Dil Kabaddi

Cast : Konkona Sen Sharma, Soha Ali Khan, Payal Rohatgi, Rahul Bose, Irfaan Khan, Rahul Khanna
Directed by : Anil Sharma
Producer : Paramhans Creations
Music Director : Sachin Ahuja , Dhruv Ghanekar
Release Date : December 5, 2008

DIL KABADDI, a quizzically sounding titled film is all about the madcap flavors of urbane and metro-centric life in varied shades and characters. Debutante director Anil Senior packs up an array of dependable actors for this upbeat social saga that delivers out humor, passion and melodrama with likable dosages of peppy and vibrant music. Sachin Gupta, a productive and "hot "n" happening" name in Indi-Pop segment (Atif Aslam's DOORIE) makes his first major attempt at Bollywood music with this entertainer. The album has intrinsically Indi-Pop flavors that have been composer's hallmark and mode of success for the last couple of years. In his first major outing, Gupta dons multifaceted roles of composer, lyricist as well as that of singer along with guest composer Dhruv Dhalla.

Will the zing and thrive of Sachin Gupta's peculiar musical style be alluring enough to cast any spell in the marquee? Will the music of DIL KABADDI be sturdy enough to wrestle out its contemporaries? Let's get straight into the groovy feel of it!

The first track "Ehsaan" brings back the soft-rock hues of Pakistani rock bands with expressively poignant feel of Mithoon's somber sounding tracks. Sachin Gupta leads the vocals along with Jaspreet Singh in echoing and booming baritones that gels genially with thriving electronic beat patterns, racing guitar riffs and tangy percussive elements. It reminds back to similar soundtracks like "To Phir Aao" and "Tere Mera Rishta" (AWARAPAAN) where remarkable sounding distressing overtones of lead vocalists in varying moods made great impact. Impressive vocals, mesmerizing sounding "easy-on-ears" lyrics are beautifully grounded with upbeat style of arrangements that makes it one of the most likeable additions in this year's soft-rock ballads. Sachin Gupta excels in all three departments (singing, composing as well as writing) and it's "yuppie" brunt gets exploded in its "club" remix version that has thriving DJ mixing collaged with loud reverberating voices. One can feel the spark of upcoming composer Mithoon in Sachin Gupta's melodic works and "Ehsaan" stands tall as benchmarking the sentimental feel for the flick.

"I got a ring on finger, my heart wanna swing..." streams out with funky rhythmical jingle works with some zingy vocals and vivacious wording in making out "Uthale Ya Phenk De", a "yuppie" buddy-bonding song. Jaspreet Singh makes a jocularly vivacious jumbling of words with Aditya Jassi and together they spell out new formulations of living out happily. Virag Mishra's engaging mumbo-jumbo phraseology goes in tandem with the spunky feel. The conglomerate works out like a "happy-go-lucky" and do better watch out for some chirpy moments as it run loud in theaters. A cheerful "club-house" remix would have been befitting attribute to listeners but even this zany youthful thrive is cheerful enough to lift the spirits.The synchronized sounds of harmonium, "sarangi" and "tabla" in rhythmical tandem bring out the contemporary feel of Sufi music in "Zindagi Ye". Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, a purist among Sufi singers gets his acts together as his vociferous pathos about vicissitudes of life makes sentimental semblance with the solemn feel of the situation. Rahat pens down some philosophically mesmerizing lines ("Aansuno ki dhoop mein, Koi chal raha idhar, Kehkhaho ki chau mein, Koi chal raha udhar...) with great dexterity in vocal modulations in middle interludes. After hearing his appreciable "Bol Na Halke Halke" (JHOOM BARABAR JHOOM), his devoted listeners can find another soulful attribute from him and that too with quality melodic substance by promising Sachin Gupta. It gets an upbeat make-over in its "rock-version" where one can feel the modern feel of some of Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan rehashed numbers. The invigorating thrust of rock music sparkles up the flow of the track and works promisingly in propping out to be bankable promotional feature track. "Zindagi Ye" works big time for all Sufi music listeners and will go up as another entrant in Rahat's proud collection of quality Bollywood soundtracks.

Guest composer Dhruv Dhalla takes on the proceeding with all together different feel of roguish tempo in 70's stylized "Ok Tata Done". Mika Singh croons out with flows of old stylized orchestrations that mainly comprises of 70's arrangements of horns, trumpets with varying pitches. It has thematically bounded substance (with regular voicing of "Kabaddi...Kabaddi") and is likely to be hilarious background score material for this humorous take on relationships.

The disco fervor finally takes up the show with Sachin Gupta making all maneuvers that reminds of Raghav Sachar's style of composing in boisterously pumped "Nasha Nashila". Once again, Jaspreet Singh's vivaciously singing connotations in charging the disco-freaks proves to be big asset for making the evening flashy for young listeners. Gupta music may lack novelty factor but still supplies enough thriving dancing commotion for a sprightly communion on floors. The zingy touches in thriving electronic sounds are catchy and add up substantial pep factor in the album to make it amiable among teenyboppers.

"Meri Fantasy Come n see...!" the fantasies goes beyond limits but the wording goes haywire and music sounds comically mundane in average sounding "Goodnight". It's another inspirational lift from Raghav Sachar's composing with gibberish overtones of fantasizing bizarre where Jaspreet Singh along with slender sounding Monali sings out this track. It's strictly situational and caters to deliver hilarious moments than offering any listening delight for melodic ears.

Sachin Gupta makes a buoyant and promising start in Bollywood with DIL KABADDI with trendy-feel tracks that are likely to be making mood merrier for its prospective listeners. The album makes its most promising gestures in tracks like "Ehsaan", ?Uthale Ya Phenk De" and "Zindagi Ye" while rest of tracks sounds situational to the feel of the situation in the flick. Despite its racy and trendy touches, the album lacks the presence of one thriving chartbuster track that can really spread positive word for album and the film. A good word of mouth, aggressive promotion and remarkable box office success of the flick will be added bliss for this light-hearted album.