Music: Sharib-Toshi, Raju Singh, Pranay M. Rijia, Gourov Dasgupta

Lyrics: Sayeed Quadri, Kumaar

The original RAAZ was a breakthrough film for models turned actors Bipasha Basu and Dino Morea. Seven years later Mukesh Bhatt decides to reinvent the mystery thriller with RAAZ: THE MYSTERY CONTINUES with their camp’s poster boy Emraan Hashmi, Kangana Ranaut and Adhyayan Suman. Though the new release shares the same name, by no means is it a sequel according to Mukesh.

Ever since Bhatt’s first venture in JURM (1990) his composers have been of the plagiaristic variety (Bhatt himself is no saint, a majority of his films are “inspirations”, but that’s a different story). Renowned music directors Rajesh Roshan, Anu Malik, Nadeem-Shravan, Jatin-Lalit and of course the maharaja himself Pritam “I need Tarkan to make more songs” Chakraborty come to mind.

Instead of opting for one primary music composer, RAAZ: THE MYSTERY CONTINUES follows the trend of almost every other album released these days and adopts tracks from four different composers/combos.

Maahi (Singers: Toshi; Music: Sharib-Toshi; Lyrics: Sayeed Quadri) – After singing various Sukhwinder songs on Amul STAR Voice of India Toshi makes an intense breakthrough with ‘Maahi’. The composition from the brothers Sharib and Toshi Sabri has lounge written all over it. However, Toshi’s explosive voice tells another story. Without over exuberating himself Toshi instills a haunting feel, making ‘Maahi’ arguably one of the best tracks of the year! Sayeed Quadri’s vocabulary remains somewhat simple, though his style compliments the message of longing being portrayed by the singer.

Soniyo (Singers: Sonu Nigam, Shreya Ghosal and Neeraj Shridhar; Music: Raju Singh; Lyrics: Kumaar) – After a powerful opening number, the album goes to a more conventional romantic duet. There’s absolutely nothing…again nothing original in terms of the composition, the lyrics or the singing. Unfortunately, Sonu Nigam doesn’t offer anything fresh. With his song count dwindling to one in every three or four movies one would expect greater quality. Shreya Ghosal comes towards the end for about 30 seconds. Neeraj Shridhar seems to be lost as he babbles about love in English with a heavy accent.

O Jaana (Singers: KK; Music: Raju Singh; Lyrics: Sayeed Quadri) – Reverting back to ‘Maahi’, KK comes out swinging in ‘O Jaana’. Unlike Toshi’s opening piece, this goes for a more lounge-pop route. KK carries the entire song on his vocal chords, while Raju Singh fails to provide a better composition for the singer. After a few listens ‘O Jaana’ steadily starts to fade. A remixed version is featured at the end of the album by DJ Suketu.

Kaisa Ye Raaz Hai (Singers: KK; Music: Pranay M. Rijia; Lyrics: Sayeed Quadri) – KK starts to relax a little in ‘Kaisa Ye Raaz Hai’, putting aside his aggression from the pervious track. Pranay Rijia’s effort fits perfectly with the tone and subject of the film. KK spreads out his range of emotions and eventually goes full throttle at the end. Quadri, Rijia and KK all do a fantastic job at expressing the feeling behind the film making this a highly enjoyable situational number.

Bandaa Re (Singers: Krishna; Music: Gourov Dasgupta) – Dasgupta is exceptional in providing a climatic song as Krishna’s singing holds strict authority  in a music heavy number. The entire song vindicates the struggle on whomever the song is picturized on, as the hook hints at an optimistic result where the specific “Bandaa” has overcome the resistance. This will without a doubt augment the message once seen on the screen.

Soniyo (From The Heart) (Singers: Krishna; Music: Raju Singh; Lyrics: Kumaar) – In an odd combination Krishna is at the helm of an even softer rendition than the original. Unlike the Sonu Nigam version, Singh handles this one with the utmost care with simple instruments and an even simpler arrangement.

Maahi (Rock With Me) (Singers: Toshi; Music: Sharib-Toshi; Lyrics: Sayeed Quadri) – If you thought Toshi was done at the beginning, think again. The brothers completely revamp ‘Maahi’ transforming it into a well polished Rock piece. Toshi’s singing backed with heavy power chords is far from a remix. It sets a good precedent for the progression of Rock in mainstream India. At the end, this track fills out the “3 A’s” used to regulate a good Rock number. Attitude. Angst. Aggression.

Overall, the journey of this soundtrack is bumpy. The mark set by ‘Maahi’ fails to get recaptured by any of the other original songs, but a few hold their own. With a slow start in music this past year, RAAZ 2 is a great way to end it. Also one must applaud the Bhatt camp for not having their music scrutinized for plagiarism (yet) as was the case in past films. Key Tracks: ‘Maahi’, ‘Maahi (Rock With Me)’, ‘Soniyo (From The Heart)’ and ‘Bandaa Re’.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

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