Music Review: Aap Ka Surroor

Cap that! 3/5
Pratim D. Gupta

There are three Himesh Reshammiyas. One, who was just a music director giving us hits like Tere Naam and Humraaz. Two, who started singing to his compositions and achieved cult status with Aksar, Aashiq Banaya Apne and Aap Ka Surroor. Three, who wants to become a big singing movie hero.Now, Himesh One and Himesh Two are coming together to bail out Himesh Three.
That makes the soundtrack (T-Series) of Aap Ka Surroor: The Moviee — so as not to confuse with the Indipop album and yet milk its success — one of the most eagerly-awaited albums of the year. Has the capped crusader kept aside the best tunes for himself? Will Aap Ka Surroor: The Moviee’s music be as popular as Aap Ka Surroor, the private album?Well, before we get going about Himesh’s latest nose job, let us lend our ear to this one. The album is a double-CD offer, the first one having eight songs, all sung by Himesh (of course), and the second one, designed for the dance floors, with the remix versions of the same by constant collaborator Akbar Sami.The theme of Aap Ka Surroor has to be Assalaam Vaalekum, the fast-paced opening track that is designed as a concert song for HR (yes, that’s his name in The Moviee!) the superstar. Sung with electric energy by Himesh, this one’s as massy as it gets. Up next, Tera mera milna (Himesh, Shreya Ghoshal) has a soothing sound and Sameer’s lyrics rise above his usual mundane musings. Jhooth nahi bolna (Himesh, Shreya) is a celebration song and has a nice beat going.That brings us to the song of the album, Tanhaiyaan (Himesh, Sunidhi Chauhan), which like Himesh’s last effort Namastey London, is strong on melody and mirrors heartburn, big time. Ya ali (Himesh, Sunidhi) is definitely not as good as its earlier namesake. The next two Himesh solos Tere bina and Kya jeena hit the sad soulful notes again, but have little recall value.Finally comes Mehbooba mehbooba (Himesh, Asha), marked as “a tribute to Panchamda”. And yes, it is the same Sholay song with HR taking over from RD. Remember Himesh was first asked to do Mehbooba mehbooba for Ram Gopal Varma Ke Sholay? Well, honestly, he does a good job of it with Asha being Asha. Only the Aye saala in the background leaves you asking, ‘what is the because, HR?’.Overall, Himesh the composer and Himesh the singer deliver. Will Himesh the actor score a hat-trick? Cap that!