Ruslaan

EXPECTATIONS Zilch.These are exactly the expectations from the music of Ruslaan, the album of which has just hit the stands, though unannounced. Reasons are aplenty. Unknown banner. New actors. Unheard of composer. Low budget of the film. No buzz. Zero idea about what the film is about. Etc. etc. etc. Frankly, one plays on Ruslaan quite reluctantly that has music by Raeess Jamal Khan and comprises of barely three tracks.

MUSIC First to arrive is Vicky Nagar written ‘Maula Maula’ that doesn’t quite break any new ground in it’s Sufi setting. The lyrics too are heavy duty and though composer Raeess Jamal Khan tries to infuse slight rock elements in his compositions, that doesn’t really make ‘Maula Maula’ enter into your wish list of songs this season. As a singer, Master Saleem yet again demonstrates his hold on classical music but still the song doesn’t really go an extra distance even as it reappears in a rather strangely put together ‘remix version’ (by Abhimanyu Singh). With Hariharan and Sadhna Sargam on the credits, one gets an idea there and then that the song to follow would have a ‘sugam sangeet’ flavour to it. That exactly is the case as A.M. Turaz written ‘Pyar Ki Parsayee’ takes a listener back to the late 80s/early 90s when such tracks were still accepted by a segment of audiences. Slow moving and aiming to be romantic, ‘Pyar Ki Parsayee’ is outdated, boring and makes for a quick skip within a couple of minutes. Surprisingly there is an ‘instrumental’ placed later in the album as well that has Pankaj Nath on flute and Shailesh Suvarna doing the job on the remix. A relatively better and thankfully contemporary number comes in the form of ‘Har Ek Lamha’ that has Sunidhi Chauhan and Javed Ali coming together. Yet another track written by A.M. Turaz, the music again has a 90s feel to it but it’s the way it has been composed and arranged that it at least manages to be youthful in appeal. The ‘Club Mix’ version that comes next also adds on to the overall effect hence saving Ruslaan from turning out to be an out and out disappointment.
 
OVERALL Ruslaan doesn’t really have much going for it except for Har Ek Lamha to an extent. Zero visibility factor around the project will only hamper its chances further.
 
OUR PICK(S) ‘Har Ek Lamha’