Insipid to the core

Priyanka Bhattacharya

Post-Kargil War in 1999, Bollywood suddenly saw a outburst of patriotic war films. There was a rush for booking film titles, signing top stars and getting original screenplays.

Two years hence, Maa Tujhe Salaam is ready for release. But if the music is any indication of how the final product is, then Maa Tujhe Salaam is in for a dismal fate.

The music is absolutely mediocre and sounds rehashed. It’s almost as though Sajid-Wajid suffered from musician's block and had to turn to old songs for inspiration.

The track has 8 songs with 2 of them being repeated twice over. [twice the torture]

The album begins with Dekhne ko tujhko sung by Sonu Nigam and Bhairavi. It sounds like one of the million Punjabi numbers doing the rounds these days and is quite jarring at times. This song features twice on the album with Sunidhi Chauhan accompanying Sonu Nigam the second time.

Oye ranjhana sung by Sunidhi Chauhan is a lively song but it fails to sustain ones attention. The song itself is mediocre but Sunidhi sings with great enthusiasm.

Chhodh ke na jaa ooh piya is at its painful best. Alka Yagnik just mouths the words without any feeling or emotion. Sadly enough even this song features twice on the album with Harvinder singing the male version.

Kavita Krishnamurthy and Udit Narayan croon to the beats of Chham chham which is marginally better than the previous song. But even this gives a sense of déjà vu.

Sone ke jaisi hai teri jawani is the item song in the album. Even the normally exuberant Asha Bhosle sounds dull in this song.

The only song in the album which is worth a little listen is the title track sung by Shankar Mahadevan who manages to recreate some patriotic fervour and zeal. It is clearly the only likeable song in the entire album.

The lyrics by Sameer fail to make any impact.

Bottom line: Do not buy unless you love old, rehashed and monotonous music.