Race

For a movie that’s been in news for a while now, here comes its much awaited music composed by one of the most sought after composers of last year –Pritam. With chartbusters in films like Bhool Bhulaiya , Jab We Met and Metro , Pritam’s riding high and so are the expectations.

Race brings together several biggies – the Abbas-Mastan duo, Saif Ali Khan, Akshaye Khanna, Bipasha Basu, Katrina Kaif, Anil Kapoor and Sameera Reddy. With the movie being carried off as a James Bond flick with gizmos, gadgets and sexy chics filling in, let’s look whether the music is able to do justice to the theme.

With lyrics penned by Sameer and music by Pritam , the album releases as a two cd pack with the 1^st being originals and the 2^nd carrying remixes by DJ Suketu.

Race opens with the sounds of electric guitars pumping in the adrenaline and setting the mood to the power packed  voice of Sunidhi Chauhan crooning to 'Race Saanson Ki' with Neeraj Sridhar adding to the track with the 'Allah Duhai Hai' catchy lines which ideally should have been the name of the track. Sunidhi sounds alike her Dhoom Machade number. The track is not exceptional and is poor on lyrics and much more. But with the promos of the track running across it’s definitely creating the buzz. To add to it the varios mixes in the album and the English version of the track-'Race Is On My Mind' will surely have you humming.

In comes 'Pehli Nazar Mein'-a soft number that is indeed romantic and soothing. What makes it all the more special is the voice of Atif Aslam who combines with Pritam to bring a great track.  The number is immensely melodious with Atif ,the guitars and orchestration doing the trick.  Atif’s voice echoes in and you are sure not to forget this track for a long time to come. In fact , this maybe one of the finest numbers of the new year. With the ‘club mix’ and ‘lounge mix ‘ also being added to the album sit back and relax as the track makes it way to almost every pub , lounge or disco.

'Race Theme', an instrumental track that just comes in to compliment the theme of the film and does a pretty decent job.

Then follows 'Dekho Nashe Mein', a very racy track indeed. With the track carrying a complete party feel , it reminds you of ‘Where’s the party tonight’ from Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna and carries various elements of Pritam’s ‘Salaame’ from Dhoom. Shaan, KK and Sunidhi Chauhan come together and render a very racy and foot tapping number. With the ‘Latin Mix’ and ‘club’ mix adding flavor to the track, this track is surely comes across as the 2^nd best track of the album. A sure number that will create waves with  good picturisation to add to it all.

'Mujh Pe To Jadoo' brings in Taz of ‘Thoda Daru Vich Pyaar’ of Tum Bin fame after a long time. Apache Indian too makes his presence after long with his rap elements and Sunidhi Chauhan too contributes. The track sounds very much like the famous Peter Andrae ‘Mysterious Girl’ number with a little bit of Bhangra beats. Neither the lyrics nor the music is exceptional. In fact songs like these are so common today on the Indi-pop segment. In all it’s a poor attempt, maybe the visuals might just save this one.

'Zara Zara Touch Me' starts of pretty well with the Jennifer Lopez , Britney feel. But the ‘dum da dum  dad dum ‘ portions really annoy and sound silly. Newcomer Monali’s voice sounds too sweet to go with any of the ladies of the film. The track offers nothing new and just lingers around the words ‘touch me’ , ‘feel me’ and so on. Let’s wait and watch what the video has to offer.

To conclude race is a mix of tracks that are very poor on lyrics and maybe for a music director who just brought us Metro, Jab We Met and Bhool Bhulaiya ; it isn’t all that racy. The album honestly has only 2 fine tracks-'Pehli Nazar Mein' and 'Dekho Nashe Mein'. 'Race Saanson Ki' has been the most talked about track not for its magnificent music but its edgy video. A compilation of 6 tracks and several other mixes, the music isn’t all that we expect from Pritam . But the makers of the film need not worry as they’ve got an amazing starcast to add that required masala to the tracks via the videos. Don’t be surprised if even the most poorest of tracks becomes an overnight hit number because of a Bipasha Basu or Sameera Reddy showing off some good calf muscles.

Rating : **1/2