Producer: Kalaippulli S Thannu
Director: Suresh Krishnan
Cast: Kamal Hasan, Manisha Koirala, Raveena Tandon, Milind Gunaji
Music: Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
Singers: Mahalakshmi Iyer, Shankar Mahadevan,  Kamal Hassan, Manisha Koirala, Sujatha, NAndini

After the thunderous success of ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ Shankar-Ehsaan- Loy have been in great demand. Suddenly they have emerged as a new musical school. Their music differs from movie to movie. The music in ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ was youthful and trendy, but in ‘Abhay’ it is brooding and dark kind. Written by Javed Akhthar its verses perfectly match with the mood of the album.

Shankar-Ehsan-Loy starts their album with a sweet and soft musical composition. ‘Koyal Si Mili’ crooned by Shankar Mahadevan and Sujatha, it falls nicely on ears. With minimal instruments in the background this song sounds more like an A.R.Rehman composition. Javed Akhthar’s creative spark saves this song from becoming a mundane musical number.

Next track ‘Zingoria’ has a certain tribal feel around it. Nandini holds the mike for this vibrant dance number. With its highly infectious beats this song makes for a good hear. But it fails to climb up to the top of the musical chart.

Shankar Mahadevan teams up with Mahalakshmi for this lighthearted funny number. ‘Hasde Hasde’ makes you laugh with its repartees on extra marital affairs. Ultimately this song makes for a nice time pass.

‘Dekho Abhay’ and ‘Kal Tak Mujhko Gaurav’ are the best tracks of the album. These brooding and dark tracks make you uncomfortable. Crooned by Kamal Hasan ‘Kal Tak Mujhko Gaurav Tha’ gives an idea about the deranged psyche of the lead cast Abhay. Full marks to Javed Akhthar’s lyrics for impressively drawing the mental sketch of the lead player. 
 
When you hear an advertisement in between the songs don’t switch off your musical system. That can be the introduction of the song ‘Dekho Abhay’. The song starts with an advertisement of Diamond comic thriller. Even the song sequence is picturised as a sequence of animated cartoon film. This definitely goes with the theme of the movie, as the kid- hearted psychopath Abhay still loves to watch cartoons.

This album wraps up with a partially instrumental track. Conversational in nature ‘Hey Who Are You?’ has Kamal Hasan and Manisha Koirala chipping in with some dialogues. This situational number looks good in the scheme of the movie. Both the artists do a good job.

This album also includes five borrowed numbers ‘O Maria’ (Saagar), ‘Dekhta Hoon’ (Sanam Teri Kasam), ‘Hey Ram’ (Hey Ram), ‘Sitam Ki Aandhi Se’ (Velu Nayakan) and ‘Aate Hai Chale Jaate Hain’ (Yaadgar). The first four are Kamal Hasan tracks while the last one is a less heard Kishore Kumar song. These tracks vary in mood and style.

‘Abhay’ the Hindi version of ‘Alavanthan’ concentrates more on the story. As a result the music takes a back seat. But it definitely adds to the effect of the movie. On the whole, this album is a nice blend of classy and mass appealing numbers. Among them ‘Dekho Abhay’ stands apart.