Gangs of Wasseypur 2 – Music Review

You can listen to the soundtrack here.

Composer Sneha Khanwalkar quite literally hits the ground running as she kicks off Gangs of Wassepur 2 with Chee Chaa Ledar, one of the best songs of the soundtrack with its techno-based arrangement, wacky Hinglish lyrics from Varun Grover, and the icing on the cake, 12 year old Durga’s infectiously high-spirited rendition. Kaala Rey has kaala as a motif throughout the song, and the arrangement is matchingly dark and eerie, the hook on cello (?) particularly contributing to the haunting quality. The composer’s singing has its flaws, but those flaws interestingly accentuate the feel in most places. Rasika Rani’s singing on the other hand does not help the cause of Electric Piya much, nor does the monotonous arrangement. In fact the Fused version fares relatively better due to the tweakings in the arrangement. There is nothing particularly repeat listen-inducing about Bahut Khoob though the mix is intriguing, probably the movie will help make more sense out of it. The same goes for its 8 bit version (wonder if that’s Super Mario’s dragon level BGM playing in between). The composer brings Padmashree Sharda Sinha to sing Taar Bijli¸ the most normal-sounding song of the score with its regular dholak-led arrangement. But may be it is the outré sounds addling my brains, this one didn’t work for me that well, the vocals seem to lack the punch.
In Aabroo Sneha packs the seemingly street play-based song (raga Sindhubhairavi, I think) very nicely in a retro sound, and Bhupesh Singh and Piyush Mishra take care of the rest, rendering to a tee Piyush’s own lines. And as the Caribbean-flavored Moora comes a very hummable and feel good piece from the composer that she renders herself along with Robbie Styles. Equally pleasing in its own way, is the ambient Morning version. The remix version of Keh Ke Loonga from part 1, KKL is like a demonstration of how the original might have sounded had it been made in a Sound Trippin’ Episode. The soundtrack closes with two instrumental tracks – Tunya and Perpendicular (Theme) both of which are replete with motley sounds but fail to engage as songs, for their presumably situational value.
Gangs of Wasseypur Part 2 indeed! Equally offbeat, equally wacky, but a tad less entertaining. Even then a total of 27 tracks with so many winners is no mean task, so take a bow Miss Khanwalkar!
Music Aloud Rating: 8/10
Top Recos: Chee Chaa Ledar, Kaala Rey, Moora