Golmaal 3 soundtrack

Golmaal 3 was subject to some pretty scathing reviews in India, and really hasn't had much exposure outside of it and Indian communities in other countries who might've gotten it theatrically. When I got the movie on Blu-Ray, I was pretty scared of coming out of it without even cracking a smile, since if there's any genre of film that translates the worst to foreign countries and cultures, or to different periods of time, it's comedies, as they often rely on heavy cultural perspective. Alas, I ended up laughing pretty hard at a lot of this film, although I haven't seen, or had much desire to see, its two predecessors. This is mainly because my personal draw to this film was the presence of actors like Mithun Chakraborty and Johnny Lever, who I've liked a lot in movies before.

And hey, the movie had a pretty good soundtrack. It wasn't the most consistently memorable of soundtracks, but it was good nonetheless. I especially loved the new rendition of "I Am A Disco Dancer" (shortened here to just "Disco Dancer"), so much so that I actually prefer its arrangement over the original version. It also has a pretty awesome reveal in the film, harkening back to Disco Dancer, the original film that it showed up in. The soundtrack was overall fine, but the packaging...

...is some of the absolute worst I've ever seen.

I don't know if other T-Series releases are like this (I've seen a copy of the Chennai Express soundtrack that looked like it had much better packaging), but man, this is horrible. The initial slipcover is neat, but the accordion sleeve that holds the disc is an absolute pain to pull out without feeling like you're treating the disc like garbage, and the disc itself is housed within a rough-feeling LP/LD-esque plastic protector. It was a good decision on principle, but when I was getting ready to rip the CD, the data side of the disc looked like it was sporting some serious rot. It ultimately ended up ripping fine, and whatever I saw was gone when I came to take these pictures, but for that moment, I was scared out of my wits.

Oh yeah, it came with mobile download info I won't use.

Granted, while it is one of the worst packages I've ever witnessed, it's not THE absolute worst (wait until I talk about the deluxe edition of the soundtrack for The Amazing Spider-Man 2), so I can give it that, at least. It also houses a pretty damn good soundtrack, although the weird manufacturing standards that must've been in place while putting this together resulted in a package that feels gross to pull out. The soundtrack to its immediate predecessor, Golmaal Returns, was placed in a proper jewel case, so I really don't see why this couldn't have been. At least it was cheap.

The tracklisting is as follows:

1. Golmaal

2. Apna Har Din

3. Ale

4. Desi Kali

5. Golmaal (Remix)

6. Apna Har Din (Remix)

7. Desi Kali (Remix)

8. Disco Dancer

9. Yaad Aa Raha Hain

There's a recurring joke about this dude chronically breaking people's fingers. I dunno if that carries over from the first two movies, but it was pretty funny to me here.

Dhoom 3 soundtrack

Dhoom 3 is not well liked in its country of origin, but there is a rather violent contrast between critical reception for this film in India and in Western countries (for example, this glowing review on Roger Ebert's website became the subject of predominant scorn in the comments section). I personally found a lot to love in it, although it is a vastly different film from its predecessors. As opposed to being a distinctly Bollywood action movie, it's a Hollywood action blockbuster through a purely Bollywood perspective-- most of it is shot in Chicago, but it doesn't feel at all like a Hollywood film... and considering the current shape of Hollywood blockbusters in this vein, that's for the best. Also, whereas the first two films split focus 60%-40% between their villains and the heroes (Abhishek Bachchan and Uday Chopra) respectively, in this installment, 85%-15% would be a more accurate estimate; a startling majority of its nearly three-hour runtime is spent on the always-charismatic Aamir Khan's performance.

The songs this time around aren't as memorable as the first film's, but they are more consistently memorable than the second film's. Of particular note, in my opinion at least, are "Tu Hi Junoon" and "Bande Haim Hum Uske", although the new version of "Dhoom Machale" is pretty good, despite the filmmakers not finding a way to actually get it into the film except for the end credits sequence. The troubling aspect of this disc, however, is the abhorrent compression, thanks in no small part to the notorious loudness war. While the soundtrack for Dhoom 2 had been showing a little too much compression over the soundtrack of its predecessor, this CD shotguns the dynamic range to hell. Another unfortunate victim of this terrible, terrible plague.

The packaging here is pretty large, a bit taller than your usual jewel case, which makes it a bit of a pain in the ass on a shelf. Unfortunately, my particular copy isn't in great condition-- a bunch of cracks happened throughout its odd case, part of the back jewel case insert is slightly crinkled in the spine, and the front cover is also victim to a couple serious crinkles as well. This packaging isn't totally unique, but the last time I saw something in this packaging at a retail store was a Miley Cyrus tour DVD, and I'll be damned if I'm gonna spend money on that garbage just to replace a case. It still functions well, so I don't feel any particular need to replace it.

The tracklisting is as follows:

1. Malang

2. Kamli

3. Tu Hi Junoon

4. Dhoom Machale Dhoom

5. Bande Hain Hum Uske

6. Dhoom Tap

7. Dhoom 3 Overture

8. Dhoom Machale Dhoom (Arabic Version)

Dhoom 2 soundtrack

Speaking strictly about the film itself, I would say that Dhoom 2 is the best of all three Dhoom movies. The action and acting performances are well above the first film, and it still maintains the distinct Bollywood feel that the third film seemed to be intentionally straying from. Speaking in terms of its songs, however, the second film has the least memorable songs. The only song that really stuck with me from this one was "Crazy Kiya Re", whereas the other two got me with at least half of their output.

However, this one does have the best packaging of all three original soundtracks. (There is a sweet edition released around Germany of a combo pack with the first two films' soundtracks plus bonus tracks, but I don't have this edition.) It's in a digipak that within its three folds contains a card for mobile download, the main CD, and an awesome pack of autographed cards of each of the main cast. My copy didn't come with the mobile card, but the collectible signed cards were there, and in excellent condition.

The CD, unfortunately, was covered in scratches, and the spine of the digipak was bending down the middle. It was a miracle that I could get the CD to rip without a hitch. It's also a shame that because of its unique packaging, I'm pretty screwed when it comes to trying to replace any component of the packaging short of just tracking down a copy in better condition. It is the crappiest thing about grabbing digipaks, regardless of how awesome they are. Oh well.

The tracklisting is as follows:

1. Crazy Kiya Re

2. Touch Me

3. My Name Is Ali

4. Dil Laga Na

5. Crazy Remix

6. Dhoom Again

Dhoom soundtrack

I've recently fallen in love with the Dhoom franchise from India, a trilogy of high-octane blockbuster action flicks. In India, these movies were not respected all that much by critics, the third film in particular, but they are mostly acclaimed among the few Western critics who have reported on them, and I think there's a lot to love for fans of similarly huge blockbuster franchises like the Fast & Furious series or the Taxi series. The songs throughout this film, a staple of Bollywood in general, are the consistently catchiest and overall best of the entire trilogy, I think, particularly "Dhoom Machale" and "Dilbara".

The packaging isn't really all that much to write home about. Standard jewel case, disc tray, yadda yadda yadda, all the same stuff you'd find on typical CDs pretty much anywhere. When I first got this CD, it had a holographic sticker that I sadly wasn't able to salvage when I had to do a full replacement on the cracked jewel case. Out of all of my copies of the Dhoom soundtracks, however, it is now easily in the best shape.

The tracklisting is as follows:

1. Dhoom Machale

2. Shikdum

3. Dilbara

4. Salaame

5. Shikdum (The Bedroom Mix)

6. Dilbara (Reprisal) Edit

7. Dhoom Dhoom