Student of the Year (Vishal Shekhar)

by Srikanth Mantravadi

The original hook of Biddu’s Disco Deewane carries the remix through, which for a while threatens to be all bluster and empty pop sound, and it is still Nazia Hassan’s vocals that stand out. The Shahid Mallya sung Kukkad is straight out of the Salim Sulaiman assembly line. Despite the incongruence between tune and lyrics Ratta Maar is decent. Radha has a moth eaten tune which for some reason reminded me of Rahman’s Jhootha Hi Sahi. Shekhar helms the Punju Vele well but, again, this is no great shakes. The duo, however, hit back with Ishq Wala Love; a soft, dulcet melody with great lyrics (and interesting use of tabla!) that is in the same bracket as the duo’s earlier songs Tooti Phooti and Barish Ki Boondein. Mashup of the Year (I see what you did there) rounds of the album on a pulsating note and makes the job of all the DJs out there so much easier. 

SOTY is a passable soundtrack from the duo who do as much as they can to make the music, that is supposed to be sung by college kids, interesting.