Rocket Singh – Salesman Of The Year

EXPECTATIONS Given the subject and the genre of Rocket Singh – Salesman of the Year, one isn’t quite prepared for what’s in store in this Salim-Sulaiman composed album. Of course one is quite sure that it would be situational tracks in the offering. Still, since there has been virtually no promotion of either the film or the music, it’s a case of entering into a dark zone. What further surprises is the fact that there are only 3 tracks (all penned by Jaideep Sahni, who has also written the film) in the album.

MUSIC ‘Pocket Me Rocket’ – Now that’s one real interesting way to come up with a song’s title. Benny Dayal sings this track which follows Salim-Sulaiman’s sensibilities to the T, if one recollects the kind of funky background score they have given to quite a few albums. With a mix of English and Hindi lyrics, the song tells the story of a salesman who has his task cut out to fetch excellent sales figures for himself. Expect the track to play at number of junctures in the narrative and also make an impression. Though audio wise it isn’t the kind of track that you would end up singing in entirety, it’s the hook that stays on with you for hours at stretch.  Vishal Dadlani, who is expected to be much in demand as a singer after his ‘Dhan Ta Nan’ [Kaminey] effort, is back with ‘Gadbadi Hadbadi’. This one comes with loads of attitude in its opening portions and stays on to be a high energy affair throughout its duration. A rock track which is yet again situational, given the kind of setting Rocket Singh… boasts of, it would have gone a farther distance had it appeared in a more mainstream affair. Since it adds on the rock genre which has been in vogue since Rock On, it deserved a better outing than the case here where it hasn’t been promoted at all. Real surprise though is reserved for the end where Salim Merchant picks up one of the better tunes composed by him along with Sulaiman and goes solo with ‘Pankhon Ko’. A soft track with mainly guitar playing in the background, ‘Pankhon Ko’ is a poetic outing for Jaideep Sahni who gets into the Prasoon Joshi territory. Extremely soothing to ears and reminding of ‘Kya Karoon’ from Wake Up Sid, ‘Pankhon Ko’ makes for a nice and sweet bonfire track that can be played on in a repeat mode.

OVERALL Rocket Singh… is a nice album which has been surprisingly not promoted at all. Worse, the songs have been made available just days before the release of the film. Though the marketing team of Yash Raj Films may have their own good reasons to do that, the fact remains that for a movie starring Ranbir Kapoor in the lead; it truly leaves one perplexed about this decision. This is why in spite of some decent to good tracks, Rocket Singh… will hardly fetch any sales figures for itself. Ironical, because the lead protagonist of the film is being touted to be the ‘salesman of the year’!

OUR PICK(S) ‘Pankhon Ko’, ‘Gadbadi Hadbadi’