Footpath Music Review

 

  Friendship, Loyalty, Pain, Love, Betrayal - This sums up Footpath which is a Tips Films and Mukesh Bhatt presentation and is directed by Vikram Bhatt. The team of Footpath practically comprises of all the members of Raaz - Mukesh Bhatt Vikram Bhatt, Bipasha Basu, Nadeem Shravan and Sameer. Aftab Shivdasani (who has worked with Vikram twice in Kasoor and Awara Paagal Deewana), Rahul Dev and debutant Emran (who is Mahesh Bhatt’s nephew) pair up as friends with Bipasha playing Aftab's love interest. When a team has delivered a hit just recently (Raaz) then expectations are sky high when they re-unite, even though the subject of the flicks may differ as much as chalk and cheese !!

Like Raaz, Footpath too is flooded with love songs which are straight from the Nadeem Shravan music bank. Mainly the kind of numbers that may have fitted anywhere where there is a demand for love songs. As usual, Alka Yagnik gets to sing the chunk of the songs starting with 'Saari Raat Teri Yaad' -a duet with Udit Narayan. A very regular'n'typical Nadeem Shravan - Sameer number, it just comes and goes and you do not even realize that there has been something new or unique. A few years back, this number may have scaled some heights but millions of versions later, this kind of composition looses it's charms !!

We have heard of the inspirations and the copies and the lifts but rarely have we seen a complete song (with music as well as lyrics) appearing in two back to back releases of the same music composers. We are talking about 'Chain Aapko Mila' which has just been featured in Nadeem Shravan's last release 'Hungama' and here it appears again, though with the vocals of Asha Bhonsle and S.P.Balasubramaniam. We do enjoy this version even more due to the seasoned vocals of the veterans but the question still remains unanswered as to how can it happen???

 Two more romantic tracks that follow soon after are 'Kitna Pyaara Pyaara Hai Samaa' and 'Zara Dekh Mera Deewanapan'. Again, plain average numbers, they are based on the oft repeated tones and just fails to excite. This all is even more surprising when one realizes that it is Vikram Bhatt who is at the helm of the affairs. Former has Alka Yagnik pairing up with Abhijeet whereas latter has Udit Narayan giving her company. There is nothing really much to talk about both the numbers except that both are the conventional numbers based on Indian melody and merely suffice to be gap fillers. Sure, they are not bad, but certainly are not the ones to be highly recommended.

A number that manages to make some impact is 'Dost Milte Hai' which is sad number about pain, anguish and repentance on losing a friend. Though this too gets it's inspiration from 'Zindagi Ki Talaash Mein Hum, Maut Ke Kitne Paas Aa Gaye' from earlier Mahesh Bhatt-Nadeem Shravan - Sameer combine Saathi. Still, a fine number, the female version of the same (sung by Alka Yagnik) appears as 'Dil To Milte Hai' which just passes muster.

It seems that the team did realize that the overall impact of the album is certainly very thanda. This is why they rope in Himesh Reshammiya to compose an absolute item number - 'Soorat Pe Teri Pyaar Aaye' which is sung by Hema Sardesai, KK and Jayesh Gandhi. But sadly, this gimmick too doesn't guarantee much dividends to the sales of this album as the track is spineless. Yes, in today's times, more than the content of the number, the choreography and sets have done the wonders before and it may not be surprising if this number too benefits from the same !! But look at the number in it's isolation and it just falls flat !!!

Never expected such a dull score from the same production team that has earlier come up with such great gems. A rare disappointing and extremely predictable score from Nadeem Shravan.