Roop Kumar Rathod only saving grace in 'Anwar'

"Anwar", a film made by Manish Jha of "Matrubhumi" fame, doesn't really boast of a great soundtrack. Composed by Mithoon and Pankaj Awasthi, the album has nine tracks and most of them leave a bad taste.

While one gets to hear Roop Kumar Rathod after a long time, some new names like Kshitij, Shilpa Rao and Megha Sriram also feature in the album.

Two numbers, "Maula Mere Maula" and "Javeda Zindagi - Tose Naina Lagey", deserve special mention, especially after listening to the rest of the soundtrack.

The album has three background scores including "Anwar's Dream - A Symphony in Blue". It is an instrumental number and quite appealing. With a combination of flutes and other instruments, it can be heard once in a while.

But "Into the Black" doesn't offer much and wouldn't hold listeners' interest. And finally "Mela - Shadow of Sunlight" is a number that wouldn't find many fans either. Just like "Into The Black", listeners would give it a miss as well.

All the three, partially instrumental numbers, have been composed and sung by Pankaj Awasthi.

The piece that takes the cake for being the worst of the lot is "Bangla Khula". A typical item number with senseless lyrics is distasteful and listeners wouldn't care to listen to the entire track. In spite of being the only fast number in the album, it fails to get the feet tapping. And Megha's voice doesn't suit the tempo.

There is a remixed version of this track, which is awful. Since the original track was an ordeal, it was pointless to go for a remix. Another song to give a miss...

"Dilbar Mera", an emotional number sung by Pankaj, is an ok song. He emotes pretty well but, all in all, the track doesn't have a repeat value.

"Javeda Zindagi - Tose Naina Lagey" comes as a big relief. A slow romantic number, penned by Hassan Kammal and Kshitij, has soulful voices and beats and renders a pleasant surprise. Shilpa, who has lent her voice to the song, is quite impressive.

Not much can be written about "Jo Maine Aas Lagayi" as it is an extremely short song with Pankaj doing the vocals once again. Beats are as good as invisible and the track could do with only Pankaj's singing - his voice a mix of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Kailash Kher. The album could do without this number.

Finally, "Maula Mere Maula" is one number, which can be easily proclaimed the winner in the album. A great romantic piece, interspersed with Sufi elements, marks a comeback for Rathod.

Sayeed Quadri's has done justice to the song with his meaningful lyrics. The cherry on the cake is the chanting of 'Maula mere' at repeated intervals.

Summing up the soundtrack, only two numbers make for great listening, and yet the success of these two numbers wouldn't really persuade you into buying its cassettes or CDs.

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Anwar