Hijack

Music to be composed for an action film is always a tricky business. Not many, except for perhaps Sanjay Gupta, have perfected this art when it comes to movies being made today. So, with expectations of a theme track, a hot item number and a couple of melodious number, one plays on Hijack which promises to show Shiney Ahuja do a Bruce Willis a la 'Die Hard'. Hijack has music by new finds Justin-Uday with Kumaar writing lyrics for this debut directorial venture of Kunal Shivdasani.

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One minute into the song and you know that Justin and Uday have kick started Hijack well with a romantic number 'Aksar' which takes on truly from where 'Kya Mujhe Pyaar Hai (Pritam composition from Woh Lamhe) left. Just the same in sound, spirit and soul, 'Aksar' gives the listener one more song to play on in a loop and be entertained for hours at a stretch. A well orchestrated number which has 'Mr. Reliable' K.K. coming up with an impressive act yet again, 'Aksar' deserves to be heard more often and aggressively promoted.

No wonder, the song is heard thrice. The 'Unplugged version' is first to come and this time around it is Shaan who goes solo for 'Aksar'. An extended guitar piece plays on (while creating a romantic scene) before Shaan is heard in this tad slower version. Even though the lyrics remain the same, the change in singer and pace of the song makes 'Aksar' a delightful composition all over. The longest composition of all with close to 7 minute duration, it is followed by a 'sad version' by Shaan which lasts only a little more than a minute. In addition, there is also a 'remix version' by KK and Joi which certainly has in it to do well, if accompanied by a promotional music video.

A quintessential number follows next and does hold promise to engage the audiences while it is accompanied by some hot visuals and aggressive choreography. With a mix of English and Hindi lyrics, 'Dekh Dekh' has Sunidhi Chauhan being largely responsible for the song with Suraj Jagan and Joi chipping in a little as well. Mainly orchestrated as a Western track with beats dominating the proceedings, 'Dekh Dekh' is seemingly a pre-climax track which solves its purpose of taking the narrative forward but that's about it. Don't expect the number to create a riot, though the faster paced 'club remix' version may just do better at nightclubs and discotheques.

The name Shilpa Rao raises a lot of expectations. Very recently she has delivered a chartbuster 'Khuda Jaane' [Bachna Ae Haseeno] and now she is back with 'Koi Na Jaane' which is kick started by K.K. A situational number where the protagonist gets into a pensive mood and is looking forward to The Almighty for a direction to move ahead, 'Koi Na Jaane' is surprisingly ordinary in feel. However, what really disappoints is that Shilpa Rao is not heard in the song at all except for a faint 'alaap' at the very beginning of the song. Come on, she deserves a better outing!

One wonders if the song would play in entirety in the film's narrative since an action-thriller like Hijack risks slowing down in pace with a song like 'Koi Na Jaane' in the background. The track by itself is not a bad hear; it's just that it is core situational and doesn't make one pick it up and play on a repeat mode.

An aircraft taking off is what begins 'Theme Of Hijack' that promises to be an engaging hear, courtesy the thriller genre that the film belongs to. However, instead of being just a theme piece with only an orchestra taking charge of the proceedings, 'Theme of Hijack' turns out to be a 'Hinglish' outing with Suraj Jagan and Uday coming behind the mike. However, it isn't really an impressive tune to boast of and yet again, all would depend upon the track's placement in the film and the visuals that accompany it. And yes, just like the song preceding it, this one too doesn't make it to the wish-list of those looking at extending their collection on the iPod!

Eventually, it all boils down to the number 'Aksar' which is not just the best of the lot but in isolation too quite a good composition. With 'Dekh Dekh' being the only other number to really look forward to from the album, one now waits for the film Hijack to arrive at theaters.