Badmaash Company

EXPECTATIONS A young film often offers a good opportunity to a composer to go ahead and get some funky tunes in place. Especially so when the film is spearheaded by Shahid Kapoor who has more often than not been quite lucky as far as music of his films is concerned. With Pritam, he has seen some good tunes coming his way in Kismat Konnection. Even Dil Bole Hadippa wasn’t bad with the title song at least managing to do quite well till date. However, off late Yash Raj Films has become quite inconsistent as far as music of their films is concerned and hence one plays on Badmaash Company with mixed expectations.

MUSIC It’s signature Tarantino influence which is quite obvious in the way ‘Ayaashi’ begins. A celebration number written by Anvita Dutt where the bunch of youngsters are happy with the change in lifestyle due to their newest conquest where they have played the ‘wrong game’ in a ‘right manner’, ‘Ayaashi’ has a Western treatment to it. However, this K.K. number isn’t exactly the kind that comes at the very beginning of the album. At maximum, ‘Ayaashi (which also appears in a ‘remix version’) is just about situational and it’s popularity is dependant on the visuals that appear on screen. Just when one had started wondering that Badmaash Company was totally going downhill comes ‘Chaska’ which is certainly better than what one has heard in the album so far. Though the beats and the way Krishna sings this song reminds one of ‘Dil Haara’ (Tashan), one suspects that this could just be a coincidence. Reasonably foot tapping, ‘Chaska’ also works due to the kind of infectious energy that it comes with. Yet another number about celebration about life and love, ‘Chaska’ comes in a deserving ‘remix version’ and has a good potential of doing well if supported by an eye catching video. Just like the way one was surprised to find Mohit Chauhan rendering ‘Jingle Jingle’, it’s a similar feeling on hearing Rahat Fateh Ali Khan crooning ‘Fakeera’. Though the soul is Indian here, the presentation is out and out Western which makes you feel that something is truly amiss here. It could be attributed to the choice of singer or the uncertainty which surrounds the mood (whether it’s happy or sad) but the fact remains that ‘Fakeera’ makes you believe that if presented in a different space by Pritam, it could have done better. Finally comes the title song ‘Badmaash Company’ which bears a funky presentation for the first 20 seconds (courtesy it’s 70s feel). However, the moment Benny Dayal begins his rendition and the sound of ‘Badmaash Hey Hey Hey…. ‘ comes along, the songs takes on a predictable route. If it’s signature tune is included as a part of the film’s background score then it may still make some impression but overall, it doesn’t work in entirety. Last word here: Believe it or not but there is no trace of a female voice in the entire album. Do we already see Anushka complaining?

OVERALL Badmaash Company doesn’t live up to the expectations. This could have been a far better album but despite it’s Western presentation for most of the duration, it doesn’t quite cover the whole distance. An aberration for fans of Pritam and Shahid Kapoor.

OUR PICK(S) ‘Chaska’, ‘Ayaashi’