Music Review: F.A.L.T.U

EXPECTATIONS There are good expectations from the music of F.A.L.T.U. Reasons are aplenty: a) The film comes from the house of Vashu Bhagnani and one thing which is more than often than not consistent when it comes to his films is popular music b) The film marks the directorial debut of Remo D’Souza who is an established choreographer in his own right. Good songs for his own movie is a bare minimum expectation. c) The film has lyrics by Sameer and music by Sachin-Jigar who debuted with a terrific, though under rated score, in Teree Sang Only apprehension that one has is whether the team would be able to pull of a memorable soundtrack here, reason being that the film is a campus entertainer instead of being a quintessential love story which considerably reduces the scope for much variety. Nevertheless, one plays on F.A.L.T.U. with anticipation of some good music in the offing. To one’s pleasant surprise though, one gets lot more than what one would have expected and readily plays on the album repeatedly.

MUSIC Those who would have heard the music of Teree Sang would definitely remember the haunting sound of ‘More Saiyaan’. There is further polish added to that sound which results in ‘Le Ja Tu Mujhe’, a sure shot chartbuster song which is waiting to be picked by one and all. A song that has all in it to be the next big song which would play on not just during the current season but for many more months to come, ‘Le Ja’ has the kind of class to it that sets it apart from many other songs that promise the moon but don’t quite reach there. The man who makes it possible along with Sachin-Jigar and Sameer? Atif Aslam who sings this with his heart in and gives it all to make it one of the most special numbers that he would have sung over the years gone by. A soft number, ‘Le Ja’ deserves the tag of being a ‘must hear’. What follows next is a club number ‘Char Baj Gaye, Party Abhi Baaki Hai’ which is already playing all over the music channels. Boasting of lyrics which are totally contemporary and bear the vocabulary of today’s youth, ‘Char Baj Gaye’ is a Hard Kaur solo with a very good support from the backup vocalists who never let the fun element to go away. A dance floor number, ‘Char Baj Gaye’ is an immensely catchy number which is all set to be one of the top playing numbers in the discotheques and the clubs. Foot tapping to the core, ‘Char Baj Gaye’ is an energetic number that is for the urban audience. After a classy and a massy track comes a quintessential Bollywood number which belongs to the genre that never fails. A love song, ‘Rab Sab Se Sona’ is set in the same mode as ‘Chor Bazaari’ [Love Aaj Kal] and the reason here is very simple – Composers Sachin-Jigar have earlier assisted Pritam which means the influence is bound to rub on them. In any case it is just the styling of the song which is on the same lines as ‘Chor Bazaari’ though ‘Rab Sab Se Sona’ goes on to maintain it’s own individuality as it progresses. With Neeraj Sridhar going overtly melodious for this number which has backup vocals by Apeksha Dandekar, ‘Rab Sab Se’ makes it three-in-a-row and ensures that F.A.L.T.U. is a complete paisa vasool by now already. However this is not all that F.A.L.T.U. has to offer, what with as many as eight more songs (yes, you heard it right) to go. This time around it is back to taking a classy approach with ‘Awaaz’ following next. A song that should play in the background of F.A.L.T.U. and reminding of ‘Behti Hawa Sa’ [3 Idiots] (just in terms of presentation, not theme of content), ‘Awaaz’ also boasts of some very good orchestra which has an AR Rahman influence to it. Sung by Sachin and Jigar themselves, ‘Awaaz’ should work very well along with the film’s narrative. After a sober outing like ‘Awaaz’, it is back to ‘masti’ and ‘dhamaal’ with the title song ‘Fully Faltu’ coming next. Mika is the man entrusted to do the job and he brings in the kind of energy which was much required for a song belonging to this genre. Though presented with Western arrangements to it, ‘Fully Faltu’ has an Indian mood to it at the core of it and should be quite a delight when seen on screen. This is a kind of song which also requires some vibrant choreographer and picturisation to ensure that audience is glued to screen. With Remo at the helm of affairs, one can well expect that to happen. There is a distance jungle sound at the start of it all before ‘Gale Laga Lee’ begins. Yet again, just like ‘Awaaz’, it’s a mix of class and Rahman inspiration that makes ‘Gale Laga Lee’ a worthy hear. This time around the song has a theme mood to it with the students praying that they get to do what they wish to and get most out of life rather than being restricted to what the books have to say. A smooth number which has Vijay Prakash taking the lead and Priya Panchal giving him able support, ‘Gale Laga Lee’ is yet another worthy song which makes one further greedy to check out what the remainder of the album has to offer. Jigar goes solo for the next song in the album which has a ‘High School Musical’ sensibility to it. A campus track which is all set to be showcased as a soft rock campus number in the film, ‘Nayee Subah’ is about youngsters looking forward to what life has to offer in days to come. With hopes all around and a youthful feel to it, ‘Nayee Subah’ isn’t quite a number which boasts of turning out to be memorable for long but should do well for the situation in the film. This is followed by ‘O Teri’ which appears to be a jamming session amongst the students where they are trying to pull each other’s leg. One of those songs for which perhaps the brief was to go bad instead of being perfect, whether musically, lyrically or vocally, ‘O Teri’ has Jigar going solo again. This one is more of a conversation rather than a song per se and though it may just about manage to be fun on screen, audibly it is difficult to hear it more than a couple of times. This is one of those rare songs in the album which comes with a ‘Skip Me’ tag. ‘Percentage’ that follows next isn’t much enticing either and unfortunately just like ‘O Teri’ it too doesn’t hold much good when compared to the first half of the album that had boasted of five chartbusters in a row. A rock track about youngsters who have just come across their results, this Neuman Pinto sung number is totally situational and belongs to the kind which may just about manage to make an impact due to visual presentation but that’s about it. The album takes a turn for the better with the arrival of the most experienced of them all, Neeraj Sridhar. He goes solo for the jamming track ‘Beh Chala’ which has an out and out Western influence to it, as evidenced in many a campus entertainers coming from the house of West. Of course this one too is a situational track, just like a couple of songs preceding it, but thankfully is a better hear than them. Also, fortunately for the album, the ending is on a similar high as seen in songs like ‘Char Baj Gaye’ and ‘Fully Faltu’ with ‘Bhoot Aaya’ completing the triogy of fun campus ‘high-on-rhythm’ songs. Lehmber Hussainnpuri goes all out to make this song so very memorable with the way he goes about rendering this. Also, full credit to lyricist Sameer who goes into the psyche of youngsters and spins the kind of words that manage to make an instant connect. Add to that some new age sound by Sachin-Jigar and the job is done for ‘Bhoot Aaya’ to be a potential hit as well.

OVERALL F.A.L.T.U. is an extremely loaded album with as many as 11 songs, which is a rarity in today’s times. As for the quality of the songs, F.A.L.T.U. is a complete ‘paisa vasool’. Reason being that in the times when a film would be content with a couple of chartbusters, there are at least three (Le Ja, Char Baj Gaye, Rab Sab Se Sona) which have in it to go the whole distance. Yes, there are a couple of situational numbers (O Teri, Percentage) that do not go beyond a hearing or two but other well composed songs like ‘Awaaz’, ‘Bhoot Aaya’, ‘Fully Faltu’ and ‘Gale Laga Le’ more than make for it. Coming to the logistics of the album, the makers have taken an innovative approach of selling songs only through their website www.iamfaltu.com where a song can be legally downloaded for Rs. 10 apiece (and Rs. 40 for the entire album). Now that’s truly dirt cheap price when compared to the cost associated with a music CD. Composers Sachin-Jigar had showed promise in Teree Sang and with F.A.L.T.U. they have totally nailed it. It would be interesting to see what they have to show from this point on.

OUR PICK(S) Le Ja, Char Baj Gaye, Rab Sab Se Sona, Awaaz, Bhoot Aaya, Fully Faltu