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Chords & Notes
APNE
T – Series, Rs.145
It’s hard to ignore Apne with the family bonding and promos all over the place. But if you haven’t heard the music of the film yet, you have not missed much. Yet another album from Himesh Reshammiya and by now one would
know what to expect.
There is the same sound and fury and, yes, Reshammiya has sung several of the songs. Of the six, Reshammiya has given his voice to three. Singers Shaan, Sonu Nigam and Kunal Ganjawala get to hum a few lines in between. Punjabi beats dominate the tracks, be it “Ankh Vich Chehra Pyaar Da” or “Apne”.
Shaan’s voice is a relief in the song “Bulls Eye”, an English track which he sings with Earl. The song though, seems to be short on lyrics. Even halfway through the number, you don’t get to hear anything more than “You got to survive, you got to hit the bull’s eye”.
“Tere Sang” rendered by Sonu Nigam and Jaspinder Narula is the best of the lot, with the flurry of instruments being thankfully absent. If you think one round of these songs is not enough, then you can gear up for their remixes, all part of the album.
PURE
Namgyal Lhamo
Silk Road Communications Rs. 275
Traditional Tibetan instruments come alive to create soothing and pleasant music in “Pure”. In an age of musical cacophony, Namgyal Lhamo’s album is a different and a welcome change. The tracks successfully create a haunting quiesce
nce and are truly the music of the soul.
The album is a balanced blend of vocal and instruments and the music sways between the Tibetan and the Classical. All the eight songs make good music but the best of the lot is ‘Om Mah Hung’ which sets the tone for the rest of the album.
GHOST RIDER
Sony, Rs.599 (DVD)
“It is said that the West was built on legends… The thing about legends is… sometimes they are true.” The opening lines of the voiceover in this supernatural Western are as dramatic as the theme of the film, whi
ch revolves around a teenage stunt biker who sells his soul to the Devil by mistake, and is bound by contract to serve under him as his ‘Ghost Rider’.
Director Mark Steven Johnson has lived up to the challenge, bringing the Marvel Comics character to life by defining the complexities in his persona. Nicolas Cage plays Johnny Blaze (what is it about fantasy and the name Johnny anyway? Remember the human torch Johnny Storm in “The Fantastic Four?”), a daredevil biker who transforms into a demonic rider by night to find – as per the Devil’s desire – Blackheart (Wes Bentley) and destroy him before he becomes powerful enough to take on the Devil himself.
The Ghost Rider is as human as he is superhuman – his head turns into a flaming skull and his bike burns everything it comes in contact with, yet he punishes souls “stained by the blood of innocents” and upholds the triumph of good over evil even as he, ironically, serves as the Devil’s deputy. He loves Roxanne Simpson (Eva Mendes) but wants to protect her from the “monster” that he has turned into.
Cage puts in a commendable performance, his face at its expressive best, and his body language defiant and helpless at once, mirroring the various shades of darkness in the character to the T. The Harley Davidsons, daredevil stunts, biker bar sets and supernatural animations are all worth drooling over, and so is the gorgeous Eva Mendes (one wonders why she bothers to ask the waiter who serves her wine as she waits for Johnny – who never turns up for the date – “you think I’m pretty, don’t you?”). The villains are as superhumanly menacing as they should be.
The story moves fast, and every now and then, there comes a scene that’s so visually brilliant it causes you to do a cartoonish double-take. Is the Rider’s fate sealed by his contract?
Will the Devil – who had tricked him once already – always control his actions, or does he, as Johnny tells one mysterious character, only have his soul but not his spirit? Watch the film to find out. The second disc includes the making of the movie, animatics and comic book origins of the Ghost Rider.
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