Music has always played an important role in the horror films coming out from the Hindi film industry. The music of ‘Raaz’ (2002), composed by Nadeem-Shravan, was one of the major strengths of the film. One saw a steady decline in the quality of music as the makers spawned two more films (‘Raaz – The Mystery Continues’ and ‘Raaz – 3’) in the franchise. Barring a song or two, the music of each of these two films failed to resonate with the listeners for a long time. Except for a song (“Deewana Kar Raha Hai”), Jeet Gannguly had scored the entire album of ‘Raaz – 3’. It seems to be a coincidence that for ‘Raaz Reboot’, he has been credited with all the songs except for one which has been set to tune by Sangeet and Siddharth Haldipur.
Some gently played guitar notes mark the arrival of “Lo Maan Liya”, a romantic ballad written by Kausar Munir. The track, which has a hint of melancholy in it, is five minutes long and the only thing that makes you sit through it is Arijit Singh’s voice. Neither Jeet Gannguly comes up with an interesting tune nor does Kausar Munir writes anything that one has not heard before. The soft repeated tune is quite dull and it is to Arijit’s credit that he manages to make it listenable because of his voice.
Arijit Singh’s voice is heard again in the second track “Raaz Aankhein Teri”, in which Jeet does a much better job as a composer. He skilfully creates a melange of thrill and romance in this haunting yet romantic number. The film is being promoted as one which has a blend of horror and romance and the song manages to justify that quite well. The extensively promoted “The Sound Of Raaz” borrows the ‘mukhda’ from the track and is aided by ambient sounds and Jubin Nautiyal’s icy cold voice that sends a shiver down your spine. The composition appears in another avatar in “Hummein Tummein Jo Tha”, a duet sung by Papon and Palak Muchhal. As the tune is quite good, one does not mind it hearing it all over again.
“O Meri Jaan”, composed by Sangeet and Siddharth Haldipur starts off with a flute piece followed by a string section which, in turn, makes way for KK as he sings the kind of rock ballad that you would associate in a Vishesh Films’ production. The title of the song and the fact that it has been sung by KK reminds you of the song “O Meri Jaan” (‘Tum Mile’). Barring the title, the singer and the production house which produced both these films, there is nothing common between the two tracks. While the Pritam composed number had a very sombre feel to it, this one has a quite spirited feel (even as the lyrics suggest otherwise). Though it is not the kind of song you would remember for a long time, it makes for a fairly pleasant hear.
A music piece (first heard ten seconds into the song) is heard at regular intervals into “Yaad Hai Na” and it turns out to be the best thing about the song. The rest of the composition does not quite match up to the brilliant standalone piece but is good nevertheless. This particular piece also lends a haunting feel to the romantic track. One just wishes that Jeet had come up with a slightly better tune as would have taken this nicely arranged track to a different level altogether. The unplugged version, sung by Jubin Nautiyal, has a laidback feel to it and is driven by the sound of acoustic guitars.
One hoped that the album would at least offer a glimpse of the memorable soundtrack that Nadeem-Shravan had put together for ‘Raaz’ (2002). Though this album is not a patch on it, it is relatively better than the kind of music that was offered to one in the last two films. Jeet Gannguly and guest composers Sangeet and Siddharth Haldipur seemed to have given a clear instruction – stick to the Vishesh Films’ music template. The composers do a reasonably good job in that space and manage to give a consistent sound to the album which is driven by soft romantic numbers.
Rating: 3/5
