Music Review:Hostel

EXPECTATIONS Nil. That’s the expectation from the music of Hostel which is a dated film that comes with a dry subject (ragging) and doesn’t quite promise a soundtrack that would make any impact whatsoever at the charts. Add to that zero star cast and promotion and one is looking at the bottom of the barrel here. In a film likes this, one does wonder though that what does composer and lyricist Virag Mishra have to offer here.

MUSIC ‘Bandagi Ko Tu Bandagi’ is a track which belongs to the rock genre and carries the kind of sound and lyrics that one associates with a Ram Gopal Varma film. Sung by Virag Mishra himself, ‘Bandagi Ko Tu Bandagi’ is a dark number which conveys the theme of the film that centres on the atrocities committed on the youth in the name of ragging. The ‘remix version’ is further pumped up and though this situational track could have seen some elevation if only promoted aggressively via a music video, a complete lack of visibility means that ‘Bandagi Ko Tu Bandagi’ would go totally unnoticed. Shibani Kashyap and Rana Muzumder team up for ‘Hauslaah’ which has its anthem sound through lyrics that go as ‘I Wanna Live Once More’. A track that has a sad feel to it, ‘Hauslaah’ depresses more than elevating one’s mood and is a quick skip. Also, Shibani sounds a rather out of place in this song which just doesn’t work. A song that appears to be have been inspired from traditional tracks, ‘Heer Doli Le Chal’ is a solo by Brijesh Shandilya which appears twice in the album. One of them is an ‘electronic’ version while another is ‘unplugged’ (which features Sasha). A song that makes one wonder about it’s placement in the film (given it’s genre), ‘Heer Doli Le Chal’ is the kind of song that one associates more with a family outing rather than a story that deals with ragging. Given it’s slow pace, one wonders what made the makers go for an ‘electronic version’ that just doesn’t add any value to the album. Raaj and Monali come together for a love song ‘Rishta Bano Humdam Bano’ which has a soft rock feel to it. The song has the kind of music which was left back a decade ago and one is clueless around whether it is a sad or an elevating number. Leave aside the lyrics which are just so passe, even the singing here is hardly anything to write home about. Surprisingly this song, which can barely be given a single hearing, also appears in an ‘unplugged’ version.

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