Chennai Express (Soundtrack Review)

One Two Three Four – Get on the Dance Floor: What a fun start to the soundtrack! Full of energy and character, Vishal Dadlani and Hamsika Iyer deliver great performances and compliment the incredibly happening production. This song has taken it’s time but has settled in well as a catchy item number. A track that would have been perfect had Prabhudeva taken control of the choreography. Anyways, good start to the album. 8/10

Taken from bollyhq.com ©

Titli: This song needs time. It sound generic at first, but it goes grow on you. The lyrics are sweet and the song acts as the conventional SRK romantic number which was last seen in Saans. Although not incredibly moving or classic like songs from the late 90’s and pre-2005 Shahrukh Khan golden era, the song is good enough for a Rohit Shetty entertainer. Nice listen. 7/10

Tere Rastaa Mein Chhodoon: This song will probably come shortly after that sequence from the theatrical trailer when SRK walks away intensely from Deepika. It’s an emotional song with contrastingly upbeat production and that works well; a very international quality. When I close my eyes and listen to this song, I can imagine it working really well in a busy city setting like a London or New York or Mumbai, similar to Sau Dard from Jaan-E-Mann so it’ll be interesting to see how they film this song, considering the movie is set in a villagey-type location. This song has replay value and is one of my favourite from the soundtrack. 8/10

Kashmir Mein Tu Kanyakumari: Upbeat and positive vibes throughout this song and it suits the look of the movie. The results are decent and the picturisation might help but I don’t see this song as nothing more than just filler on the soundtrack. Nowhere near as impacting as One Two Three Four. 6/10

Ready Steady Po: I was waiting to review this song the most! International production reminds you of the likes of Guetta and Will I Am. Being someone who is incredibly into both English and Hindi music, I don’t normally like the combination of the two but this song has got the right balance. The rapping doesn't seem [as] lame as it has done in recent Bollywood songs, and the Hindi sections are just so fun. The hook, which I think is sung by Natalie Di’luccio, is one of the most catchiest I've heard. I can’t believe I do, but I really like this song! 8/10!

Chennai Express: Remember Ek Main Aur Ek Tu Hain from Bluff Master? This song has a very similar introduction from the same producers, Vishal-Shekar and acts as a musical trailer for the movie. The biggest names on the intro are of course, SRK and SBP (acronyms ftw!). Very, very catchy chorus but the unfortunate lame English lyrics take away from the overall result. Nevertheless, a very good advert for the movie and the train metaphor is clever. I hope they release this video soon as it’ll probably encourage people to buy the tickets, as the lyrics explicitly suggest you to. 7/10

Chennai Express Mashup: Firstly, I don’t think the songs on the album offer much for a sufficient mashup, but compliments to V-S for attempting. The fact that it comes right after the title song and uses the chorus so heavily makes you feel like it’s just a remix of the title song. Not much scope given to the other songs. They should probably have focussed it more on Ready Steady Po. Mashup doesn't work and you won’t want to listen to it after one or maybe two times. 4/10

Taken from india-forums.com ©

Titli Dubstep Version: So, if Vishal-Shekhar’s international approach to this album wasn't suggestive in the previous songs, it’s absolutely clear in this song. Before I give my view, I want to applaud the duo for attempting this; a very risky combination of genres and one that will work in Bollywood soon enough. However, Titli just isn't the right choice for the first ever Bollywood dubstep song and I can name so many that would have been better. That’s not to say that this attempt isn’t decent, it is. I have high appreciation for the intentions here, but it doesn't work as well as it could have and won’t have much scope on an international scale. I've seen YouTube remixes that are far better. 6/10

So basically: I wasn't expecting a classic album or anything that has much replay value from the Chennai Express soundtrack. It just had to fit the genre of the movie and have a well-rounded result which it has. My picks of the lot are One Two Three Four, Ready Steady Po and Tera Rasta. A few other songs are worthy as well, but there seems to be too many a filler on the soundtrack. Once again, big compliments to the producers V-S for their international approach to this album. This should get them some good work in the future. 7/10!