Apart from Sharib Hashmi, who made a huge mark with his performance in ‘Filmistaan’, Badmashiyan stars Suzanna Mukherjee and Karan Mehra who are fairly well known faces on television but are yet to find their feet in Bollywood. The music of the film has been given by composer duo Bobby-Imran who made their debut with the song ‘Tu Har Lamha’ from the recently released film ‘Khamoshiyan’. They get to compose a full album this time and are joined by an experienced lyricist like Shabbir Ahmed who has many hit songs to his credit.
The movie doesn’t have a title track but “Shaitaniyaan”, which roughly translates to ‘Badmashiyaan’, kind of makes up for it. ‘Shaitaaniyan’ is the kind of song that Pritam used to compose in his early days. The song has a pleasant feel to it and the hook line, in particular, is catchy. The lyrics (Shabbir Ahmed) are largely predictable but go well with the mood of the song. Ankit Tiwari, thankfully, does not sing with his signature drone-like style. The song appears in another version sung by Anupam Amod. Incidentally, Anupam had sung the alternate version of ‘Tu Har Lamha’ the composer duo in ‘Khamoshiyan’.
The Pritam influence is also evident in “Thode Se Tum”, another romantic number with soft rock arrangements. The song is reasonably engaging but also makes us wonder whether the composers want to restrict themselves to a particular style. The tune sounds extremely familiar and the composers do not experiment much. Mohit Chauhan has sung many such songs in the past and does a good job here too. The female version, sung by Shilpa Rao, is a little restrained as far as the arrangements are concerned and Shilpa’s voice suits the mellower version perfectly.
The composers try to play safe as they bring Mika to sing “Garden Garden Gaave”, a song that seems tailor made for the singer. Right from the music to the lyrics, everything comes across as a desperate attempt to make a ‘trendy’ and catchy song. There is Mika, some Haryanvi lyrics mixed with Hindi and English words – what else do you need to make a hit song? Some novelty, I believe. Bobby Imran’s tune is devoid of any creative energy whatsoever.
“Kudiyan Baimaan” comes across as a satirical take on women who break the hearts of men. The lyrics which are written in Bhojpuri style try to come across as funny but are strictly okay. The song, strangely, sounds a bit like ‘Kajra Mohabbat Wala’. Of course, no comparisons can be made with the evergreen song from the film ‘Kismat’ (1968). The situational song might work well in the context of the film.
“Badmashiyan Mashup” is avoidable as it the tracks have not been mixed very well and the mashup comes across as nothing but a cacophony of tracks.
Bobby-Imran don’t really impress with their first solo album. The one thing their music lacks is an original sound. Hopefully, they will come into their own with their forthcoming projects and not try to make music which, they think, is trendy. ‘Badmashiyan’ has two romantic numbers (‘Shaitaaniyan’ and ‘Thode Se Hum’) that could help the film get some attention. One had low expectations from this album and while it does not turn out to be a disaster, the music is nothing worth raving about.
Rating: 2/5
