Contributed by Avinash Ramchandani
avinash@indolink.com

Fareb, with the music doing well in the box office, delivers as another Jatin-Lalit success story. J-L's music seems to be on hot street. With everybody raving about their superb music in Khamoshi and the much better than average job in The Return of the Jewel Thief, they are bound to stun A.R. Rahman, Anu Malik, as well as the rest of Bollywood with their run for number one. Their next album due to be released soon, Pyar To Hona Hi Tha, stars Kajol and Ajay Devgan and is expected to blast off on the charts as Khamoshi and Fareb did.

The album starts out with the chartbuster, "Yeh Teri Aankhen Jhuki Jhuki", a very short song at slightly over three minutes (a very rare occurrence today), it delivers with an above average beat and great singing by Abhijeet. The lyrics aren't anything special, but Indeevar's experience beats out the humdrum words of Sameer. "O Hum Safar" sung once by the duet of Udit Narayan and Alka Yagnik and also a solo by Alka, is a slow song with above average lyrics. The music is excellent. Jatin-Lalit's constant including of the piano benefits the song with a classy, original touch. The drums in the background do not overshadow the tabla and the other Indian instruments. The better of the two versions of this song is surprisingly the solo, Alka Yagnik overshadows Udit Narayan again, as she did with "Payal Meri" from Rajkumar. The next song sounds like it is from the Nadeem Sharavan era from 1990 to 1992. "Aankhon Se Dil Me Utar Ke" is another slow song that doesn't deliver because of the overly used tune that Nadeem Sharavan destroyed while they were still number one and Anu Malik allegedly copied from them after Nadeem Sharavan had fell. Kumar Shanu is overly nasal and Alka Yagnik is not as great as the previous song.

"Pyar Ka Pehla Pehla" is a slow song with a peaceful beat. The overly used duet of Kumar Shanu and Alka Yagnik sounds surprisingly fresh after their slight downfall when they didn't win any Filmfares between them last year. Jatin-Lalit's music is again above average. The singing is what really makes this song stand out. Udit Narayan and Abhijeet sing the next song, "Pyar Ka Milna". Although an average song, it reminds of songs like "Raftar Hai Zindagi Ki" from Laqshya, a Jatin-Lalit flop from 1993.

Fareb (the movie) may deliver as a hit in the box office. But it may only do well if the movie is outstanding and the great songs of Jatin-Lalit. The new stars, Faaraz Khan and Suman Ranganathan, and the not very popular director, Vikram Bhatt, may only lessen the chances of this movie doing well in the box office.

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