Hungama   Producer: Venus Director: Priyadarshan Starring: Akshaye Khanna, Aftab Shivdasani, Paresh Rawal, Rimi Sen, Shoma Anand, Tiku Talsania, Rajpal Yadav, Shakti Kapoor, Sanjay Narvekar & Upasna Singh Music: Nadeem - Shravan Lyrics: Sameer Singers: Babul Supriyo, Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik, Richa Sharma, Abhijeet, Sonu Nigam, Shaan, Sadhna Sargam & Kumar Sanu Audio On: Venus    Number of Songs: 7 Album Released on: 30 May 2003 Reviewed by: M. Ali Ikram  - Rating: 3.5 / 10   Let us know what you think about this review Movie Review

Let me be perfectly clear. Few people are as excited about the imminent release of Priyadarshan´s next comedy, Hungama, as me; a film that will hopefully benefit from the comedic talents of Paresh Rawal, Aftab Shivdasani

and Akshaye Khanna. Plus, few directors can visualize a film song as creatively as Priyadarshan. Even if the songs for Hungama were to suck, Priyan will give us memorable videos for the tracks.

Luckily, the songs for Hungama don´t suck, but here we do have again another example of how the Nadeem-Shravan creative force is near fully spent. With each successive release, I patiently await the return of the creative forces that gave us the unforgettable "Aashiqui", "Saajan" "Deewana". There has been no sign of them in ages.

"Pari Pari Hai Ek Pari" is a musical lift of Jatin - Lalit´s ditty "Dil Ka Qaraar", aka "Pehli Pehli Baar Baliye". I still prefer the Sangharsh original, but Babul Supriyo and Sameer´s lyrics do the remake some justice. Don´t expect Sameer´s wordsmithing talent to last the entire compact disc though. At most, he can write only one song each fortnight containing rhyming schemes more complex than those of an eight-year old.

"Tera Dil Mere Paas" is evidence enough of the lyricist´s brain drain. Udit Narayan wants Alka Yagnik to let him keep her heart, but she´d rather he return it to her instead. Ooh, such profound and romantic thoughts will bring a tear to your eye. The singing is sugary, but the music is the same dholak and pot clanging we´re used to from the music duo.

To give credit where it is due, I quite love the music and singing of Richa Sharma and Kumar Sanu in their respective solos of "Ishq". You can feel the heartfelt pain in their voices. But whatever you do, don´t pay attention to the words. The best Sameer-saab can come up with is that one-sided love is a "sazaa" (punishment) and reciprocated love is

"mazaa" (fun). It´s so unfortunate given that you know Sanu, Sharma and the music directors have worked hard on all other aspects of the tracks.

So there are three guys after the same girl in Hungama, I surmised so much from the trailers. But "Hum Nahin Tere" reinforces that hypothesis as Abhijeet, Sonu Nigam and Alka Yagnik lift the simple, but effective music to pleasurable results. This time the words are better than the tune.

Shaan & Sadhna Sargam are fine indeed in "Chain" (relaxation, not the metal object I want to wring around the lyricist´s neck). But there is no unique selling point in it.

The title track is oh, such an embarrassment. Maybe that´s why they put poor Shaan´s rendition of it at the back end of the soundtrack. Stupid would be a polite way of describing it, but you may be happy to note that it is only two minutes long. Barring one or two exceptions, Nadeem-Shravan consistently fail in delivering a title tune that does justice to the films they work upon. Where are A.R. Rehman or Anu Malik when you need them?

There´s most often something banal and familiar enough about Nadeem-Shravan tunes to ensure each of their soundtracks sell well. But that´s not enough for a place in the records of classic composers. Few people are going to remember the music of "Andaaz", "Dil Ka Rishta", and "Yeh Dil" five years from now. Hungama is the same. One begs to ask where all the expected "fun unlimited" was supposed to be in this soundtrack; there´s not hungama-tic about it!