Music Director: Aadesh Shrivastava
Lyrics: Sameer
Music Label: T-Series
Rating: **

Aadesh Shrivastava in "Baabul" carries on from where he had left in B.R. Films' earlier family melodrama, "Baghban", - managing to bring in enough hummable scores and doing a good job.

The album rolls off with the reggae-pop-bhangra number "Come on come on" by Amitabh Bachchan and Sonu Nigam with supporting vocals by Vishal, Shrivastava and Ranjit Barot. In the song, Bachchan and Nigam enter into a father-son "verbal duel" - a peppy start to the album.

Next is "Keh raha hai", a comparatively fast love song, crooned by Nigam and Shreya Ghoshal.

"Bebasi dard ka aalam" is a sentimental soft number sung by Kunal Ganjawala to great effect. Shrivastava is able to capitalise on Ganjawala's rich voice, and with Sameer's lyrics it emerges a clear winner.

Next is the fun-filled qawwali "Gaa re mann", sung by Sudesh Bhonsle and Alka Yagnik. Though not in the league of Alisa Chinai's "Kajra re", Bhonsle lives up to his reputation of aping Big B's voice to perfection.

"Har manzar" by Ganjawala is another hummable number with a consistent rhythm.

Richa Sharma sings a farewell song - a common element of family dramas - "Baabul bidaai".

In "Baawri piya ki" sung by Nigam, Shrivastava instils a classical touch.

Ghazal king Jagjit Singh lends his voice to "Kehta hai baabul", a slow number earlier supposed to have been sung by Bachchan.

The album ends with Nigam's sad "Vaada raha".

There are also two remixes in the album - "Come on come on" and "Har manzar" - both done by DJ Suketu.

Though Shrivastava's efforts in "Baabul" cannot be termed great, the songs are refreshing. The situational songs have the elements to do well, and to see the effect one would have to wait for the song videos.