Happy Bhag Jayegi music review: Sohail Sen needs to find his way back to interesting music

There are a few films in Bollywood which manage to exploit their feel-good element without getting schmaltzy. When you watch the first trailer of Mudassar Aziz's Happy Bhag Jayegi, you realise this could be one of those films. The one thing that stays with you after the trailer is the interesting choice of actors, along with the quirky dialogues.

Mudassar Aziz refuses to get out of the shaadi-zone, making this film about a runaway bride straight after his last film Dulha Mil Gaya (roughly translating to 'Found A Groom'). The music composed by Sohail Sen has Punjabi and Sufi influences and is far from the composer's best work. And that is sad, because Sen ropes in an interesting mix of singers who do their job, but cannot rise above the mediocrity of the compositions.

Happy Oye (Singers - Harshdeep Kaur, Shahid Mallya)
The song describing the protagonist is quite easily the best in the album. Harshdeep Kaur, who started out with the Amit Trivedis and the AR Rahmans of the business, sounds like a veteran and pumps out lyrics like "Rukta nahi behta paani / Usey behna tha wo beh gayi / Behte behte ye keh gayi / Ishq mushq nahi chhupte hain / Aur darti nahi jawaani" with panache. Shahid Mallya nicely provides the backing vocals towards the end of the song as both singers improvise. The most interesting part of this out-and-out Punjabi song is the bagpipe interlude, which gives us an amazing insight into Sohail Sen's talent.

Gabru Ready To Mingle Hai (Singers - Mika Singh, Neeti Mohan, Tarannum Malik, Danish Sabri)
Mika Singh's voice has this playful quality which really works in those songs where men serenade the women in their life - and this song is pretty much the same. With English vocals from rapper Dee MC, which start out with 'All the single ladies in the house' (because what else) the song never really gets out of the template of a typical Mika-song. Which is sad, because Neeti Mohan really tries to lift the song... now only if the composition was a bit more interesting!

Aashiq Tera (Singer - Altamash Faridi)
Altamash Faridi was discovered in the dark-gloomy 'Mauje Naina' by Clinton Cerejo in Coke Studio, and from then, has gone on to sing a few good songs. Here, the singer does his job to perfection by crooning this love song with a heavy qawwali influence. The typical qawwali beats with the tabla actually work to perfection, only failing ever so slightly with the chorus as the various singers sing 'Tera...tera...tera...tera' only to supplement 'Aashiq' as a cheer at the end of the line. Doesn't work in an otherwise melodious song.

Zara Si Dosti (Singer - Arijit Singh)
The Arijit Singh song of the album. The melancholy of Arijit Singh is omnipresent these days, as he goes on those 10-minute yoodles as the set pattern of drums, guitars follow him; and this song follows the formula so carefully, it hurts. The song makes you wonder if this is indeed Sohail Sen, the same composer who added his own twist to the romance rock ballad with Jaao Na in Ashutosh Gowariker's What's Your Rashee? And even if the end product does not deserve to be trashed, the song does nothing to challenge the singer (who is capable of much more) and doesn't reflect very well on a composer who has done better work.

Yaaram (Singer - Javed Ali)
The generally reliable Javed Ali doesn't put a foot wrong in this song with heavy Sufi influence. As the song speaks out to the beloved, the lyrics are painfully pedestrian as you hear lines like "Tu hi chain hai, tu junoon hai, armaan hai, aarzoo hai" - one has to think if Javed Ali yawned as he prepared himself to get into the studio and sing the song.

Listen to all the songs of the album in the jukebox:

Sohail Sen was careful in his initial projects, with Ashutosh Gowariker's What's Your Rashee? and Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Se, and then he lost his way slightly with Yash Raj's Mere Brother Ki Dulhan and Gunday. This talented composer needs to pull up his socks and smell the coffee. If he keeps giving forgettable work like this, it might not take too much effort for the audience to erase him from their memories.