Songs and credits at the end.
From his debut Aks in 2001 to Mirzya now, director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra has exactly five movies in his repertoire. Not all the previous ones have met with the same level of success but the consistent aspect has been that they all featured amazing music. After extracting two of A R Rahman’s best soundtracks this side of the millennium, the director shifted to Shankar Ehsaan Loy in his last venture Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, and it is the trio composing for this movie too. With a change in lyricist though – ending his three movie long association with Prasoon Joshi that began with Rang De Basanti, the director goes back to veteran Gulzar who penned the songs for Aks.
The first thing you notice about Mirzya’s playlist is its amazing lineup of vocalists, most of them exponents of folk or classical music. A good hint to what lies in store for you in the soundtrack. The title track came out last week, featuring Daler Mehndi, Pakistani Sufi singer Saieen Zahoor, Balochi folk singer Akhtar Channal and the Nooran sisters on lead vocals, and an equally proficient set of backing vocals, all of whom deliver to their standards. The percussion-laden track has that department handled by Taufiq Qureshi, and Naveen Kumar plays the flute and pungi. Despite all of this though, the song somehow didn’t work for me in its entirety, possibly the uneven melody. No such issues with Chakora though – the energetic and nuanced efforts from Mangniyar singer Mame Khan and Suchismita Das (who was last seen on ARR’s Coke Studio at MTV episode singing Jagao Mere Des) punctuated with Akhtar Channal’s throaty chants come together most splendidly in Shankar Ehsaan Loy’s groovy folk-electronic melange. Aave Re Hichki does even better, riding on the soothing seven beat cycle and a beautiful folk melody (shades of raag durga in places, perhaps) that Shankar Mahadevan nails with a fine chorus to boot. Love the way he stops at “hich” at one point for the hichki effect! The folk elements in the backdrop are supplied by Mame Khan Troupe, the sarangi is especially put to good use; and that interlude is gold!
The vocal team from the title track returns to deliver Gulzar’s imagination of things one experiences when in love, in Hota Hai. The arrangement once again combines folk and electronic elements, this time with a Punjabi inclination, with equally engaging results. And the bonus, the Balochi bits by Akhtar Channal that remind one of his Coke Studio performances. The ending is oddly abrupt, though. Ek Nadi Thi starts off like a minimally arranged folk track, consisting mainly of Nooran Sisters’ and Agnee man Mohan Kannan’s voices and Taufiq Qureshi’s finger snaps and claps. The song however attains a delightful new colour when the blues guitar kicks in! The guitar solo makes for a particularly good interlude with the Salvation Chorus. Doli Re Doli is one of the soundtrack’s most brilliantly imagined songs! A characteristic prelude from Saieen Zahoor that leads into Shankar Mahadevan’s main song where he keeps flitting between ragas with finesse, while behind him the jazz elements keep coming and going – trumpet (Victor Gracia), double bass (Abhinav Khokhar), piano, drums (Kalyan Pathak) – never really in tandem with what is being sung, and yet they work so well together!
Teen Gawah Hai Ishq Ke is the most mainstream-friendly song of the soundtrack, at least considering the main melody. Siddharth Mahadevan sings that very well with the Salvation Singers Chorus in tow and Saieen Zahoor’s soaring voice making the occasional appearance. Kaaga has Kaushiki Chakraborty executing her amazing classical portions in raag basant bahaar (highlighted by one brief but splendid sargam) amidst the composers’ opulent and dramatic orchestration – the combination is a total winner! The instrumental theme song titled Broken Arrows alternates between hopeful and forlorn, and is delivered on sarangi and flute. The soundtrack has six more short pieces, presumably from the background score. And most of them have Daler Mehndi singing free-form to a minimal backdrop (nice but minuscule classical violin solos in a couple of them). Pretty functional, and should presumably work well in the movie, sort of like how his Gurbani from Bhaag Milkha Bhaag worked so much better onscreen.
A rich, remarkably diverse set of songs from Shankar Ehsaan Loy for Mirzya. And Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra continues to maintain high musical standards for his movies.
Rating: 4/5
Top Songs: Doli Re Doli, Aave Re Hichki, Kaaga, Ek Nadi Thi, Chakora
This review first appeared in Mumbai edition of The Hindu.
Artist Credits
Song – Mirzya
Singers– Daler Mehndi, Sain Zahoor, Akhtar Chinnal, Nooran Sisters
Music By: Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Lyrics – Gulzar
Chorus – Shankar Mahadevan,The Salvation Singers, Nikita Deshpande & Sapna Pathak
Flute / Pungi / Fujara – Naveen
Percussion – Taufiq Qureshi
Song Mixed & Mastered By – Tanay Gajjar At Wow & Flutter
Assisted By- Rupak Thakur
Music On- T-Series
The Salvation Singers –
Conductor – Dylan D’souza,Beverly D’souza,Cursina Valles,Danica,Lobo,Danica Machado,Dean Sequeira,Diana Fernandes,Dymphena Dias,Garfield Mendonca,Jude D’souza,Karen,Dias,Lisa De Souza,Mihir Ferrao,Natasha D’cunha,Nathan D’mello,Neal Pires,Neha D’cunha,Niall Nazareth,Rachelle Rego,Riddhi Sampat,Rohan A. Fernandes,Rosemary Pires,Trini D’souza
___________________________________
Song: Teen Gawah Hain Ishq Ke
Singer: Siddharth Mahadevan ,Sain Zahoor
Music Director : Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Lyrics: Gulzar
Chorus – The Salvation Singers, Loy Mendonsa
Dimdi – Abhay Rumde, Bass – Loy Mendonsa.
Music Label: T-Series
___________________________________
Song: Chakora
Singer: Mame Khan,Shuchismita Das,Akhtar Chinnal
Music Director : Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Lyrics: Gulzar
Chorus – Shankar Mahadevan & Shuchismita Das
Additional Programming – Gulraj Singh
Music Label: T-Series
___________________________________
Song: Aave Re Hitchki
Singer: Mame Khan,Shankar Mahadevan
Music Director : Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Lyrics: Gulzar
Chorus – Sapna Pathak, Arsh Mohammed, Rehan Khan, Firoz Khan, Farhan Sabri
Guitars – Neill Mukherjee, Bass – Loy Mendonsa, Dholak & Sarangi – Mame Khan Troupe.
Music Label: T-Series
___________________________________
Song: Hota Hai
Singer: Nooran Sisters,Sain Zahoor,Akhtar Chinnal,Daler Mehndi
Music Director : Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Lyrics: Gulzar
Chorus – The Salvation Singers, Shankar Mahadevan
Kartall – Mame Khan Troupe, Sarangi- Delshad Khan
Music Label: T-Series
___________________________________
Song: Ek Nadi Thi
Singer: Nooran Sisters,K. Mohan
Music Director : Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Lyrics: Gulzar
Percussion – Taufiq Qureshi
Music Label: T-Series
___________________________________
Song: Doli Re Doli
Singer: Shankar Mahadevan,Mame Khan
Music Director : Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Lyrics: Gulzar
Upright Bass – Abhinav Khokhar, Melodica –Shankar Mahadevan, Trumpet –Victor Garcia, Drumset / Cymbals – Kalyan Pathak, Session Produced By- Kalyan Pathak
Music Label: T-Series
___________________________________
Song: Kaaga
Singer: Kaushiki Chakraborty
Music Director : Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Lyrics: Gulzar
Additional Programming – Santosh Mulekar.
Music Label: T-Series
___________________________________
Background pieces:
Singer: Daler Mehndi
Music Director : Daler Mehndi
Lyrics: Gulzar
Music Label: T-Series
___________________________________
All Songs Mixed & Mastered By Tanay Gajjar At Wow&Flutterr Studio.
Assisted By Rupak Thakur
Shankar Ehsaan Loy Use Arturia Soft Synths. Loy Uses Yamaha Keyboards. Ehsaan Uses Fender Guitars, Fractal Audio Axe Fx, Ernie Ball Strings.
