Cheeni Kum Music by Illayaraja

Cheeni Kum is the latest Hindi movie in news. The startcast of Amitabh Bachchan, Tabu, Paresh Rawal, and Zohra Sehgal is very attractive. I am hoping to catch the flick in the hall when it releases here in Atlanta. There was a lot of hype about its music release. But I did not care much about it, as most music today is pretty unattractive. Moreover, I fear I might have to end up listening to Himesh Reshammiya! The other day while having dinner at an Indian restaurant, my eye fell on the promo of Cheeni Kum playing on the TV in a corner. That is when I glimpsed Illayaraja's name as its music director. Now I was excited! Ever since marriage, which led to my introduction to telugu films and film music (thanks to my hubby), I've grown to love Illayaraja's compositions. At my earliest chance (which was today), I opened Smashits.com to check out songs of Cheeni Kum. I was a little disappointed to note that two songs "Cheeni Kum" and "Sooni Sooni" both are just a reuse of a song from the old Telugu/Tamil movie Mouna Raagam (also composed by Illayaraja). While the song "Cheeni Kum" is a happy version of "Mallipoola Challa Gaali"/"Mandram Vantha", "Sooni Sooni" follows the same sad tune of the original song. Shreya Ghoshal does a decent job with "Cheeni Kum". Vijay Prakash (never heard of him before) however, is a disappointment. There are two new songs (the movie has four songs and two themes) "Batein Hawa" and "Jaane Do Na". Both are pretty good. Though "Batein Hawa" does not scale to Illayaraja's famed standards. Maybe I'll like it more after listening to it a couple of times more. "Jaane Do Na" is enjoyable. It has typical Illayaraja style music...so much that listening to it made me feel like I had heard this song before. The best is the theme song on saxophone. Yeah, that one is interesting. The sax if used well in songs is a really cool instrument! Hindi music hardly uses it anymore. Illayaraja also uses the sax in "Batein Hawa" at a couple of places. Well, I hope we have better, more exciting, and some fresh music from Illayaraja in future. I am still looking forward to the film...just hope that will not be a disappointment.