Lyrics: Dev Kohli, Timon Singh, Sonu Nigam & Biddu
Music composed by: Biddu & Sonu Nigam
Produced By: Biddu
After Alisha, Anu Malik and Asha Bhosle, its time for Sonu Nigam to get the 'Biddu' treatment.
KISMAT is an album of pop songs that are enjoyable but aren't very innovative. Almost every song has that 'heard-it-before' quality, but put this fact aside and you'll be in for a good time.
The first track, "Tu" is very catchy and has an Arabic influence which seems to have become Biddu's trademark since MADE IN INDIA. Sonu sings up a storm and really sounds as if he's enjoying himself. The lyrics are nothing special, just the usual stuff you hear in almost every pop song these days.
"Pyaar Ki Kasam" is a slower romantic number which is also quite appealing. What's interesting about this song is that Sonu flexes his vocal chords Mariah Carrey style! Very impressive! "Bus Stop" is all about Sonu seeing the girl of his dreams drive by in a taxi while he's waiting for a bus(?). Strange idea, but it's rendered well and sounds like an old film song. Sonu also resembles the great Mohd. Rafi in this song!
O Sudha Tujhpe Fida" is another slow song which has Sonu switching into Lionel Ritchie mode! The song is soothing and grows on you provided you're in the mood for something 'mushy'.
Ma Ke Jaisi" has Sonu telling us that his girl is just like his 'mummy'! The lyric may be a little too Freudian for my liking but the rock 'n' roll music and Sonu's singing are brilliant, making the strange lyric tolerable.
A.B.C." is peurile poetry at its best! Sonu mouthing the words,
Falling in love with you baby is as easy as A.B.C..." is just too cringe-worthy to listen to. My advice - Skip it! UK based singer Swati who sang on Biddu's album FAREBI joins Sonu for an enjoyable ballad, "De Diya Dil". The lyrics are much better here, but after "A.B.C." anything sounds good! Unusal that the title track, "Kismat" is the final number on the album.
This song is quite similar to "Tu" and has the same infectious quality. This album is no masterpiece, but at least it displays Sonu Nigam's ability to sing all types of songs rather than just the 'sad' songs that film composers typecast him in.
"Apna horoscope padhaa? Teri Kismat this week chamak rahi hai yaar!" "Padhaa to hai lekin yeh Kismat-Vismat mein believe nahin karta." Whether you believe in what the stars foretell or not,
it's difficult not to want to take a dekho into your Kismat. After all, there could be a world of goodies out there and wouldn't you want to know what's in store! Since that logic applies perfectly to Sonu Nigam's debut album on Magnasound, what else could we call it but "Kismat?" There's a whole larderful of good stuff on the record that makes it impossible not to want to peek into 'Kismat'. Then there's the fact that it was Kismat that threw some of the top names in the business together. It all started in 1997 when Sonu stepped onto the 'Colgate - A Reason To Smile' album to sing a couple of lines on the song 'Wajah Muskurane Ki'. Something somewhere clicked between the singer and the Magnasound team and we
began talking about a solo pop album with Sonu.
As Kismat would have it, we spoke to Biddu about Sonu, about his versatility, image and popularity. No surprises then that the Numero Uno music director sagaciously suggested, "Let me compose the songs for him. I know exactly what to do for Sonu's image." We trust Biddu completely but nevertheless asked Sonu if we could put his Kismat and ours in Biddu's able hands. As Kismat again would have it, Sonu turned out to be one of Biddu's biggest fans and jumped at the chance Kismat had given him.
It was now time to look for a Iyricist who would understand Sonu's image, versatility and popularity as Biddu had. The choice was obvious. East or West, Dev Kohli was the best.
So it was that three. of the most talented men in the business came together to ( hopefully ! ) create a Kismat, of fame & fortune. A few tunes and some moons later, Kismat, the album had taken shape. It is pure pop music that encapsulates Sonu the artiste in a nutshell. From the hooky 'Tu' to the lush 'O Sudha', every song gives Sonu the space to demonstrate his God gifted singing ability. The tunes composed painstakingly by Biddu, are instantly memorable and the Iyrics kept deliberately simple, will have you singing along instantly. Who said it was easy to create Kismat?
When it came down to choosing the song for first video, everybody had an opinion, which is great but not when that opinion differs in each case! So we fought long and hard and Kismat finally decided that 'Tu' would be the chosen one. Sonu had a little dance step that everyone loved, which we knew would be pure magic when handed over to the best dance director in the
country - Saroj Khan. And magic it is that video director Anubhav Sinha has created, using Saroj Khan's dance steps, Sonu's agility and Bipasha Basu's bewitching beauty. Apart from
'Tu', there are some great songs on the album. The title track (okay, okay we won't mention the name again!) is a thumping good time about Sonu reading his horoscope in the morning paper,
'ABC' is dance music with a chant while 'Bus Stop' could best be described as melancholic bhangra! Interesting? Read on, if you want to know what Kismat has in store for you.
Perhaps a unanimous favourite on the album is 'O Sudha' that could go down as a classic in Indian pop. Not heavy, not frivolous, the song deals with a childhood romance that broke up
when Sudha's parents moved to another town. 'Ma Ke Jaisi' has Sonu hoping that his woman will be like mother in many ways while 'Pyar Ki Kasam' is a straight ahead love song. That's not all, There's more to your Kismat. Listen to it to find out becausc you can't get away from it....Just look how many times you read it here!
