Himesh Reshammiya – A good singer, a better composer!
The ‘let’s rock’ mentor of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2005, Himesh Reshammiya is the talk of the town these days. His songs are being played in about every pub and disco. People are mumbling his melodious compositions throughout India and even abroad. He is giving his audience hit songs one after another and his popularity just keeps rising with smashing tracks like Aashiq Banaya Aapne, Aap Ki Kashish, Jhalak Dikhlaja and now, Zara Jhoom Jhoom from Tom Dick and Harry. Undoubtedly, he is a great composer. His compositions target the youngsters of today and have become popular among them. In fact, I can hear his song Mohabbat Ki from Aksar from my brother’s room as I am writing this. His music is everywhere these days. But there is an issue that I have been thinking about. Is Himesh Reshammiya a better composer or a better singer? Is he even a good singer or too nasally to be a singer? Well, let’s see, I think there is a good and a bad side to everyone/everything and I can say the same for Himesh Reshammiya.
The Good Side
Reshammiya struggled a lot in life to rise to the position he is at today. He started his career about 10 years ago with Andaz. Success didn’t come easy to him, but it did. As I heard him say, he owes a lot of his career or popularity to Salman Khan, who promised Reshammiya a break and who lived up to his promise. I appreciate and admire Himesh for being so ardent and persistent in what he was doing. He didn’t lose hope but continued to compose music in hopes that one day, he will be noticed. I love that trait. Also, he has proved himself as an amazing composer. Not just the latest hits, but if we go back and take a look at his past compositions, they were some of the best. There was Odh Li Chunariya from Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya, Kya Dil Ne Kaha and Humraaz. But, I think the film that he started getting noticed from was Tere Naam. And From there on, there was no stopping Reshammiya. I really like his music. It’s very different and original. Each and every composition of his has its own charm. His music, besides being just good, is also hit. I read an article on him and it said that he tries to compose at least two tunes a day and has hundreds of tunes in his bank. He definitely works hard for delivering the best to his producers.
The Bad (not-so-good) Side
I do not have a problem with his voice or the way he sings. Yes, I do agree that a nasal voice is reflected in all his songs but that’s his style, that’s the way he sings. What I do have a problem with is that this style is way too repetitive. He should change his singing style a little bit in each of his songs. Also, the music videos of his songs are getting old. I mean, Jhalak Dikhlaja, Mohabbat Ki and Zara Jhoom essentially have the same theme. Reshammiya singing with a microphone in his hand and a cap on his head and the lead actors jumping around with no or very little clothes on. Professionally, Reshammiya is excellent. But, personally, his attitude comes across to be very rude and arrogant. In a recent interview, he claimed that he’s not arrogant. Maybe he’s not, but that’s what reflects from his attitude, expressions and smile (or the lack of it). I don’t like his I-am-at-the-top-of-this-world-and-no-one-is-better-than-me attitude. I used to watch Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2005 regularly and I noticed how easily Reshammiya would lose his temper at little jokes that someone made. He used to take them personally and fight over them like little kids. In an interview, he clarified, “Maybe, I am not good at humour; or maybe my straight-faced look makes people think it’s attitude. But it’s not that way at all. If that’s what people felt after watching me on TV, let me clear it — Himesh is not bitter about anything.” If that’s the case, he really needs to change that “straight-faced look” and maybe put on a gentle smile.
As a composer, I would rate Reshammiya 9/10. He’s brilliant at his work. As a singer, he’s about 7/10.
He has a whole lot of films signed for 2006: Milenge Milenge, Shaadi Se Pehle, Benaam, 36 China Town and Love Story 2050. I think he’s going to rule this year with his melodious and earth-shattering music. I wish him all the best for the future.
Zee Cine Awards 2006 - A review
Sorry folks, I know I promised a review on Zee Cine Awards 2006 the next day, but I just didn’t have the time to write a one. Better late than never!
Well, the first thing that I want to point out is that I thought the presentation, organization and the ‘fun package’ of the Zee Cine Awards 2006 was better than that of the Filmfare Awards 2006. I think the telecast too made a big difference. I liked the fact that before the actual award show got started, there was an hour of telecast of things like stars rehearsing, the stage being built, the stars arriving at the venue in heavy rain. Among many stars and star wives, I noticed a very strange person at the red carpet ceremony, Rosa, Saif Ali Khan’s Italian girlfriend. Sajid Khan, ‘humara host aur dost’ asked Rosa a question: What do you think are the chances of Saif winning in the category of best actor? And she went blank, completely red in the face, looking at Saif and mumbling what seemed like ‘umm,’ ‘I don’t know…’ and other things that I could not gather. That was a bit strange to see because she seemed nervous beyond my imagination.
The first performance was given by a bunch of what you might call, upcoming stars. These stars included Tusshar Kapoor, Sharman Joshi, Ritesh Deshmukh, Amrita Arora, Aarti Chabria and Dia Mirza. I liked their performance a lot. They danced to old songs heading towards new ones. It was nice to see Sharman Joshi fooling around on stage, especially after I’ve seen him in Rang De Basanti.
Then came “the original bad man” Gulshan Grover and along with him came his boring PJs. I really didn’t like what he was saying and I don’t think anyone else did either. Every time Grover told a ‘joke,’ the camera showed the audience’s reaction and they were just staring at the stage wondering if they were supposed to react to what he just said. The bad man’s part was boring. Dia Mirza came a while later, to host a segment with Gulshan Grover and that was kind of a relief.
I missed some of the show because I had to go to a family function but I resumed watching it right when Priyanka Chopra started her performance. And I have to say that it was impressive. I thought that was the best part of the show, despite the fact that Abhishek Bachchan was missing from that performance and Ganesh Hegde replaced AB baby. The replacement, undoubtedly, was a pleasure to watch. Ganesh rocked with his sleek moves while Piggy Chops danced alongside in her ‘Right Here Right Now’ costume. Then came ‘Boro Boro’ from Bluffmaster and we saw Ritesh D jumping to the fast paced number. He did a great job as well.
After this performance, it was Bunty Aur Babli’s turn. Of course, Bunty was still recovering from flu, so, Arjun Rampal replaced Bachchan junior. A fine replacement! Rani was dressed up in her ‘Bunty Aur Babli’ costume and danced naturally.
When Ritesh Deshmukh received his awards for the ‘Best actor in a Comic role,’ he made sure that he thanked a lot of people and also said that he would like to share his award with Abhishek. How nice!
Rekha got a Lifetime Achievement award and she won the hearts of her fans by making a speech consisting of one of Gulzar’s shers. Rishi Kapoor also received a Lifetime achievement award. He mentioned in his speech that if his grandfather, Prithviraj Kapoor was alive today (the day of the award function), he would have turned 100 years of age. He also said that he will be launching his son, Ranbir Kapoor and requested everyone to bless Ranbir like they’ve blessed him, his father and his grandfather.
Akshay Kumar’s performance was jaw-dropping yet a bit boring as it progressed. I wasn’t really entertained.
Also, Arjun Rampal came on the stage to co-host a segment with Karan Johar. He gave Karan a script idea for Karan’s next movie, after Kabhi Alvidaa Na Kehna (KANK). He recited Karan Arjun’s story and told Karan that he should make the film and Arjun will act in it and they’ll call the film Karan Arjun. That part was hilarious.
At the end they had Shahrukh Khan give a tribute to Yash Chopra’s films and this act was done in a different way. On the screen, on the stage, they would have a scene from a popular Yash Raj film like the ‘mere paas ma hai’ scene from Deewar. After Amitji finished his dialogue (tere paas kya hai?), Shahrukh Khan turned around and said “mere paas Yashji hain.” There were more scene like that, which were digitally enhanced to make them funny.
Overall, the Zee Cine Awards 2006 was nice in terms of presentation and the quality of most jokes. But I do think that in the future, we should have something ‘different’ in our award shows. Something that would make them memorable and distinct from one another.
- Aaina.
Zee Cine Awards 2006 - Almost here!
The latest buzz on Zee Cine Awards is that Mallika Sherawat and Karan Johar will be hosting the show that will be held in Mauritius on Saturday, March 4th. I am looking forward to Zee Cine Awards because of the major performances, especially by Shahrukh Khan. But what I feel is that they should have something different as far as hosting goes. We’ve seen Karan Johar host many shows before, but it’s a first for Mallika Sherawat. Now, unless the script is something exceptional, I don’t know how ‘great’ Zee Cine Awards is going to be. Well, let’s wait and see if Ms. Sherawat can succeed at hosting.
Watch this space for my review on the Zee Cine Awards 2006. Tomorrow. Until then, au revoir.