Music Review – Billu Barber

Billu Barber is the next home production(Red Chillies Entertainment) of Shahrukh Khan. And for the first time Shahrukh is teamed up with Priyadarshan. Priyadarshan is famous for his comedy releases and this time he has come up with a remake of malyalam film ‘Kadha Parayumbol‘. The basic premise of the story is all about friendship – that too a rare one, between a village barber and the reigning super star. So lot to expect form both Priyadarshan and Shahrukh Khan.
Billu Barber is the first album in the year 2009 and that too from Shahrukh Khan so the expectations are on a higher side. The album kicks off with a whooping 15 tracks composed by Pritam and lyrics by Gulzar.
‘Marjaani‘ the first song from the album starts off at very high notes and then transit into completely filmi track. Sukhwinder‘s vocals are just awesome in the track alongwith Sunidhi Chauhan and the chorus is good too. The lyrics are little difficult to understand when you listen the first time but while you listen it again n again you will get into the mood of the song. Techno effects in the song makes the song very catchy with a nice groove. On the whole the music is simple but the sample beats in this track which we have heard in previous films completely suits here.
The beginning of the song ‘Love Mera Hit Hit‘ sounds more like a complete western pop track. Neeraj‘s voice has been completely covered with effects. Lyrics are not that great and luckily they are not written by Gulzar. Ashish Pandit and Mayur Puri has written the lyrics and we must say they haven’t done their homework well. The Female vocals by Tulsi Kumar are quite refreshing and also perfect for the track. This track is again quite simple but clearly samples have been lift off from western music. The english voice-over are completely unnecessary but its like a trend in bollywood music these to add anywhere they find a empty place. This is quite depressing as they donno what the lyrics mean and they just put generic used english word/phrases.
‘You Get Me Rockin and Reeling‘ – The first few second tell us that the base music of the song is loosely based on “Ucha Lamba Kad” from “Welcome“. The lyrics are given by Sayeed Quadri and looks like very crappy especially the english lyrics. This is just a wannabe RnB track with only good thing is the Neeraj vocals into it. Neeraj Vocals are something that will create a little bit of interest in the track and you might be able to listen to it.
‘Ae Aa O‘ sounds like an EPIC sort-of-track, then suddenly transitions into a ROCK track. The music is not upto the mark becoz the same thing is played in a loop throughout the song. KK‘s vocals are just OK but cant hold you to listen to the track. The lyrics are not upto the expectations.
After some crappy tracks ‘Jaaon Kahan‘ is the track with a very soothing music and lyrics are also good. The song is sung by Raahat Fateh Ali Khan, and as always they are the top notch. This is a very refreshing track with a quite simple music but the instruments are used very nicely.
‘Billo Bhayankar‘ is a quite unsual track from the album. Lyrics are something unsual coz one can’t understand them and their aim until we see the movie. The music is very nice in this track, vocals are quite funny and again musical instruments are used very cleverly which takes the track to another level.
The use of guitar in the song ‘Khudaya Khair‘ is just awesome. The base music resembles closely to ‘Teri Ore‘ from ‘Singh is Kinng‘. It’s a very soothing track with a nice lyrics. Soham‘s vocals are refreshing and perfect for the track.
On the whole the album isn’t living upto the expectations. Soundtracks like Marjaani, Jaaon Kahan, Khudaya Khair and Love Mera Hit Hit can be given a chance as these tracks which are quite living to the expectation level. Remixes done are quite ok, you can enjoy them too if u like these tracks. I rate the soundtracks of Billu Barber 3/5