You can listen to the NOKJ soundtrack here and buy it at just Rs. 60 as against the original price of Rs. 160! So if you don’t plan to buy the CD at least buy the songs online.
Aali Re alarmingly starts off on an annoying note before Amit Trivedi’s imaginative sounds kick in, and from then on its almost like he’s picked up from where he parted with Rajkumar Gupta last, in Aamir. Making wonderful use of the battalion of singers at his disposal (namely Tochi Raina, Biswajit Chakraborthy, Shriram Iyer, Raja Hassan, Anushka Manchanda, Sonu Kakar, Aditi Singh Sharma and Sonika Sharma) the composer opens the soundtrack in style with Aali Re. And then comes the most sinister-sounding ode to the national capital I have heard, Dilli, a sharp contrast to A R Rahman’s score last year. While perfectly aligning with the movie’s mood, Amit Trivedi creates an absolute head banger with this rock song that wonderfully incorporates classical elements (Raag Todi/Subhapanthuvarali??). With the Punjabi lyrics Tochi Raina seems a perfect choice for vocals and he is given wonderful support by Amit’s ex-band mate Shriram Iyer and Aditi Singh Sharma with her rockstar rendition. And what guitar riffs!! Couldn’t find any discernible difference between Dilli and Dilli Hardcore.
Aitbaar has Amit Trivedi display a Rahmanesque flair in his intriguing employment of instruments in another rock-flavoured arrangement. The rock-ish delivery by Vishal Dadlani, Mame Khan Manganiyar’s folksy parts and Robert Omulo’s rap form a brilliantly engaging combo on the vocal front as well. For the first half of Yeh Pal, Shilpa Rao leads the song with her scintillating vocals while Amit Trivedi keeps the orchestration at a minimum level. Her role abruptly ends at 3:20 when the song switches to instrumental mode, made delightful courtesy a wide range of instruments employed by the composer. The last song, Dua, is the only marginal case of the composer recycling old tunes, this one strongly evocative of Udaan songs in its arrangement and feel in places, especially the classic rock-ish portions. Nevertheless the song will have you engaged for the orchestration and the singing by Meenal Jain, Raman Mahadevan, Joi Barua and Amitabh Bhattacharya. Interesting to see Amit Trivedi’s name missing in the vocal credits despite such a big lineup of singers.
After three outstanding soundtracks (discounting the one song in Striker) and a National Award in 2010, Amit Trivedi declares he is far from done, with yet another phenomenal soundtrack in No One Killed Jessica.
Music Aloud Rating — 9/10
Recommended Tracks — All of them!
