It isn't often that a Hindi picture soundtrack even tries to go beyond expectations. This one does, and succeeds considerably.
An unusual composer with a flair for putting words into cadences that express the most precious aspects of the lyrics, Daniel B. George gives us a sound that tugs at our heartstrings.
"Sapnon ka sheher ho" sung by Alka Yagnik and a group of children who are described in the cover credits as "underprivileged" creates a looming world of utopian dreams. It reminded me of the Swedish group Abba's "I've A Dream".
The second track "Palken jhukao na" is the only love ballad. Its delicate design is ably supported by the fragile rendition. Adnan Sami soars, Alka Yagnik sighs. They do the love thing pretty well!
I also liked the other version of this silken ballad by Swanand Kirkire and Meenal Jain. It's more impromptu and spontaneous, less rehearsed and professional.
"Sehar" is an album of some surprises, and a few unexpected high points. If the wedding song has a cool, crackerjack, folksy immediacy to it then the prayer by the neglected Shobha Joshi is like a wake-up call in the middle of a sonorous siesta.
The score smoothly blends barely discernible elements from jazz and Indian folk and emerges with a sound that could well be the hallmark of a new beginning for modern Hindi music.
The album ends with actor Pankaj Kapur reciting Urdu poet Faiz's line. The sound of "Sehar" is the voice of tentative redemption for a nation yearning for change.