Perhaps the parlour game of 2006 will be to spot the musical references of 'Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna', but mostly you need to look no further than the chart-topping album of Dharma Productions' last blockbuster Kal Ho Naa Ho. Almost every song has its counterpart on 'Kal Ho Naa Ho', making 'Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna' a reconfiguring of an earlier work. Surely this is not just because the musical trio Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy worked on both.

The lush melody of the title track is Kal Ho Naa Ho: The Musical Sequel. Pretty Woman has been reincarnated into Rock N Roll Soniye. Kuch to Hua Hai is now Tumhi Dekho Naa. You get the idea.

The weakest point of the album, sadly, is its party tune, 'Where's the Party Tonight' which is a Eurovision-like reworking of 'It's the Time to Disco'. Whereas the latter still rocks London clubs, it's difficult to imagine this being the case for its new Euro-clone even months down the line.

The redeeming feature however, is the marvellous Shafqat Amanat Ali who sings beautifully on the Sufi inspired Mitwa - we say salaam!

Where the fusion between east and west was fresh and funky on 'Kal Ho Naa Ho', it sounds forced and too ironic on 'Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna'. This is heightened by the use of lyrics, which are sometimes easy to second guess (even if your Hindi isn't very good). Javed Akhtar does a much better job with the title song lyrics, which tell a story and hint at something sombre.

Is Karan Johar trying to play it safe with the music, as the film is darker, newer territory? Is he having a creative crisis? Who knows. He should get over it and trust his instinct next time round. His audience expects more than Bollywood music by template - and his varied past work shows he has a great ear for music.

ABOUT KABHI ALVIDA NAA KEHNA (THE ALBUM)

Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna again utilises the talents of previous successful working partnerships, with the genius of Javed Akhtar creating lyrics that emote passion, sadness and joy. The lyrics are then set to lilting melodies by the team that created the music for Kal Ho Naa Ho - Shankar Eshaan Loy.

The album features seven tracks that range from haunting Sufi rock track 'Mitwa' to the funky 'Where's the Party Tonight', all created to complement the roller coaster of emotions that you are guaranteed to experience in a great Karan Johar film