Shibani Kashyap and Sohail Sen come together to compose the music for Sirf.. Life Looks Greener On The Other Side, which is directed by Rajaatesh Nayyar and boasts of quite a talented cast. Shibani and Sohail came up with an album which has a different sound. It is not your very typical Hindi film music. The music has punch, originality of thought and indeed comes as a real surprise. The lyrics written by Mehboob and Vipul Saini also strike that note of difference. There is something fresh about this entire album and each of the eight songs reveals this attempt to avoid the much trodden path.
The album begins on a very promising note with Kunal Ganjawala's rendition of 'Pehla Woh Pyaar'. The music before the song begins is quite hauntingly moving. Ganjawala reveals a very different facet of his singing style. The flamboyance is very much intact but it's much softer. The music is really very interestingly arranged and the song turns out to be one of Ganjawala's best ever.
Shibani lends her voice to the second number of the album called, 'Life Peeche Peeche.' She gives it her full treatment. The song is more of an anthem on life and one's aspirations. It has a lot of freshness and the singer sings it in full gusto, making it a very peppy number.
The much talked of melody makes its appearance with the next two songs in the album. The first is a romantic duet, 'Ghar Tera Ghar Mera', sung by Shaan and Shreya Ghoshal. The duo does a fantastic job in conveying the tender emotions of the song. Their voices complement each other wonderfully and both give an impeccable rendition. It's hard to choose the better singer. But if one has to, then one would have to settle on Shaan. This song is truly his number. This is surely the best number in the album.
The tryst with melody continues with the next song, which has two versions in the album. The first is a solo rendition of 'Zindagi Ki Kahani' by Kunal Ganjawala and the second is duet with Pamela Jain and Kunal. But talking of the solo version first, one is amazed, almost floored by this facet of Ganjawal's voice. One is so used to hearing him singing the slightly westernized songs, that it is hard to imagine him singing a soft number like this. He just reveals what a versatile singer he is with this song. One has to give full credit to the composers for daring to go ahead with his voice for 'Zindagi Ki Kahani.' The number itself is a slow, philosophic kind of a song, much heard in Hindi films, like a pain to life. It has been very well written, just like the rest of the songs in this album. The duet with Pamela Jain, continues with the same theme and there is absolutely no doubt that Ganjawala sounds gorgeous in this number.
Composer Sohail Sen and Tarannum sing the duet 'Tujhpe Fida', which is a very peppy romantic number. Sohail's deep baritone and Tarannum's energetic rendition make for very good listening. Vinod Rathod makes his appearance in the album with a very punchy rendition of the number, 'Khel Jo Khele.' He gives the song a kind of 'tough' rendition. But the effect is very interesting and is rendered even more so because of the kind of beats and rhythm that the song uses.
Finally there is KK and Tarannum's duet 'Mumbai Nagariya,' an anthem to the city. The feeling that the song evokes is one of effervescent joy. There is not much that one needs to say about KK. He is one of the most melodious singers we have around and he leaves his impact on this song. Tarannum too sounds good in this number and proves to be a good foil to KK. The song is sung with feeling and is quite catchy.
The music of Sirf comes as breath of fresh air. It is obvious that a lot of thought and feeling have gone into its creation by its lyricists, composers and the singers, all of who have excelled. One cannot predict the fate of the movie, but this album surely deserves to be widely heard. It does not cater to just popular tastes and yet does not tend to become esoteric. It maintains a very fine balance between both extremes. and the result is an album which has it all melody, rhythm, good voices, and soulful rendition.
