June 1, 1998

Rajshri, the banner behind record-breaking films like Maine Pyar Kiya and Hum Aapke Hain Koun!, launches its music company with this album of mostly soulful melodies. Side 2 gets a trifle monotonous, but the interesting musical arrangement makes up for what's lacking in the tunes.

Sounds Of The Strings
(Music Today; Four- Cassette Set ; Rs 55 each)
Vishwamohan Bhatt (Mohan veena), N. Rajam (violin), Sultan Khan (sarangi) and Shujaat Husain Khan (sitar) have tried to bring out the gayaki ang (vocal style) through their stringed instruments. Enriching.

MOVIES        
Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai
(Directed By Deepak Sareen; Starring Salman Khan, Twinkle Khanna, Anupam Kher, Aditya Narayan)

It's Masoom for the teeny-bopper set. Salman Khan is "Europe ka sabse bada playboy (Europe's biggest playboy)," who falls in love with a demure boutique manager (Twinkle Khanna). She refuses to wed him until he mends his Scotch-before-sunrise ways. He does, and it's all songs-in-Switzerland till his illegitimate son from an earlier liaison shows up a few days before the wedding. Honey Irani's story had the potential to be a four-hankie tearjerker but the director, a Yash Chopra protege, doesn't deliver. Sareen creates some genuinely funny comic scenes and pretty, soft-focus romance but in the second half, the emotional track takes a beating. The biggest problem is that Aditya Narayan, unlike Jugal Hansraj in Masoom, is a typically over-confident Bollywood brat. The vulnerability, confusion, bewilderment and trauma simply doesn't come through. And the hallmark cute father-son bonding situations -- camping trips, cricket matches and so on -- fail to move. But Salman turns on the charm full blast, mercifully keeps his shirt on and keeps the film going. His endearing performance is a marked contrast to Twinkle's awkward hysterics. She needs to take both acting and grooming lessons from mom.

ODD ENDS
Eicher City Guide -- Delhi
(Eicher GoodEarth Limited; Rs 345)

This comprehensive handbook takes over where the Eicher City Map left off. The maps here are supplemented by architectural drawings, colour photographs, valuable information for tourists (what to eat, where to shop) and witty, chatty write-ups by Bill Aitken, Bhaskar Ghosh and Bulbul Sharma among others. Worth the steep price.

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