No Thrills

Lyrics: Hanif Shaikh,Faizan Hussain & Agnel Roman

rating: H HHH

Amid a plethora of new sounds being generated in Bollywood these days — some of which are raising the bar with wisecracking,edgy soundtracks — here comes an album which takes many steps backward,thus moving into the past. Surprisingly,or actually not so surprisingly in such cases,most songs in the album also hinge themselves on the tracks we’ve heard before. Director Saurabh Varma’s Mickey Virus,a comic thriller that deals with the subject of hacking,throws up six tracks,with most of them not really staying with us beyond the period of time we heard them for. The last we heard Hanif Shaikh’s music was in his 2010 debut,Paathshaala,the music of which wasn’t really a blip on the charts. Mickey Virus is better but nowhere close to something we will be tuning into in the days to come.

Pyar China ka maal hai tries to take a dive into the edgy fusion,the kind that is giving folk music a contemporary,rakish energy,but this track ends up giving us a song clearly “inspired” by Ram Sampath’s Switty from Delhi Belly. The similarities are uncanny. Those percussive drumbeats amalgamated with some Punjabi pop and rap thrown in has quite a bit of duplication that begins to sound jarring after a while.

Aakhon hi aankhon ne by Palak Muchhal is an attempt at a soft romantic number,which opens with some cascading riffs. Apart from the fact that Muchhal’s voice is way too undernourished,the melody lacks any freshness. The duet version,with Mohit Chauhan’s voice taking on some parts,can’t do much to the song either.  

The title song is a promising track by Nikhil Paul George and Siddhant Sharma. It’s fun in parts and opens with intelligently executed beatboxing. But a minute into the song,just when it is beginning to become catchy,Debang Patel’s Ande ka funda makes an immediate appearance in the head. Vaguely familiar,

yet again.

Sajna ve sajna tries to be that sad background song that will play towards the climax of the film. The drums reverbing at the core merged with Shadaab and Altamash Faridi and some electronic effects delivers a song that needs a lot more work. Again,this one,in terms of tune,draws majorly from the trademark Punjabi folk.

And just when one thinks that this one is turning out to be a dud of an album,with no chance of redemption,there comes the lovely Tose naina. This one has Arijit Singh; and thus,some sincerity in the way it’s sung. The solemnity of it is hard to miss. It is the only song that made us rewind and go back to it for another hearing. Overall,the album’s weakest point is the material. Some of the songs drift and lack any real melodic substance. Barring Singh’s number,the album is hugely disappointing.

suanshu khurana