out of Producer: Tips Films Director: Milan Luthria Music: Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Lyrics: Anand Bakshi

Reviewed by Aniket Joshi
aniket@indolink.com

Kachche Dhaage is probably Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s (NFAK) last hindi soundtrack. The album comes nearly a year and a half after his tragic death. The album is not mind blowing as we’d expect from a genius such as NFAK, nevertheless it has a few tunes that stick in your head after listening to it a couple of times. Earlier in 1998 we saw two legends in hindi film music come together for the first time. I am talking about AR Rahman and Lata Mangeshkar in Dil Se.. for the song “Jiya Jale..” In this album we also have two legends coming together for the first time. Lata has sung three songs in this album for NFAK.

My personal favorite of the album is “Oopar Khuda Aasman Neeche…” The song has two versions, one sung by Lata Mangeshkar, and the other is by Sukhvinder. Both versions are equally enjoyable, Sukhvinder and Lata render their versions wonderfully. NFAK’s use of the string instruments such as the sitar and sarod are very effective, and Anand Bakshi’s lyrics are well penned.

“Khali Dil Nahin Jaan Bhi Hai…” is sung by Alka Yagnik and Hans Raj Hans. This is Hans Raj Hans’ first hindi film song. For those who are not familiar with Hans Raj Hans, he was featured recently in Bally Sagoo’s “Aaja Nachle…” The song has a nice punjabi touch to it which makes it a little different from the other lovey-dovey songs of today. Anand Bakshi again provides good lyrics.

Lata has two duets with Kumar Sanu, “Band Lifafa Dil Mera…” and “Dil Pardesi Ho Gaya…” The former is better of the two, Lata dominates most of the song, Sanu lends good support. The latter is a passable number, Lata and Sanu try their best to make the number ‘out of the oridinary’ but their effort falls short.

“Is Shaane Karam Ka Kya…” is a qawali sung by NFAK himself. Though the qawali is not extraordinary, it’s passable. Sadly to say, NFAK struggles a few times during the qawali, however he still does well with the classical stanzas.

“Pyaar Nahin Karna Jahan…” and “Ek Jawani Teri Ek Jawani…” are two duets by Alka Yagnik and Kumar Sanu. Alka Yagnik and Sanu are good. The former sounds better of the two due to its punjabi touch. The latter is more of a ‘run of the mill’ type number.

Kachche Dhaage is not an extraordinary album as one would expect from Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, however it’s not let down at all. Do buy this album if you like songs with a punjabi touch.