There are some flicks that are so unknown that one doesn''t have the faintest of clues on what to expect from both the flick as well as the

soundtrack. The Bong Connection is one of them. One wants to give the album a hearing rather than write it off completely due to lack of

star power or any known names. This is the reason why one plays on this Neel Dutt score that has lyrics by Anjan Dutt, Neel Dutt and Vibha

Singh.

Well, there is a surprise at the very beginning of the album as a Bengali track opens ''The Bong Connection''. One expects the twist to

happen soon with Hindi lyrics arriving soon but that doesn''t happen either. This is when one checks out the titles of rest of the songs in the

album and realizes that this one basically comprises of Bengali songs and it is futile to even check for anything remotely Bollywood.

With a fresh mindset one starts giving The Bong Connection a renewed hearing and finds ''Pagla Hawar Badol Dine'' a fairly decent

hear. Crooned by Shreya Ghoshal and Nachiketa, it is a peppy track especially when Shreya goes ''o-la-la''!

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Shaan is heard soon after in ''Majhi Re'' with which one expected a quintessential ''o maajhi re'' kind of a track. Well, that''s not the

case, and one is pleasantly surprised to instead hear a song that is set as a soft rock. Shaan is good as usual in this nice-n-melodious track that

is not too heavily orchestrated and goes gentle as per the theme of the song.

As the song''s title suggests, ''The Bong Connection Blues'' is a soft sounding English track crooned by Pervez Quadri and Rupankar.

Nevertheless, the song comes quite close to being a jingle and it is hard to identify it as a number that would make its way into a film. The song

starts off in English but later sees a mix of English and Bengali lyrics. A decent number that is mainly for the campus crowds who may want to

take it forward in festival circuits.

Sung with all the right Bengali mannerisms and accent in place, ''Sujan Najhi Re'' first appears in a ''club mix'' version that has Dibyendu

coming behind the mike. Composed as a Bengali pop number, ''Sujan Najhi Re'' later comes in its original version too by Swapan Basu.

This time around all the western arrangements used in the club mix version are knocked off and the song stays on to its Bengali roots. Almost an

unplugged version with hardly an instrument in the background, it is only for those who have been staunch followers of rooted Bengali music.

Anjan Dutt himself pairs up with Usha Uthup in ''Tumi Na Thakle'' which has jazz elements running through it. In spite of being orchestrated

on western arrangements, one can sense a folk flavor to it. While Anjan Dutt does a decent job as singer, Usha Uthup is as usual and sings with

her trademark thump.

Last to come is ''Apu''s Theme'' which is just a 2 minutes instrumental piece. A soothing piece with the sound of a flute running prominently

throughout. It stays on like that till the coming together of violins bring the theme piece to its conclusion.

''The Bong Connection'' is a kind of album that has a very restricted market for itself. The musical score not being any great shakes doesn''t help

the cause either. At maximum, a song apiece by Shreya and Shaan can be given a hearing though even that would interest only the followers of

Bengali music.