So Namastey London is long gone and Vipul Shah throws up another one at us. I didn’t care much about Namastey London, and there he comes up with another one based on/in London; London Dreams. London Dreams is a story of two best friends. While one (Ajay Devgn) is passionate about music but has no support from his father and uncle owing to the fact music devastated their family; the other (Salman Khan) has talent and support but gives a hoot about it despite his father chasing him to learn music. Circumstances take Ajay to London and he gets on the job to live his dream some day (that of performing in packed Wembley Stadium). While Salman remains in Punjab (chases girls, sleeps with married women, and whiles away his time on ISD with his best bud), and who in the name of music is running a Raja-Rani Band for local marriages. He is happy and wishes all the luck and success for his friend overseas.

On a trip to Punjab, Ajay discovers that Salman is a good singer too and makes him join his band. Salman starts off as a chorus singer in the band moving onto complete the song as solo when out of the blue Ajay goes through an unfortunate accident that renders him voiceless on stage. The song was Barson Yaaron. The song is huge success and Salman is a sudden star. Hence starts the jealousy, betrayal, sacrifice, backstabbing and blackmailing. The movie takes a turn and gets interesting during the second half but ends on a very disappointing note. The climax is a huge let down.

Music is the real hero of the movie followed by Salman and Ajay. Asin is totally wasted in the movie (as I had earlier predicted without seeing the movie; damn, I was bang on). The other two band members (who hail from Pakistan) are playing reel brothers Rannvijay (of MTV Roadies fame) and Aditya Roy Kapoor (Channel [V] VJ) who hail from Pakistan.

Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’s terrific composition with soulful lyrics by Prasoon Joshi makes it
one of the best albums this year. Only Prasoon can come up with ‘Chehron pe dhoop malo’ , ‘Saagaron pe jhoom chalo’, ‘Gham ko peeslo, Khushi chaat lo’ subsequent to Gulzar Saheb. And supporting his words is Shankar Mahadevan’s poignant vocals. Superb. All songs are well composed/sung/filmed. Couples of them do go off track nevertheless.

Ajay has donned the role of intense and brooding one in past as well and quite good always I must say including this time. But the problem I found in his portrayal this was that there wasn’t a bit of struggle shown, there was desperation in his eyes to reach the pinnacle of music but only in words. Just words. There weren’t any fight back in literal sense. All the fight back he ever showed was to keep Salman away from achieving it, by hook or crook.

Salman’s one of the finest work. Nothing like this he has ever portrayed. His charm is same but the andaaz is different. Watch him and you will make out what is the deal about all those reviews on net which talk lowly of the movie but end up recommending it just for him. A good at heart soul who prays for his friend’s success, keeps no evil and gets manipulated eventually whilst mouthing witty one liners complimented with straight from the heart talk will win many hearts for sure. After Wanted, another good work from him. This will enlighten the world who is the real Baadshah, Ace or King of Bollywood. SRK and Aamir can continue their ‘I-am-the-best’ fuck off-screen but it’s Salman who is ruling now and he is back in circuit with bang. No denying. Salman haters can go bite dust; the reality is on your face.

Asin is just wasted as I earlier mentioned. I am not going to say someone else could have done this role because there was nothing to do. Asin for sure accepted it just for the names associated and nothing else. There was no need for a female lead in this. Poor Asin.

The two supporting characters Rannvijay and Aditya are just about ok. This is Rannvijay’s second movie after forgettable Toss and Aditya’s first. Rann and Adi have lot of screen ‘being-there’ sans much to say. Aditya however will go places in assured track if he chooses his projects sensibly. Btw, his next is Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Guzaaarish wherein he plays Aishwarya Rai’s husband.

Barring the prolonged penultimate and ultimate scenes which somewhat killed the spirit, the movie is a definitely a good watch especially if you like the music and wan to see Salman doing evitable.

Ithought of 3/5, but an extra 0.5 for music and Salman combined; 3.5/5

Vishal Bhardwaj who shot to fame as a composer of Maachis in 1996 has come a long way. Since then he has established himself as a composer, lyricist, singer, director, and writer. Kaminey is his 6th movie as director nevertheless he has composed music for more than 30 movies so far. He composed the music of all the movies he directed except Blood Brothers which was one of the four short films for Mira Nair’s AIDS Jaago Films.

Review of OST – Kaminey:

Dhan Te Nan:

Singer(s): Sukhwinder Singh, Vishal Dadlani and Robert Bob Omulo – Ranting and Raving already all over. It is the promotional song of Kaminey. The song was out on youtube with still pictures of Shahid and Priyanka to compensate for but listening in to OST is another experience altogether. Sukhwinder and Vishal in duet (first time I guess) harmonize perfectly. Throw RAP by Robert and you have song of the album. 5 on 5.

Pehli Baar Mohabbat:

Singer: Mohit Chauhan – He is every composer’s choice for the soft number post Khoon Chala (RDB) and Tum Se Hi (Jab We Met). If these two gave him recognition, Kuchh Khaas (Fashion) gave him absolute credibility. The guy doesn’t go wrong. This song is not in league of his earlier ones mentioned above including my absolute favorite of his Gunchaa Koi (Main, Meri Patni aur Woh) and Gulon Mein (Sikandar); he is perfect though for the beautiful lyrics of Pehli Baar Mohabbat penned by eminent Gulzar. 3.5 on 5.

Fatak:

Singer(s): Sukhwinder Singh and Kailash Kher – This song will remind you of the title track of Omkara. The commencement with the repeated use of word Fatak is direct musing of Omkara. Only when Kailash joins the song starts to find its own holding, although unsuccessfully. Sorry, Omkara’s title is too strong a remembrance; still. 2.5 on 5.

Kaminey:

Singer: Vishal Bhardwaj – The next best track after Dhan Te Nan is the title which Vishal kept for himself. After singing in Omkara, No Smoking and U, Me Aur Hum, he is once again at his best with title song. He never fails to impress. 5 on 5.

Go Charlie Go:

Singer: None - It’s the theme music of the movie on the lines of Dhan Te Nan. On first hear you can visualize it as a dark night/a chase/a con in progress/anything. 4 on 5.

Raat Ke Dhai Baje:

Singer(s): Rekha Bhardwaj, Suresh Wadkar, Sunidhi Chauhan, Kunal Ganjawala – Vishal’s wife Rekha [last heard in Genda Phool (Dilli-6) and Ranaji (Gulaal)] along with missing in action for sometime Kunal and Suresh render a different version of Pehli Baar Mohabbat. This will strike a chord of Beedi Jalaile (Omkara) but only if you mull over the lyrics. The composition is singular. 4 on 5.

The next two tracks are remixes of Dhan Te Nan and Raat Ke Dhai Baje.
Vishal is known for incorporating some distinctive Hindi words while working with Gulzar and Kaminey is no different. Not much proficient with Hindi might find it difficult to comprehend few words. Overall, the album is creative and worth a collection. On the whole 4 on 5.