If it is music, it's got to be ethnic!

Juggling with words is child's play for writer, filmmaker and poet Gulzar. Remember his onomatopoeias like Chappa chappa in Maachis, Chai chappa chai in Hu Tu Tu? And now Jhin min jhini in Maqbool.

Maqbool, directed by Vishal Bharadwaj, is his second film after Makdee. Based on William Shakespeare's Macbeth, Maqbool features a terrific set of actors like Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Pankaj Kapur, Tabu and Irfan Khan.

At times melancholic, at others fiercely intense, Maqbool brews some tense, bittersweet tunes.

Songs like Dheemo and Rukhe naina pack a mix of rich, classical melody and rustic poetry.

For listeners like me who adore theme music, Maqbool is a dream come true. The soundtrack offers four stark instrumental pieces: The Killing, Nirvana, Shoonya and the Maqbool theme. The pieces use a lot of violin to impart a sense of tragedy that looms all over the film.

Maqbool is a serious album. No item numbers. No love duets. The only song that hints at celebration is Jhin min jhini, which is already a regular for Mumbai listeners of radio FM.

Bottomline: The music of Maqbool is like filter coffee, not instant. Can you handle it?

Paap

The cover on Paap's music CD credits Anu Malik for composing the score. But he has composed only two songs.

The album predominantly features Pakistani musical talent. Small wonder, Paap's debutante director Pooja Bhatt is even contemplating premiering her film in Karachi.

Coming back to Malik, the music director has crafted Intezaar and Sun e mere dil. Both of them sung by an off-key Anuradha Paudwal. Sun e mere dil apes the Buddhist chant feel that Malik had lent for the Asoka song, Roshni se.

The soundtrack has it highs: like Rahat Fateh Ali Khan's inspiring rendition of Mann ki lagan, followed by Ali Azmat's (of the band Junoon) rock-and-roll turn in Garaj baras.

Like Maqbool, Paap too has an instrumental soundtrack clubbed in the album. In true Hollywood style, each theme piece suggests a certain chapter of the film. For example, M Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense soundtrack lists music parts like Run to the church, De Profundis Malcolm's story/Cole's secret, Tape of Vincent and so on.

Paap features a decent background for 11 episodes in the movie, credited to Music Mushrooms. The ones to watch out for are Intezar interlude, Apna sa kuch dena chahti hoon and Tumhari jagah oonchey aasman mein hai.

Indeed, the background score compilation is a healthy trend in the film music arena.

Rudraksh

Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy are back. But hold on, the music of Rudraksh doesn't have the yuppie feel of Dil Chahta Hai or the romance of Kal Ho Naa Ho.

Rudraksh is Gothic. Dark but upbeat nevertheless.

Guest composers Shashi Pritam and Vishal-Shekhar dole out some commendable numbers with Bole dole and Ishq hai nasha respectively for this Mani Shankar feature, starring Sanjay Dutt, Suniel Shetty, Bipasha Basu and Ishaa Koppikar.

Keeping the film's supernatural theme in mind, the composer trio churns out the fast-paced, funky techno title track with shlokas interspersed in-between.

Rak rak rak sounds positively horrifying. If you thought Bhoot had a spooky soundtrack, Rudraksh doesn't spare you either.

Buth Ishq khudai is the clear winner of the lot. This number is bound to be a disco favourite after Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy's previous hit, It's the time to disco from Kal Ho Naa Ho.