik's music is no longer that popular (Nadeem Shravan, Rajesh Roshan and Jatin-Lalit are having better success than Anu Malik). Not good omens for the newcomer/s.

A-side starts with a duet "Tune kaisa jadu kiya haye, piya piya piya jiya gaye" sung by Alka Yagnik and Udit Narayan and written by Rahat Indori. It has catchy tune similar to many earlier Anu Malik duets. The song is becoming popular and has already climbed into "top ten" list. The second song is a fast paced dance number "I am a bachelor", sung by Vinod Rathod and chorus and written by Dev Kohli. It has shades of "Ladki dekhi" from "Main Khiladi Tu Anari" and "Chupke chupke ghoor na mujhko" from "Gambler". It is targeted at the mass audience with wording like "Chahoon ek ladki jo kahe main uska yaar hoon". Also why would somebody want to meet a girl who has "gaali" on her lips (Honthon pe jiske gaali, aisi ladki se milne ko main bekraar hoon)? At the end Vinod Khanna says "preferably a residential area", which does not make any sense.

The last song on side A is second duet sung by Alka Yagnik and Udit Narayan, "Ishq hua tujhse janam" written by Rahat Indori. There is nothing special about it, it just drags along.

B-side starts with "Kaga sab tan khaiyo", sung by Alka Yagnik, Sonu Nigam and chorus, and written by Dev Kohli. It is a slow song and has weird starting words: "Kaga sab tan khaiyo, chun chun khaiyo maas, do naina mat khaiyo mohe piya milan ki aas". The song then switches over to punjabi wordings "kithe nain na jodi", and reminds of several Laxmikant Pyarelal tunes.

The second song "Bam bam Bhole" is a devotional song sung by Udit Narayan, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Shankar Mahadevan and chorus, and is written by Dev Kohli. It starts out as a fast number, which is quite good, but then keeps going on and on alternating between slow and fast. It is more than 10min. long, and starts to bore after about 3.5 min. The last song is another typical Anu Malik duet "Na woh inkaar karti hai" sung well by Alka Yagnik and Udit Narayan, written by Nida Fazli. It sounds like faster version of "Mujhe tumse mohabbat hai", minus chorus, from "Gundaraaj" (Music Anu Malik, sung by Kumar Sanu and Sadhna Sargam & chorus). It has good rhythm and has a potential to be a hit.

In conclusion, in Himalay Putra, Anu Malik has taken a defensive approach, no experimentation or "inspired songs", rehashed some old tunes and produced an album targeted at mass audience.

Would you like to contribute? Please contact assteditor@indolink.com