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By
Joginder Tuteja, October 1, 2007 - 17:11 IST
 With corporate houses getting into film production in
a big way, expect different subjects to be explored in
Bollywood flicks being made currently. One such film
is Mumbai Salsa which has it's setting in a night
club/discotheque by the same name. Presented by Vikram
Bhatt, the film has debutant director Manoj Tyagi at
the helm who in the past has written films like Satta,
Page 3, Apaharan and Corporate. Mumbai Salsa has a
young starcast comprising of Linda Arsenio, Indraneel
Sengupta, Dilip Thadeshwar, Manjari Phadnis, Vir Das
and Neelam Chauhan.
After Lucky - No Time For Love, Adnan Sami wasn't
quite lucky with his compositions for Dhamaal. In
collaboration with lyricist Sameer, one thought that
he may turn lucky this time around. Well, it is
doesn't turn out to be the case though.
Title song 'Mumbai Salsa' is the first to come and in
spite of repeated listening and constant bombardment
of the song on the music channels, it is not really
the kind that chartbusters are made of. Somehow, in
spite of all the attempts at the sound to appear cool
and happening, it is in this very department of being
'oh-so-cool' that the song fails to rise above the
ordinary.
Accompanied by light weight beats that remain
consistent throughout the 4 minutes duration, this
dance number neither makes you jive to the beats nor
excites you to give it a repeat watch due to
unexciting choreography and picturisation. In nutshell
an average track, which in spite of coming first in a
duet version with Adnan Sami and Alisha Chinoy and
later as an Alisha Chinoy solo, would come and go away
with the film.
 The song which follows 'Mumbai Salsa' takes a step
down when it comes to being ordinary. 'Friday' crooned
by Gayatri Ganjawala is yet another attempt at being
cool but all the Western arrangements, mix of English
lyrics and some urban-ish rendition also do not
impress much. In most other films, a song with a tune
like this would have been a fifth or a sixth song of
the album but it's placement at the very top is
puzzling to say the least!
'Friday' has a very early 80s feel to it and an
overall dull offering by Adnan Sami isn't much to talk
home about. Coming first as a Gayatri solo with later
husband Kunal Ganjawala joining in, 'Friday' isn't a
kind of song which would be remembered after the
opening Friday of the film's release.
With hopes more or less dashed from 'Mumbai Salsa',
one moves on to hear 'Choti Si', an Adnan Sami solo.
The only difference between the two songs heard before
and now 'Choti Si' is the setting and pace of the
song. While the first two tracks had their eyes on
youth celebration with an entirely Western feel, 'Choti
Si' gets into a sad mode with an overall Indian feel.
The song moves at a snail's pace and would appeal
mainly to those who have been disheartened in love.
Having said that, Adnan Sami's rendition is effective
here and for the first time ever gives a listener what
he/she would have expected from the composer/singer in
the first place.
Yet another song that fails to make the cut is 'Akeli
Zindegi' which surprisingly has Shaan at the helm of
affairs but still doesn't quite rise to the occasion.
A song about a man being alone in life, this solo
track gets into a soft rock mode and mainly belongs to
the kind which makes for an inclusion in the
background score. At best a situational song.
 Reading Amit Kumar's name on the credits is a good
enough reason for a music lover to look forward to
what is in the offering. An extremely talented singer
who makes not more than a couple of appearances or so
in a year, Amit Kumar may certainly have found
something special in 'Pyar Se' to give his consent.
The song is a take on 70s retro with the nostalgia of
Kishore Kumar making it's presence felt. Well, there
isn't anything extremely special about 'Pyar Se' and
even Amit Kumar can't add much of his own here. One
wonders though if it was intentional of Amit Kumar to
sing in a way which makes one feel that he was a
little 'high' while rendering the track.
Saxophone and drum beats come together to make for a
two minute long 'Salsa' piece. Well, if there is some
part of the album that truly impresses, it is these
last two minutes. Sticking to the basics, the track
has the right intensity and promises some good dance
movements once it is on.
If one looks back at Mumbai Salsa, there is not one
song which could be termed as a USP of the album. None
of them help the cause of the album by standing up and
claiming to be THE song which could make one recommend
the soundtrack of the album. A disappointing score by
Adnan Sami.
Rating:- * 1/2
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