Karzzzz (Indebted) - Various artists (T-Series)

CD review Suryatapa Bhattacharya discovers new tracks like Tandoori Nights to be fun - and the re-recordings of the originals, well updated.

Reincarnation, once a mainstay of Bollywood script in the Eighties, is back with Karzzzz, where the pain and betrayal of the past boils forth into the inevitable cauldron of good versus evil and the story ends with a dramatic need to balance the karmic books. When the original was released - steeped in superstition and belief - it was a sensational hit and is still considered an important milestone in the history of Bollywood cinema. So when T-Series announced a remake, it received mixed reaction. There was little else to improve on in the original, but given the recent resurgence and hit of campy reincarnation in the film Om Shanti Om, it remained to be seen what the multiple zedded Karzzzz would deliver. With Himesh Reshammiya as the music director, singer and actor, the film has generated a lot of buzz. For now, with the release of the soundtrack, he delivers as a composer and singer with the two-disc compilation, including a "club and lounge" mix. Reshammiya is known for his Sufi-style singing and his signature nasal tone, both of which are used to his advantage in the soundtrack. New tracks like Tandoori Nights are fun, while the remake of originals, like Ek Haseena Thi's haunting guitar riff, is not intact, but certainly well updated.
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