The music of Luckhnowi Ishq, which stars Adhyayan Suman and Karishma Kotak in lead roles, has been released without any promotion whatsoever. The fact that the music of this obscure film has been scored by a new music director called Raaj Aashoo does not get one very excited. Apart from newcomer Neeraj Gupta, the lyrics have been written by some well known names like Sudhakar Sharma, Kumaar and Shakeel Azmi. The desi love story is set in Lucknow. Thus, one expects to hear some some earthy romantic numbers steeped in Indian melody, something on the lines of Tanu Weds Manu.
Mohd.Irfan, who has sung some popular romantic numbers such as ‘Baarish’ (Yaariyan), ‘Banjaara’ (Ek Villain) in the past, is heard in yet another love ballad called “Tu Aaina Hai Mera”. The song is exactly the kind that Vikram Bhatt likes – a 90s style melody with contemporary arrangements. The extremely predictable tune sounds like a mishmash of several such songs. The lyrics, a good mix of Hindi and Urdu words, are simple and heartfelt. The song is average and at best, sounds like a poor man’s “Deewana Kar Raha Hai” from Raaz 3.
Composers just can’t resist the temptation of going behind the mike and sing one of their compositions. Raaj Aashoo sings “Yaq Ba Yaq” in a ‘wannabe rockstar’ fashion and his indulgence only does more damage to this tuneless number. The mixing is so bad that it sounds like someone recorded the song on a cheap recording device. Despite a novel and catchy phrase like ‘Yaq Ba Yaq’, the lyrics do not impress.
“Piya Banno” is a song that depicts the pre-wedding celebrations taking place in a household and the lines describe the sorrow of a mother who is all set to bid adieu to her daughter who is about to be married. Raaj Aashoo gets the arrangements right but the tune does not stay with you after you have heard the song once. This one is a situational number that may sound appealing when one watches it on the screen. The lyrics, apart from beautifully depicting the situation in the film, are easy on the lips. Sunidhi Chauhan is very good with her rendition.
“Bomb Kudi”, featuring Labh Janjua is a bhagra number that has rap portions added to lend some ‘coolness’ to it. The song sounds dated and the rap portions (performed by Pratibha Baghel) are lousy. It starts off with some techno beats and gains some momentum as dhols, tabla and shehnai come into the picture. The song, in parts, reminds one of “Kudi Kanwari” from International Khiladi which was a much better track. Though as many as four vocalists are credited here, Labh Janjua and Palak Muchhal’s voices are heard dominantly.
“Bomb Kudi” appears in another version. The only difference between the original and the alternate version is that, though one gets to hear a bit of Labh Janjua’s in the beginning, it’s Amit Sharma who is thel lead male vocalist here. Amit does a good job as a singer but he fails to match up to the kind of energy Labh brought in the original version.
The album has a variety of songs for different situations and Raaj Aashoo had ample scope to prove his mettle as a composer. He does not give a good account of himself as the album does not have a single song that could make it big on the popularity charts. That’s unfortunate as a small film like Luckhnowi Ishq could have really benefited from a couple of hit songs.
Rating: 1.5/5