Songs and full credits at the end (song link via @Prakshid)
Yeh Fitoor Mera has composer Amit Trivedi evoking his Pareshaan/Harjaiyan line of arrangement – slow haunting build-up towards a rousing central hook. A formula that still works despite its definite familiarity; the strings-led arrangement is sure to have you engaged and Arijit Singh is good too, with an understated chorus (Rajiv Sundaresan, Kshitij Wagh, Rishikesh Kamerkar) for support. It is only in the second half that the song’s allure starts slipping. And either way, the song comes off a weakling compared to the awesomeness that follows in the soundtrack. Pashmina too is quite instantly identifiable as an Amit song, but in a packaging so achingly beautiful that the kink scarcely matters. Amit himself handles the vocals here, and commendably too, while in the backdrop the flute (Inapakurti D Rao) is one of the stars, instrumental in lending the song its highland feel. Rangaa Re has a follow-on from Pashmina kind of feel about it, only the arrangement is punchier with more prominent techno elements. Engaging listen, but not quite the same as Pashmina, even with Sunidhi Chauhan on vocals, joined by Amit Trivedi in the second half. Not much changes in the English Version of the song, except for Caralisa Monteiro replacing Sunidhi with equal finesse.
Amit presents Sunidhi Chauhan with another beauty in the soundtrack called Tere Liye where she is joined by a matchingly competent Jubin Nautiyal. The orchestration is a lush mix of guitars and violins. The two remaining songs both carry Kashmiri folk flavour, set as the movie is in the state. Hone Do Batiyan has Zeb Bangash making her debut with Amit, alongside Nandini Srikar, and the two ladies ace the charming folk melody. The ethnic feel in the arrangement comes largely from Tapas Roy’s work on the plucked instruments (rabab and bouzouki, possibly), and the lullaby-ish cadence adds to the song’s charm. It is Zeb’s solo act that is the absolute winner of Fitoor though, the one titled Haminastu (Hamin asto as per google, coming apparently from Emperor Jahangir’s Persian couplet extolling the beauty of Kashmir that appears at the start of the song, and translates to “If there is a paradise on earth, it’s here, it’s here, it’s here). Lyricist Swanand Kirkire adds some of his eloquent words to the famous Persian verse that Zeb renders to a tee, while Amit Trivedi backs her up with a stunningly layered arrangement highlighted by the frenetic saaz(?) phrases and the march past-like percussion (Darshan Doshi) also playing at a frenzied pace. In its final minute, the vocals fade into the backdrop while Tapas Roy takes the lead with his multiple instruments (he even brings in a santoor towards the very end) to finish the song on a glorious high.
Fitoor. Amit Trivedi’s previous soundtrack with Abhishek Kapoor may have had only three songs, but he leaves no such room for complaint here. The composer starts off his year with another brilliant work for the director, and with the same lyricist Swanand Kirkire.
Music Aloud Rating: 8.5/10
Top Recos: Haminastu, Hone Do Batiyan, Pashmina
Full Credits (Hats off to Zee Music for consistently supplying complete credits with their song jukeboxes)
Produced & Arranged by – Amit Trivedi
Executive Producer – Krutee Trivedi
Supervising Producer – Aashish Narula
Recording Studio – A T Studios – Mumbai & The Click Studio – Mumbai, D. J. Studio – Chennai & Vibrations Studio – Kolkata
Recording Engineers – Shadab Rayeen, D Raj, Fali Damania & Goutam Basu. Assisted by Abhishek Sortey, Firoz Shaikh & Viki Ambiraj
Mixed by – Shadab Rayeen, A T Studios – Mumbai & New Edge – Mumbai
Mastered by – Donal Whelan, Masteringworld – U.K.
Musicians:
Programmed by Amit Trivedi & Gourab Dutta
Saz, Santoor, Rabab & Bouzouki – Tapas Roy
Drums – Darshan Doshi
Flute – Inapakurti D Rao
Guitar – Warren Mendonsa
Guitar – Shyamak Mukherjee
Bass Guitar – Rushad Mistry
Guitar & Bass Guitar – Sanjoy Das
The Chennai Strings – M. Kalyan, The Chennai Strings – Conductor
Violin – Rex Isaacs, N.P Kerala, N. Jaikumar, K. Balachandran, Ravijayanand, J. David Ling, P.S. Narayana Rao, T. Balaji, Ch. Vijaya Bhaskar, P.V. Subramaniam
Viola – R. Joseph, P.V. Ramana, Jugania Anita Francis , V.G. Vengates, B. Vinay Kumar, Emilian Fernandes
Cello: Fracis Rozario, John Gayen,
Double Bass – R. Selvaraj
Strings Co.Ordinator – N.Ramanathan
Backing Vocals on Yeh Fitoor Mera – Rajiv Sundaresan, Kshitij Wagh ,Rishikesh Kamerkar
