Songs and musician credits at the end.
Akshay Verma (one half of the composing pair Abhishek Akshay, who debuted with Vicky Donor and were lead composers for Running Shaadi last year – NOT to be confused with the movie’s director Akshat Verma) is in sparkling form in the trippy Swagpur Ka Choudhary performing both of his roles – lyricist and vocalist. Not to take anything away from composer Samir Uddin’s work in the backdrop which is equally instrumental in the song’s allure. Samir is equally brilliant in Aa Bhi Jaa (love that electronic groove!) written by Anvita Dutt that has Vishal Dadlani and Abhishek Nailwal handling the vocals. Nailwal does a solo act in Samir’s third song, the infectious electro swing track Jive With Me that might perhaps have worked better with another singer.
In Kaala Doreya the composer gives a contemporary twist to the traditional Punjabi composition. Not as high up on the quirkiness quotient as the previous songs, but an engaging piece nevertheless, thanks also to Neha Bhasin’s singing and Raxstar’s rap. The title song comes from guest composer Shashwat Sachdev, fresh from his successful 2017 debut Phillauri. His musical partners remain largely the same here too – Anvita Dutt as lyricist, Romy and Vivek Hariharan as vocalists etc. And while this song too has a folk base like his compositions in the last movie, he layers it well with contemporary elements – especially liked the way he employed the horns and Satwinder Pal Singh’s sarangi.
Kaalakaandi. Samir Uddin and Shashwat Sachdev produce a worthy musical successor to Delhi Belly (written by Kaalakaandi’s director Akshat Verma), rating lower to the latter only for its lesser number of songs.
Music Aloud Rating: 3.5/5
Top Recos: Swagpur Ka Choudhary, Aa Bhi Jaa, Kaalakaandi
This review first appeared in the Mumbai edition of The Hindu.
Musician Credits
Song – Swagpur Ka Chaudhary
Singer – Akshay Verma
Music – Sameer Uddin
Lyricist – Akshay Verma
Co-Production – Samrat Bharadwaj
Recorded At Pluginn Studio
Mixed By Kenneth Basumatari
Assisted By Nikhil Pakhare
Mixed At 5AM Audio
Producer – Rashi Bagai (5AM Audio)
Song – Kaala Doreya
Singer – Neha Bhasin Featuring Raxstar
Music – Sameer Uddin
Lyricist – Folk
Co-Production – Raghav Mehta
Recorded At 5AM Audio
Mixed By Kenneth Basumatari
Assisted By Nikhil Pakhare
Mixed At 5AM Audio
Producer – Rashi Bagai (5AM Audio)
Song – Jive With Me
Singer – Abhishek Nailwal
Music – Sameer Uddin
Lyricist – Anvita Dutt
Violins – Jitendra Thakur
Trumpets – Kishore Sodha
Recorded At 5AM Audio
Mixed By Kenneth Basumatari
Assisted By Nikhil Pakhare
Mixed At 5AM Audio
Producer – Rashi Bagai (5AM Audio)
Song – Kaalakaandi
Singers – Shashwat Sachdev, Vivek Hariharan, Romy & Arun Kamath
Music – Shashwat Sachdev
Lyricist – Anvita Dutt
Programmed, Produced, Mixed & Mastered by Shashwat Sachdev
Executive Music Producer – Vivek Hariharan
Guitar – Youngmin Kim
Bass Guitar – Youngmin Kim & Shashwat Sachdev
Piano & Keys – Shashwat Sachdev
Additional Keys – Siddharth Pandit
Rhythm Section & Percussions – Shashwat Sachdev, Kutle Khan Barna & Pappu
Dholak – Manoj Kumar Hela
Sarangi – Satwinder Pal Singh
Additional Mixing – Romy
Recorded at Virasat Studios
Song – Aa Bhi Jaa
Singers – Vishal Dadlani & Abhishek Nailwal
Music – Sameer Uddin
Lyricist – Anvita Dutt
Recorded At Vishal Shekhar Studio
Recording Engineers Kunvar Anshith & Kallol Ghosh
Mixed At 5AM Audio
Producer – Rashi Bagai (5AM Audio)
