Dharmesh Darshan may have migrated from his patent Nadeem-Shravan to the latest craze Himesh Reshammiya, but the basic flavour of melody is vintage `Dhadkan' and `Raja Hindusthani'. The hit director's influence is clearly audible in Himesh's creations. There's something pleasantly different in the entire album. In all there are sixteen tracks with seven originals and eight remixes. In the unplugged version of the title track, Akshay Khanna sprouts `Shairi' in his resonant voice. If you have to single out then `Aap Ki Khatir', `I Love You For What You Are' and `Keh Do Na' are winners in the first listening itself. On the flip side `Meethi Meethi Batan' could have been avoided as one has heard these types of songs a bit too often. Remixes by D J Akbar Sami disappoint as the club mix is not the only option one should utilize as the too-fast-paced ditties can get headache-overwhelming. Is it worth your money? I would say, yes, it's worth a buy.
Rock guitars cut the ribbon for the start of `Aap Ki Khatir' followed by keyboard harmonica. Bass propelled beats add to the peppy lounge feel of this number which has Tabla rolls at opportune moments. Himesh sings in medium scale, a scale that I've repeatedly said suits him the most as he is able to do full justice to the emotions involved. A male chorus, strings and electric guitar fillers form as part of the ambience. Sameer surprises with crafty poetic lines for a change. A song that will invade the ring-tone-world in a big way! Club Mix of `Aap Ki Khatir' starts off on a cacophonic note with the chorus looking out of place. But as soon as the tempo picks up everything falls into order. Disco light fillers and added reverb coupled with techno beats makes for a shake-a-leg trip on the dance floor. The unplugged version is recommended for all those crazy Akshay Khanna fans as his dipped-in-romantic-ink voice is worth closing the lights in the comfort of a vacant night and stepping up the volume paddle.
My personal favourite comes next with `I Love You For What You Are'. It has the infectious charm of the English pop numbers of 1980s. And no other singer could have done this sexy number as much justice as Alisha Chinoy. The raspberry-vanilla voice serenades you completely. And the wish-list includes, hope it goes on and on. KK sounds more Himesh and Kunal Ganjawala than what we know of him. I don't mind the effect anyways. Minmalistic music arrangements, a keyboard melody line that serves as fillers-n-musical piece repeating constantly and a steady western beat has the desired impact. The sensuous female chorus deserves special mentioning as well. The D J Akbar Sami version is a fast paced club mix that will surely make it to the turntables in Discos, but I prefer the laidback charm of the original.
`Meethi Meethi Batan' is a traditional number with accomplished voices of seasoned campaigners like Kailash Kher, Jaspinder Narula and Sunidhi Chauhan. The beats of tabla, dholak and dhaphli are filled up by the strains of soulful sarangi and female chorus. In the middle there's a melodious Rabab section with electric guitar fillers. Well, I liked the flavour of the song, but then I've heard it a bit too often, so the novelty value is missing. The remix by Akbar Sami is out of place. A Club mix of a traditional number is most certainly not a good idea.
`Tu Hai Kamaal' is an up-tempo number that appeals more when you see it along with the visuals. The positive energy is infectious as Kunal Ganjawala sings with a lot of heart. The racy beat with a keyboard melody line, that familiar sarangi filler emanating from side corners, male chorus going Hey Hey and a bit of monotony completes the song. It lacks dimensions and it seems the composer was in a hurry to just do away with it before he rushes to another studio, anot