Happy New Year (T-Series)
Three Stars ⋆⋆⋆
Vishal and Shekhar have gone full throttle on the Happy New Year soundtrack, which was composed to reflect the film’s plot – a dance competition cum heist.
The album consists of eight originals and one instrumental, remix and medley each, for a total run time of 42 minutes. It's a mix – rap (Kamlee), street-fest sounds (Satklai) and the high-energy Nonsense Ki Night, sung by Mika Singh.
The get-on-the-dance-floor tug continues with Lovely, which has an Arabic sound influence, and Sharabi, a Punjabi track with raucous lyrics. Vishal and Shekhar have employed Kanika Kapoor's vocals (of Baby Doll fame) to great effect – her throaty voice lends itself well to Kamlee and Lovely. Dance Like Chammiya by Sunidhi Chauhan has a terrific tempo.
The overall peppy feel of the album is reined in with the album's only ballad – Manwa Lage. Shreya Ghoshal and Arijit Singh's soothing tones and Irshad Kamil's soulful lyrics do justice to the romantic quotient we've come to expect from a song that stars Shah Rukh Khan.
No review of Happy New Year would be quite complete without mentioning Indiawaale, which is heavy on patriotism and features the talents of singers such as KK and Shankar Mahadevan. The verdict? A high-octane album with a liberal dash of desi masala.
