Once Upon A Slash Ay Time in Mumbai Slash Mumbaai Again Slash Dobaara is a short album with a long and highly confused name. If you see the official trailer, Wikipedia page, and posters of the movie you will find all the spellings mentioned in the beginning. Last time Kapoors had issues spelling Mumbai and they made it Mumbaai. But this time the limits are crossed, as they decide respell 'A'. Maybe someday Ekta Kapoor will teach her kids Ay for Aypple too.
Anyway, the album has four songs, and 25% of them are old.
The first song of the album is Ye Tune Kya Kiya, a Qawwali styled track sung by Javed Bashir in a voice which makes me feel that the singer has a long grey beard. But that doesn't make the song go bad in any way. It's a beautiful track with lot of Indian arrangements including Tabla and harmonium, and some deliberate memories of tum jo aaye from the prequel. However, it's a completely contrasting background track in the beginning of the song, starting around 38th second that surprises you the most. The nuances like the very real sounding echo in the beginning poetry tell you how much effort was put into the song.
The next song of the album is Tayyab Ali Pyaar ke Dushman Haaye Haaye which is almost copied as it was in Amar Akbar Anthony, with the exception of Antaras. Even the video of the song looks very much the same as the original one. Interestingly, the song is sung by Javed Ali, who began singing with much of a Sonu Nigam like voice, and Sonu Nigam in turn has copied Mohammad Rafi and even recreated many of his albums. Of course, the original Tayyab Ali was sung by Rafi.
Still, I think Anupam Amod, who is credited for recreating the song, could have done something to the song if they HAD to put it in the album. Otherwise, why not make an original? Pritam certainly isn't out of tunes these days.
[Oh, and if you didn't remember, Anupam Amod is the guy who sang Seedha Saade saara Sauda Seedha Seedha Hona ji, i.e. Saudebaazi from Aakrosh.]
The third song of the album is a vintage track called Tu Hi Khwahish, sung by Sunidhi Chauhan. The song, quite inspired from the cabaret songs of the '80s, and also using RD Burman's style of composition and arrangement to an extent, reaches the tongue quite easily. The song uses a build-up similar to that of Chutki jo tune kaati hai [29-31 sec.], and also has that triple beat after Tu hi khwahish that Nadeem Shravan used after Tu Shaayar hai in Saajan. The song also uses Burman's ha-ha style from some very popular song that I am not able to recall right now. Using so many formula things, the song needed only a simple melody and some good singing, and Sunidhi Chauhan once again proves she can follow Asha Bhosle's footsteps whenever required.
The last song of the album, chugliyaan, is another good one, without being formulaic, though the song seems to borrow beats from Yoon tera muskurana for a few seconds in the beginning. Javed Ali takes up this slightly complex number and sings it with ease. The interludes of the song are a little long, but you get used to them after a while.
Overall, OUATIMA/OUATIMD is a short album but maintains a quality. The only disappointment comes from Tayyab Ali which is just put there for the sake of publicity and nothing else. An original song or two more could have been added to the album, though.
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