One, Two, Three

Article Updated 29 February, 2008 10:41:42 PM IST

One, Two, Three

Producer Kumar Mangat does have good taste in music as was evident in the recently released 'Sunday' and also 'U, Me Aur Hum'. The excellent, chilled out musical offering of 'Sunday' saw a host of talented music directors coming up with their own style. Standing tall among these veterans was a relatively young but extremely talented musician, Raghav Sachar, with his rocking composition, 'Manzar'. Raghav Sachar is a find, and the credit for introducing him to Bollywood goes to Aditya Chopra, who recognized his talent and gave him his big break in 'Kabul Express'.

'One, Two, Three' is Raghav's second major project where he shoulders the responsibility of composing music all by himself. With loads of talent behind him, we know that he will come up trumps, like he did with 'Kabul Express'.

The extremely funky and zany title number, 'One, Two, Three' greets the listeners as soon as the album opens and we are inundated with not one, two or three but four versions of the same track! But with Raghav at the helm of affairs, we know that we are in for a treat.

The simple version is probably the best, depending upon one's preferred type of musical arrangements. The composition commences with Raghav's favourite instrument, the flute, accompanied by Earl's peppy and meaningful rap' n' reggae. Ganjawala's mint fresh vocals dominate the proceedings and Raghav too joins in at a later stage, before going retro and reproducing the late Shamshad Begum's '50s style of singing, which can be termed as the highlight of the track. Raghav has successfully used this style of fusion of the past and present in his own private albums. The antara has prominent shades of his own 'Manzar' track from 'Sunday'. Aditya Dhar's lyrics are apt as well as humorous. "Sau sau mausum jhelene hain. Har pauda banne ko tree. One two three, One two three."

True to its title 'One, Two, Three-Club Mix' is basically dance oriented, and as a result, the pace and the rhythm has been heightened. Raghav skillfully manages to covert the zany, situational number into a dance track with his keen musical sense. Though he does not use too many instruments, the result is a nice, rhythmic composition that may well be patronized in clubs and discos.

The ballad version has the composer himself who holds the fort with some superb rendition. Being a ballad version, it is more on the slower side, with slackened pace and the philosophical aspects of life highlighted through the singing. Munna Dhiman who impressed all with his skills (U, Me Aur Hum) is impressive once again as he changes the whole complexion of the song with his lyrics.

And last but not the least is 'One, Two, Three-Amalgamation' and once again keeping true to the title, the composition is definitely an amalgamation of a host of talented artists like Punjabi pop singer Kaptan Laadi (who pitches in for the bhangra parts), the extremely talented Kailash Kher (for the qawwali part), the composer Raghav Sachar, the lyricist Aditya Dhar and Kshitij too join in the situational track that will have the audience in the cinema hall rolling with laughter. Munna Dhiman joins Aditya Dhar in conjuring up some rip roaring lyrics.

After presenting us with four uniquely different versions of the title track, its time to go on a romantic date with 'Gup Chup'. Strange sounding, a deep male voice saying "Gup Chup" commences the don't-leave-me-yet track. The initial hip hop gives way to a lovely romantic, pining for the beloved number, as Mahalaxmi Aiyer's expressive singing takes over. But the highlight of the track is Raghav joining in the mukhda with his unique trademark style, bordering more on melody as he goes, "Abhi abhi to aayee ho. Abhi to bahon mein ayee ho. Abhi to dil mein samayee ho, na ja, na ja." The antara has shades of his 'Kabul Fiza' track, which does not suit the mukhda at all, hence the song appears jerky at places.

'Gup Chup-Remix' has Shilpa Rao replacing Mahalaxmi Aiyer in this pacier but slightly peppier version.

The only run of the mill composition, 'I Wanna Guy' goes surprisingly to the (dis)credit of Sunidhi Chauhan, due to no fault of her own. She tries her level best to pep up the number with her innovative singing style, but it's the composition that lets her down. The song is a situational one about a young girl fantasizing about her would be and her aspirations and expectations.

After one situational track we have another in the form of 'Lakshmi Narayan'. The composition can rightly be termed the theme song, as the focal points of the film are its three main male leads who share the same name. As the tag line goes –"Same name dangerous game". So obviously the track assumes importance as it fits in nicely with the scheme of things, and carries the narrative as well (some comic dialogues from the film are also used) as the light comic mood of the film. Raghav yet again shows his class. Ninad Kamat, an able character artist, does well as a singer, as he conveys the message through some innovative singing.

The extremely rocking dance/party number 'Rock Mahi' brings the album to a close and one is at wits end as to whether it's a Pritam or a Raghav composition! But all credit to Raghav who shows that composing a hit number is no big deal. Just refurbish a popular tune, put in the Indian and Western music fusion and deck it up with lyrics like "You gotta rock Mahi, you never stop Mahi," and so on and whoa, here is a number that is bound to hit the charts. Raghav and Sunidhi vibe well and keep up the party mood with some energetic singing. As a musician, Raghav does put in his extra bit here, as he uses instruments like metallic flute and multiple guitars, etc., for the number.

All in all, it was a lovely and "hat ke" experience listening to some innovative compositions by the talented Raghav Sachar. He does not follow any strict, traditional route for composing. He is very flexible and innovative and does not stick to one format. But will it translate into sales for the audio? Its very difficult to say whether the audience is mature enough for his experimentations. On the other hand, if we compare the music of One, Two, Three to that of Kabul Express, Raghav does disappoint a wee bit here, as unlike the former, this album has limited appeal. Expected more!

Rating : 7/10

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