Roadside Romeo: Movies and Music Review

Roadside Romeo is a computer-animated film, the first one  of its kind in Bollywood. The movie has been written & directed by Jugal Hansraj, who previously acted in hit films including Mohabbatein (2000) & Salaam Namaste (2005). It is his directorial debut and will be looking for the same response as he got from his role in his first Bollywood film, the Naseruddin Shah starrer ‘Masoom’. Yash Chopra and Aditya Chopra have produced this film.

Under the coalition of Yash Raj Films (India) and Walt Disney Pictures (US), Roadside Romeo hit the theaters in India & US on October 24, 2008. Voice for the characters in the movie has been given by popular names of Bollywood, which include Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Javed Jaffrey. This is the first time that Kareena & Saif have appeared in an animated production.

Title character of the flick, Roadside Romeo (voiced by Saif Ali Khan), is a dog living in the streets of Mumbai. The movie revolves around his life and how he tries to win the love of Laila (voiced by Kareena Kapoor) fending of challenges thrown at him by Charlie Anna (voiced by Javed Jaffrey), who also loves her, and his men. Roadside Romeo has utilized the state-of-the-art animation technology. It has been produced entirely in India and features music, romance, songs and dance number similar to other projects from Yash Raj Films.

Compositions of Salim Sulaiman (Music) and Jaideep Sahni (Lyrics) are good and have received good reviews from everyone. The success of this 95-minute animated flick, which has been made on a budget of $7 million, is going to spring in high hopes amongst other directors, who are looking to come up with animated ventures in Bollywood. Jugal Hansraj is also keeping his fingers crossed with the performance of this movie in its first weekend, as it has been released during the ‘Diwali’ festival in India.

More Info

Casts : Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Javed Jaffrey

Producer : Aditya Chopra

Director : Jugal Hansraj

Singers : Kunal Ganjawala, K K, Sunidhi Chauhan, Saif Ali Khan, Sudesh Bhosle, Naresh Kamat.

Atif Aslam – Meri Kahani Album Review

After the super success of his debut album, Doorie, Atif Aslam returns with his second solo offering. Taking a distinctly mellower tone, Meri Kahani (My Story) is more a collection of rock lullabies than the rock anthems one would expect from Pakistan’s answer to Bruce Springsteen.

Having bowled over fans with belting rock ballads and wooed Bollywood with subtle love songs in films such as Race and Tere Bin, Atif sounds uncharacteristically lacklustre here. Gone are his trademark youthful numbers and in their place reside a strange mix of soft rock songs that fail to register above the decibel level. With barely audible lyrics, it’s almost as though Atif has pledged to whisper his way through the album.

Despite a dozen tracks on the menu, it is astonishing only a couple are of any interest. The title song, Meri Kahani and duet Kaun Tha (kapkapi) stand out among a plethora of samey sounding numbers. Meri Kahani’s acoustic rock flavour and the dulcet duet with female vocalist SKJ is the closest Atif comes to sounding his usual self. Chhod Gaye comes slightly close to arousing with the chorus rising to a crescendo towards the end. And while one can feel emotion and pain in Atif’s voice in this number, and tenderness in Mann Hota Hai, they’re not interesting enough to warrant a repeat listen.

Joug, Rabba Sacheya and Mae Ne make particularly depressing listening, while Hangami Halat unexpectedly burst the eardrums with its heavy metals riffs. The only music connoisseurs this would presumably appeal to would be fans of Iron Maiden or college campus rock. As principle singer and songwriter on Meri Kahani, the blame undoubtedly lies on Atif’s lap. Preferring to indulge his personal tastes by narrating his own journey through life, he fails to make music that would appeal to his loyal audience.

Fuzon – Journey (2008) Music Album Review

Fuzon is Back! Fuzon is a leading Pakistani Music Band which gave a new trend of Classical Rock Music.
Fuzon with a new vocalist performed a new song OST for a drama Neend Na Aaye…Fuzon (read Fusion), started their career with Shafqat Amanat Ali behind the mic., Emran Momina (Emu) with compositions and keyboards and Shallum on guitars as the initial line up. Their first… the new album of fuzon called journey is out now and i am happy to say that it is really great album after so long wait i felt that it was worth waiting for. the album strikes from its first song itself.

Jal – Boondh (2007) Music Album Review

Jal The Band released their new album “BOONDH” and is named as – A DROP OF JAL – Jal the band have come up with thwier new album called “Boondh”. This album is a very good value for money. Some things to improve can be Goher should been given some more songs to sing in the 10 song album, use of percussion seems limited in some songs but the guitars have been able to cover it up. If you liked “Aadat” then this is a must buy for you.