Songs and credits at the end.
Since the central character of Secret Superstar is a teenager, the singing voices in the soundtrack are mostly young. The rare instance of a more mature voice is Sunidhi Chauhan in Gudgudi, though even her singing here is reflective of youthful wonderment, conveyed beautifully in Kausar Munir’s lyrics. Musically the song carries a familiar sound, but the general happy vibes (the harmonica/accordion, and Tapas Roy’s work on mandolin & banjo particularly) mitigate it to an extent. In fact, the familiarity aspect turns out to be a problem on multiple occasions through the soundtrack; it is often the lyrics and the singing that save it from becoming average fare. And talking of singing, we come to the real superstar of the soundtrack – young debutante Meghna Mishra, the singing voice of Zaira Wasim in Secret Superstar. One of her best renditions happens in the introspective Main Kaun Hoon where the singing takes on a rebellious tone, especially in the soaring portions that she commendably negotiates, even as the composer builds up the song’s intensity to match the singer’s passion. Meghna sounds endearing to an equal measure as she delivers the heart-warming (more for the words than the music, again) ode to the mother – Meri Pyaari Ammi.
The greatest allure of Nachdi Phira is how Kausar Munir’s opening verse is made to work effectively with minor variations in both the breezy rock ballad, and the cheesy dance track Sexy Baliye. While the former has Meghna Mishra again, Sexy Baliye is Mika Singh’s show – the cheesiness in the latter seems deliberate, going by the song’s video and the spoofy nature of Aamir Khan’s character; and for that very reason, the song took me back to Sneha Khanwalkar’s Love Sex Aur Dhokha title song. It is in the remaining two songs by Meghna where the composer delivers his best. Sapne Re is built on a beautiful folk flavoured melody, further adorned with a soothing earthy rhythm (Sanket Naik’s work on the percussion). And O Re Manwa sees some fab guitars, though it is the gentle tune and the singer’s ace rendition of it that make it a captivating listen. The last song of the soundtrack sees another talented young newbie debut as vocalist – Kushal Chokshi. I’ll Miss You is an expression of teenage romance at its earnest best – the lyrics, an endearing mix of Hindi, English and Gujarati; simple melody and arrangement; and above all, Chokshi’s sincere singing that will make your heart go out to him.
Secret Superstar. As I said earlier, a soundtrack that is made likeable largely by lyricist Kausar Munir and the promising young singer Meghna Mishra.
Music Aloud Rating: 3/5
Top Recos: O Re Manwa, Sapne Re, I’ll Miss You
This review first appeared in the Mumbai edition of The Hindu.
Musician credits
Song Credits:-
Song – Main Kaun Hoon
Singer – Meghna Mishra
Music – Amit Trivedi
Lyricist – Kausar Munir
Song – Meri Pyaari Ammi
Singer – Meghna Mishra
Music – Amit Trivedi
Lyricist – Kausar Munir
Song – Sapne Re
Singer – Meghna Mishra
Music – Amit Trivedi
Lyricist – Kausar Munir
Song – I’ll Miss You
Singer – Kushal Chokshi
Music – Amit Trivedi
Lyricist – Kausar Munir
Song – Nachdi Phira
Singer – Meghna Mishra
Music – Amit Trivedi
Lyricist – Kausar Munir
Song – Sexy Baliye
Singer – Mika Singh
Music – Amit Trivedi
Lyricist – Kausar Munir
Song – Gudgudi
Singer – Sunidhi Chauhan
Music – Amit Trivedi
Lyricist – Kausar Munir
Song – O Re Manwa
Singer – Meghna Mishra
Music – Amit Trivedi
Lyricist – Kausar Munir
Produced & Arranged by Amit Trivedi
Musicians:-
Programmed by Amit Trivedi, Gourab Dutta, Vineeth Jay & Raja Rasaily
Piano & Programming – Jarvis Menezes
Drums – Darshan Doshi, Jai Row Kavi
Guitar – Nyzel Dlima, Warren Mendonsa, Pozy Dharr
Bass Guitar – Ardeshir Mistry
Banjo, Mandolin – Tapas Roy
Saxophone, Clarinet & Flute – Inapakurti D Rao
Percussion – Sanket Naik
Violin – Jitendra.H. Thakur
The Chennai Strings – Conductor – M. Kalyan & team
Recording Studio – A T Studios – Mumbai, YRF Studios – Mumbai & A M studios, Chennai
Recording Engineers A T Studios Mumbai – Recording Engineers A T Studios Mumbai
Recording Engineers YRF Studios – Mumbai – Shantanu Hudlikar Assisted by Abhishek Khandelwal & Manasi Tare
Recording Engineers – AM studios, Chennai – Siva Kumar, Pradeep Menon, Manoj Raman & Srinath
Mixed by Shadab Rayeen, A T Studios & New Edge – Mumbai Assisted by : Abhishek Sortey & Dhananjay Khapekar
Mastered by Donal Whelan, Masteringworld – U.K.
Executive Producer A T Studios – Krutee Trivedi
Head Of Production A T Studios – Aashish Narula
