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Here's a first for Bollywood Ki Baatein. I've not reviewed an Indian pop album before, but with it being Indian Idol winner Abhijeet Sawant, I thought I may as well, since I was a loyal fan of his first album, which featured hit tracks such as Mohabbatein Lutaoonga, Kya Tujhe Pata Hai, and Lafzon Mein (my favourite).Abhijeet Sawant is back with his second album titled Junoon. The title song hits off the proceedings in the album and, is playing on air at the moment. It is something different from the typical indian pop song - rather soothing to state the least. It may take a few hearings to grow on you.
However, the songs you must listen to are Ek Shaqs, Tanha (my favourite) and Meri Aankhein - three excellent songs from the new album. I've not yet got to grips with the others, but after one hearing i've declared these three songs to be sure shot hits! Without a doubt the videos for these songs will be nothing short of excellent, and that's all they require to guarantee another successful album. Everything comes in a package these days in Bollywood; without a presentable video, some good songs go unnoticed!
On this note, let me add, the song Tanha is a bit of a rip off from an Arab song, which i'm a big fan of - Nassi El Duniya by this arab male singer who's name I can't remember, but I can assure you that the music and rhythm has certainly been copied from that song - so in terms of originality this second album loses some points.
Despite that, Abhijeet Sawant's second album strikes all the right chords and is virtually a guaranteed success. India was blown away by this young boys voice in the ever famous Indian Idol competition, but now after a little break from the music scene, Abhijeet Sawant is back, with a talented team of musicians and lyricists - the guy has Sayeed Quadri (the lyricist of Tere Bin by Atif Aslam) backing him, he can't go wrong!
Verdict: Chartbuster!
In previous years Sanjay Dutt's White Feathers Production house has brought us some amazing flicks, like Kaante and Musafir, even though Kaante was a direct copy of Reservoir Dogs. It now brings us a star studded cops versus gangsters thriller, Shootout at Lokhandwala (based on true rumours), an original script!On the cops side we have Sanjay Dutt, Sunil Shetty, Arbaaz Khan, Abhishek Bachchan (guest appearance) and Amitabh Bachchan as the lawyer. On the gangsters side we have Vivek Oberoi, Tushaar Kapoor, Shabbir Ahluwalia and Rohit Roy. Amrita Sing plays Vivek's mother, and Diya Mirza is the pretty journalist covering the incidents.
The director Apoorva Lakhia has clearly been inspired by Sanjay Gupta's way of direction, and to his credit he does a fantastic job. The crime scenes are superb and the confrontation between Maya (Vivek) and Khan (Sanjay) at the restaurant is packed with so much weight, it just sums up the directors abilities. The dialogues, coupled with the background music are very good, and add plenty of weight to the script.
Of the performances, let me begin with Abhishek's. What a waste of talent! Although to the benefit of the producers, his name in the cast did add value to marketting the movie, but it's a shame he wasn't used to his full potential. Arbaaz Khan who is a rarely seen on the big screen these days is a delight to watch. His urdu dialogues in the scenes between him and Sunil Shetty are a joy to watch. Good performance. Sunil Shetty does complete justice to his role, the sequence in which he calls Tushaar's girl a "randee" is really good. Sanjay Dutt as Khan leads the way with the cops, his performance is excellent as always, although I do get a feeling that whilst shooting for the movie, he would have been craving to play the role of the 'bhai', because we all know there's no better bhai in Bollywood than apna Sanju baba! Legend! 
Now this is the moment I have been waiting for - to make mince meat out of the one actor that brought down the viewing appeal of this movie! - Yes, I am talking about none other than the little man Tushaar Kapoor! Whyyyy on earth was he placed in this movie, the dude is a half decent actor but no way in hell does he have what it takes to act as a Gangster! I mean, just LISTEN to his VOICE! Forget his acting skills for a minute, it's his feminine voice, which takes away the whole 'bhai' image. The scene in which he approaches Sunil Shetty in the gym is all you need to watch to understand what I mean. On the one side you have Sunil Shetty who is a man from voice to physique, and then you have Tushaar Kapoor who tries threatening him by saying "hayyy, itna hoor mat dhay... saala akha bench hee teray mein ghusair dey gaa". What a joke! That scene had no impact on me whatsoever. I'm sorry Tushaar, you should just stick to love stories.If I was in the directors chair, I would have used Abhishek Bachchan in Tushaar Kapoor's role and gave Tushaar Kapoor the one minute guest appearance.
The movie belongs to none other than Vivek Oberoi. What an amazing actor. It was RGV's Company which launched Vivek into Bollywood, playing the role of an underworld bhai, and after years of experimenting different roles he has returned to the same old role, and rightly so! Vivek as Maya in Shootout at Lokhandwala portrays the perfect attitude to go with the rough look, and does compleeete justice to his role. The scene in which he breaks the guys head in the neighbourhood by resting his jaw on the curb is lethal and as gross at it sounds, it is an adult viewers delight! Although Vivek has done a great job in the past in other movies like Saathiya, it is the underworld bhai role that suits him the best - there's no other actor out there who could match Vivek in this category, so come on you directors, sign him on for more underworld flicks!To all you readers: if you want a break from the love stories, go watch Shootout at Lokhandwala, you won't be dissapointed. All eyes are on White Feathers Productions next venture (",)
My Rating: 7.5/10
Apologies for the delay between the last post and this. To cut a long story short, I've been busy with exams and travelling, but now I'm back at the heart of Bollywood Ki Baatein :)
The Rise of Pakistani Rock Music!
Thanks to Mahesh Bhatt's great taste in music, we are seeing a new trend in Bollywood music. It was Mr Bhatt who first launched the ever popular Atif Aslam to the Bollywood scene, we all felt the wave created by "Woh Lamhe", "Aadat" and "Tere Bin". Atif Aslam stormed to new heights, and India recognised a new style of music.
In the recent Awarapan, Mahesh Bhatt again dived into the heart (Lahore) of Pakistan and pinpointed Roxen, a Pakistani Rock band who were riding high in Pakistan because of their underground single "To Phir Aao". The album of Awarapan saw not only "To Phir Aao", but also the smash hit "Tera Mera Rishta" in the vocals of the lead singer of Roxen. The music of Awarapan has been a phenomenal success in India.
It is not only Atif Aslam and Roxen that have been picked up by India, but also many other Pakistani Rock/Pop artists, such as Annie, Adnan Sami, Rafaqat Ali Khan, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan (Bol Na Halke Halke), Shafaqat of Fusion (Mitwa), Strings (Yeh Hai Meri Kahani) and more.
Rock music is extremely big in Pakistan, there are hundreds of underground Rock bands in cities like Karachi and Lahore. There would be many artists in Pakistan who would be craving to enter the Bollywood market like Atif Aslam and Roxen, but one artist who without entering India/Bollywood has already sweeped a chunk of south asia; he has won the hearts of virtually every Pakistani girl out there - he is the heartthrob of Pakistan, and is creating waves everywhere - Ali Zafar.
Rumours are he has been offered many chances to sing for Bollywood, but he has declined them all. Maybe he is waiting for the 'right' moment, or maybe he wants to establish himself in Pakistan first. He is only two albums old, with super hit tracks like "masty", "sajania", "huqa pani", "chal dil mere" and the ever famous "channo ki aankh", which was incidentally adopted by Bollywood, without Ali Zafar's vocals in the movie Fight Club. My prediction is that Ali Zafar will end up singing in Bollywood one day, and take my word he will be a BIG hit with the Indian audience!
Ali Zafar's latest single is called "Dekha", it can be seen on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APLH-kO9xaM
In Pakistan there is alot of talk about Ali Zafar vs. Atif Aslam - who's better? Both have amazing voices, but the heated debate continues. Maybe i'll write about the rivalry in another article, til then zinday kay mazay lo...
Yeh aakhri alvida naa ho (",)