Music Review: Ishqiya

The music of Ishqiya, which has the deadly combo of Vishal Bhardwaj (Music) & Gulzar (Lyrics) released recently. Naturally, the expectations from the music had to be huge amongst music lovers; so let’s find out if the album delivers what we expected it to.

The album opens with a very melodic track “Dil toh Bachcha Hai” sung by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. The song is about, how a person might grow old by age but his heart still remains that of a child. This song is also special because it gets us something new from Rahat who has earlier sung more of sufi songs. The lyrics by Gulzar are top notch and overshadow the music of this soft romantic track. Brilliant!

There is also a remix version of the song “Dil Toh Bachcha Hai-Remix” which has English rendition by Clinton Cerojo.

Next is “Ibn-E-Batuta” which I feel has the most classic lyrics I have heard in last few years. It is a song about adventure in life by relating to a person called Ibn-E-Batuta who was a muslim scholar & traveler. It also reminds you of Bulla by Rabbi but what makes it special is that it is more cheerful and sung very beautifully by Sukhwinder Singh & Mika. This is surely a Chartbuster track. Brilliant again!

Also, there are two different versions, “Ibn-E-Batuta (Remix)” which is good & “Ibn-E-Batuta (Nucleya Remix)” which is average.

The third track in the album is “Ab Mujhe Koi” which is another soft number but also has a tragic feel to it. It is sung by Rekha Bhardwaj (Vishal’s wife) who earlier gave her voice to the hit track “Genda Phool”. It is a beautiful song with very moving lyrics. Watch out for the beautiful pronunciation of the Urdu words by Rekha. Good!

The last track “Badi Dheere Jali” is another song by Rekha Bhardwaj and looks like a classical track when you start listening but after a few continuous listening, you realize that the song has classical fusion into it which also shows the caliber Vishal has. It is not the usual soft song which also limits its listeners, hope it sounds better with video. Average!

Overall, it is a good start to the year for film lovers, at least in terms of music because Ishqiya has a couple of brilliant songs which should be loved by everybody. And not to forget, the words of Gulzar saab are simply wonderful & award worthy.

Rating: 3.25 (Good)

Best Picks: Ibn-E-Batuta & Dil Toh Bachcha Hai