Crook – Music Review

The Punjabi track Challa works wonderfully, highlights of the song being the brilliant singing by Babbu Mann and the catchy Ta-na-na hook. The remix by Tigerstyle also sticks to the Punjabi template and hence succeeds. Mere Bina follows next, a breezy melody rendered well by Nikhil D’Souza. That chap has been getting some wonderful songs of late. The overall pop-ish arrangement of the song does remind me of something else though I can’t quite place it. Nevertheless, an addictive melody, like most Pritam melodies. An unplugged version of the same song sees KK take Nikhil’s place, with equally fantastic results. What’s with Pritam’s (or is it the Bhatts’) obsession with three variants?! It was the title track in Tum Mile and here Mere Bina features a third, much more mellow version titled Tujhko Jo Paaya, Mohit Chauhan crooning to an acoustic guitar backing, sounding more unplugged than the one titled Unplugged.
Neeraj Sridhar enters with Kya, a groovy track replete with signature Pritam elements in the arrangement and corny lyrics reminiscent of the 90s barring the English part. The lounge-ish effects and Neeraj Shridhar work out an engaging combo though. KK returns with Tujhi Mein, a well-arranged melody again, but not as good as Mere Bina. Loved the second interlude though. The Reprise version is more haunting, more melancholic, more the general Bhatt movies type music.
Except for the Tujhi Mein, Crook misses the melancholy that has almost come to define music from the Bhatt household of late, but that’s not to say the standard of music has been compromised one bit. Be it hook or crook, Pritam once again manages to produce an impressive score.
Music Rating: 8/10
Recommended Tracks: Challa, Mere Bina (Nikhil), Kya
Source: Music Aloud