Singers: Javed Bashir Ahmed, Sunidhi Chauhan, Javed Ali and Sahir Ali Bagga
Since Milan Luthria’s original gangster flick Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai focused on the male protagonists – Ajay Devgn and Emraan Hashmi – and the power struggle between them, emphasis was laid on establishing the two daring gangsters and their one-upmanship to become Mumbai’s underworld kingpin. Still, Pritam was said to have done a commendable job with the music of the film.Luthria’s second edition, this one unoriginally called Once Upon A Time In Mumbai Dobaara comes with a tagline: ‘This time it’s personal’. So we expected rather soulful compositions from Pritam da, at least on par if not better than his work on the first film. That’s where the composer fails. One of the prime factors that accounts for the drop is the gangster genre, which leaves minimal scope for a popular soundtrack.
The album opens with Yeh tune kya kiya. The overall Sufiana feel and light arrangement belies the tone set by the composer, as Javed brings great energy to the song, as does the chorus. The track seems formulaic and evokes faint memories of Tum jo aaye from the Ajay-Emraan film.
Luthria’s choice of recreating an iconic song like Tayyab Ali (from Amar Akbar Anthony and sung then by the legendary Mohammed Rafi) in no way tarnishes the song’s beauty. Blending old world charm and modern day humour, the rehashed version sung by Javed Ali is one of the film’s more attractive points.
A hugely hyped song on the album Tu hi khwaish by Sunidhi Chauhan is added with the intention to revisit Parda from OUATIM. Chauhan returns to what she’s known to do best – an ‘item number’. This one will stick with its fans for a long time!
Sung by Javed Ali and Sahir Ali Bagga, Chugliyaan comes across like a run-of-the-mill number. However, the instrumental arrangements don’t fascinate and lose appeal very quickly.
In short, OUATIMD as an album has an uncanny resemblance to its prequel OUATIM with respect to its genre, something that may not work in its favour. Very recently Pritam raised his bar much higher than his rivals and surprised his fans with an outstanding album in Barfi! And he can do much better than OUATIMD. Not an epic fail, but definitely not a memorable win, for sure.