Neal ‘n’ Nikki
Music: Salim-Sulaiman
Lyrics: Anvita Dutt Guptan
Yash Raj Music; Rs 55, CD Rs 125
And anyways is not the only wrong English about the lyrics in this ‘NRI film’. Try the refrain, I’m the Neal, I’m the man, for another. The main song (KK, Shweta Pandit) also starts with prosaic Hindi, Main shaayad chaar saal ka tha. You get the drift? They also have, Yo! and Nikki Bakshi,/Sweet and sexy,/[Something something] rocking,/Hot and happening.” But even Western music critic friends can’t decode the [something something] words, though one of them swears it’s Full of rocking, whatever that means, in English! Actually, you’ve just got to say goodbye to lyrics, the English bits or the Hindi parts. Though the self-introductory refrains of Neal and Nikki both are the most stylish bits of this lead number. Maybe the lack of clarity didn’t make it a roadside Romeo’s anthem, with Nikki Bakshi sweet and sexy going abegging. In the music and lyrics, too, NNN is so much like a sequel to Salaam Namaste (Yash Raj Music; CD Rs 145), but My dil goes mmmm (Shaan, Gayatri Iyer) and What’s goin’ on (Kunal Ganjawala, Sunidhi Chauhan) were infinitely more melodious and meaningful (Music, Vishal-Shekhar; lyrics: Jaideep Sahni).
As if to come down to Hindustani earth, the next one starts off with Pairon mein payaal?aankhon mein kaajal laga ke chali...Halla re, halla re, halla re! After a few listens, Halla re scores over the lead number, especially for the better singing (Shweta, Salim Merchant) and beat (lyric, Irshad Kamil).
Lyrics, what lyrics? I’m in love, Haayo Rabba (Sonu Nigam, Mahalaxmi Iyer, Clinton, Dominique) tries to be more Bollywood but turns up insipid, ending with an English line again, I just wanna spend my life with you. Which line gets blown into a fullfledged English number later in the album, by Clinton and Dominique (lyric, Asif Ali Beg). In between is Ankh ladiye (Kunal, Shweta, Javed Ali), the tribute to Bolly Bhangra. Winding up with a totally punchless Naughty Mix of the lead number; with the original sounding zippier and more ‘remix’ than the remix, so cheers to that!
Anil Grover
