Tevar, directed by Amit Ravindernath Sharma, is a remake of the 2003 Telugu hit ‘Okkadu’. This film happens to be actor Sanjay Kapoor’s second production venture (His first production, the Harman Baweja – Genelia Deshmukh starrer ‘It’s My Life’ remains unreleased). While Shankar Ehsaan Loy scored the music for the unreleased film, Sajid Wajid have been brought in to compose for ‘Tevar’. Being a romantic drama, one expects the film to have good scope for music.
“Main Toh Superman Salman Da Fan” – Pintu Shukla (Arjun Kapoor) pronounces him to be a Salman Khan fan in “Superman.” ‘Superman’ has a good rhythm with effective use of percussion instruments. The highly energetic number firmly establishes the loud and colourful character of Pintu, played by Arjun Kapoor. The lyricists (Kausar Munir and Danish Sabri) could have done away with a few expletives though. And, why does a guy from Agra (U.P), speak / sing in a Haryanvi dialect? Going by the lyrics, one would easily think that the film is based in Haryana and not Uttar Pradesh! Clearly, the lyricists overlooked the character detailing here. Nevertheless, the song, with all its flaws, should keep the listeners engaged for some time. The song has a remixed version “Superman (Remix)” which has been sung by Mika Singh. This version is a lot more energetic than the original and is a good add-on.
“Radha Nachegi”, as is the case with most of the songs of similar genre, talks about the Radha – Krishna relationship. Kausar Munir does bring some novelty with her words. The way Ritu Pathak modulates her voice, as the song oscillates between being a semi classical number and a rock based song, is highly admirable. The rap portions, by Danish Sabri and Shabab Sabri, seem completely out of place. The song has been arranged and produced on a large scale and thus, has an opulent feel to it. Sajid Wajid do a good job at composing a traditional number while imparting a contemporary sound to it.
Crass lyrics, boisterous sound and a bland tune – that pretty much sums up “Madamiyan”. In case you are wondering what ‘Madamiyan’ means, going by the lyrics, it is supposed to be the male counterpart of ‘Madam’! There you go. The song has Shruti Haasan shaking a leg with Arjun Kapoor . Keeping this in mind, the composers should have gone the extra mile and have come up with a much, much better tune. The song is not even worthy of being featured in an A – Grade film.
Apart from making an appearance in ‘Madamiyan’, Shruti Haasan gets to sing a song “Joganiya”, featured on leading lady Sonakshi Sinha. The song creates a haunting and dark atmosphere, giving one an impression of it being used in a very crucial juncture in the film. Although Shruti’s diction is not up to the mark, she sings well. Sajid Wajid’s music is good but the arrangements should have been minimal . A more subtle, restrained sound would have worked better for the song.
Shafqat Amanat Ali and Sajid Wajid have been credited with composing “Main Nai Jaana Pardes.” Sahafqat has composed ‘Kairheyan De Naal’, a song based on traditional lyrics, for his 2008 album ‘Tabeer’. The song has been reused here with minor changes in music and lyrics by Sajid Wajid and Kausar Munir respectively. Ironically, this ‘sourced out’ song turns out to be the song on the album and is leagues ahead of the rest. A song that speaks about separation, the song is extremely soulful and melodious. Do check out the original after hearing this one.
“Let’s Celebrate”, a promotional number that has absolutely no relevance with the plot of the film, has been written, sung and composed by Imran Khan. The song has a mix of Hindi, Punjabi and English lyrics and even has references of social media with lines like “Let’s Instagram this moment.” The song is mildly engaging and sounds like a thousand other tracks one has heard in that genre. The song should serve its purpose as a promotional tool and should be become popular courtesy airplay before the film hits theatres.
The “Tevarrific (Mashup)” has been interestingly done by DJ Kiran Kamath. The mashup, apart from containing bits and pieces of different songs mixed together, has some dialogues from the film.
‘Tevar’ is a good album that should enjoy some popularity for a couple of months. Barring the abominable ‘Madamiyan’, the album turns out to be a good hear with a variety of songs. The best song of the lot, arguably, is ‘Mai Nahin Jaana Pardes’. The rest of the songs vary from being good to above average, resulting in some good entertainment for the listeners.
Rating: 3/5