Laila Main Laila: Sunny Leone is a stunning addition to Qurbani classic, remixed for Raees

The Raee_s version of the ‘Laila Main Laila’ song adds nothing substantial to the original from Feroz Khan’s Qurbani other than the ravishingly stunning Sunny Leone. [caption id=“attachment_3168316” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Sunny Leone and Shah Rukh Khan in a still from ‘Laila Main Laila’. YouTube screengrab[/caption] One cannot compare her moves to the sensual Zeenat Aman in the original as both of them play different roles in their respective versions. While Aman was more of a singer in a bar, Leone is a desi bar dancer. Both of them sport different styles of attire as well: Leone wears a lehenga while Aman was seen in western outfits. While she could not replicate the poise of Aman in her song, Leone does not need to do so as she dazzles in her desi avatar and enchants the audience with her moves. Undoubtedly, she has the best dance numbers among recent films. While ‘Laila O Laila’ does not surpass her charm in her previous hits like ‘Baby Doll’, it does come as a refreshing change from around a dozen of average songs she appeared in recently. Shah Rukh Khan shares screen space with Leone in the song but does not dance as he is seen in a passive capacity, sporting a blank yet menacing look. While the lack of reaction might be the demand of his character, it was a misleading promotional practice on the makers’ behalf to allow Khan to build the hype for Leone’s song. This misled his fans into believing that Khan and Leone will be seen dancing together to the iconic song but alas, that did not happen. The art direction is a plus point as the setting complements the tone of the song and the colours of Leone’s attire. The choreography also does justice to both courtesy the commendable skills of the choreographers Bosco-Caesar. As far as the rehashed music is concerned, the vocals by Pawni Pandey might be her best yet but they lack the dreamy appeal of the original vocals by Kanchan. While the original music composer duo Kalyan-Anand had done most of the work, Ram Sampath does a praiseworthy job of tuning the song into a fast-paced dance number. He even replaces the string instrument with a wind instrument to lend it a distinct touch. Javed Akhtar’s seasoned ability comes into play as his additional lyrics fit perfectly into the tunes of the original and takes the original lyricist Indeevar’s musical narrative forward rather than diverting it to a completely different tangent. Overall, ‘Laila Main Laila’_ scores a few brownie points over Urvashi Rautela’s ‘Haseeno Ka Deewana’ from Sanjay Gupta’s Kaabil and the credit largely goes to Sunny Leone and her mesmerising screen presence (read a previous report comparing the two here ).