Salaam Namaste

Producer : Yash Chopra
Director : Siddharth Raj Anand
Starring : Saif Ali Khan,Preity Zinta, Arshad Warsi, Tania Zaetta
Music : Vishal-Shekhar
Lyrics : Sameer

They never go unnoticed. They are the Prima donnas of the film fraternity, the hot properties that send the cash registers ringing almost instantly at the box office and the heart throbs of the millions. Not just the stars of this movie, but theproducers too are just as popular for their years of expertise in bringing alive the feeling of love on the silver screens like no other. While Saif Ali Khan, Preity Zinta and Abhishek Bachchan (in a special appearance) are undoubtedly treading on the most exciting promenades of their professional lives, the Chopras too have more than a reason to smile. They rocked the whole of 2004 with movies like Dhoom, Hum Tum and Veer-Zaara and the first half of 2005 as well with a winner in Bunty Aur Babli. They have gone from the conventional melodies to the thumping beats of the generation X and thrived always. Following the latter of the genres, Salaam Namaste has the two most imminent and vibrant music composers at play Vishal Shekhar. For his first movie, lyricist Jaideep Sahni could not have asked for a bigger, better break.
The moment the title track disembarks, a certain wave of curiosity runs through your mind and body and before you know, you start grooving as well as crooning Salaam Namaste following the signature steps et all. If the track is to sound young, Kunal Ganjawala needs to sing it and it does sound enormously young. Vasundhara Das is always a pleasant and a welcome change from the regular. While the two ensure total entertainment, the track in itself is a package of trouncing beats, foot-tapping melody, wallops of Punjabi strokes; vivid vocabulary and basically a winner from the word go.

Remember the spry and conversational lyrics of Kuch to Hua Hai from Kal Ho Naa Ho. Thats the raw inspiration of this track – My Dil Goes Mmmmmmm…Again, lyrics are of the essence and Jaideep Sahni sure would have followed the sweet nothings among a young couple quite intently to get to something like this. The track is filled with decent humor while the two lovers resort to captivating criticism for each other finally terminating into an alls well that ends well situation. With such an agile melody, Shaan and Gayitri Iyer will quite conveniently connect with the youth.

Whats Goin On? is the speculative question that Kunal Ganjawala and Sunidhi raise against each other in an affable harmony. Not something for a lifetime but for some good time sakes in life, the track instantaneously catches on the teenybopper fancies. Again, Sahnis lyrics conquer the hearts followed by a tuneful singing.

Sonu Nigam solemnly renders Tu Jahaan, the only sad song on the album. From funny and brisk lyrics to such momentously grave lyrics, Sahni comes a long way in his very first movie. Mahalxmi Iyer has little footage, yet performs efficiently. A harmlessly average track that could grow due to circumstantial factors.

Just like Dus, Vishal-Shekhar quickly wrap up their caravan of original tracks and get into the groove with some of the best DJs in town. Remixed by DJ Aqueel, the English Club mix of My Dil Goes Mmmmmm. is alright when it comes to mindlessly shaking a leg at the nightspots while the Dhol Mix of the title track is digitally mixed by adding a few extra beats by Nikhil Chinappa and Naved. Both mixes very obediently plug the spaces if not anything else.

Salaam Namaste is probably the only Chopra movie so far that has barely four original tracks followed by two remixes that mark the end of the compilation. However, looking at the wrath of audiences on lengthy movies, this is quite a wise step. Even with just an average score, the music is racing towards the top slot only to remain there for a good number of weeks and then make way for another such star-studded fanfare.