This review first appeared in the Mumbai edition of The Hindu.
Songs and musician credits at the end.
A twitter friend, @taparam, made this astute observation last week (before the release of Sonchiriya’s music) about the pattern that Vishal Bhardwaj soundtracks have fallen into of late – both in terms of the choice of genres and the singers – which has made the prospect of a new album from the veteran less exciting of late. Amusingly, and unfortunately (because of the repetitiveness it often results in), even Sonchiriya’s soundtrack pretty much sticks to that template for most part. And the song where that monotony has the most detrimental effect in the folksy dance track sung by Sukhwinder Singh and Rekha Bhardwaj, Naina Na Maar. While Sukhwinder’s singing is what is most likely to take your mind back to the multiple songs of this kind he has sung, even Rekha sounds out of sorts on her part, and not just in this song. Sukhwinder Singh’s other song is a better affair – Saanp Khavega has great potential, marked by powerful lines from Varun Grover, and a momentous, almost eerie orchestration (Budapest Film Orchestra at work). But once again the end product falls short of anything worth writing home about. Ruan Ruan checks the “pensive melody” box, formerly handled by the composer himself but taken over by Arijit Singh in recent soundtracks. This is however a case where the quality of the song lifts it above the déjà vu aspect, to make it a winner. Arijit is in good form, delivering the neatly written verse, but it is the arrangement – the guitars (Ankur Mukherjee, Dhruv Visvanath and bassist Saurabh Suman) interspersed with that whistle hook shadowing the Ruan Ruan refrain – that really drew me to the song.
Another song that had in it the makings of a terrific piece, but doesn’t quite get there is the title song. The composition comes across as something of a surprise to begin with – its gentle, lullaby-ish cadence at complete odds with the fierceness that dominated the promos of the movie. The interlude features a lovely classical-flavoured solo on the guitar (played almost like a slide guitar) by Chintoo Singh. It is the vocals that let the song down – Rekha Bhardwaj sounds better here than she did in Naina, but is still nowhere close to her best. The Budapest Film Orchestra join the party in the song’s reprise version and the backdrop gets more elaborate; the singing disappoints yet again, but I will take this version for the sweeping instrumental passages by the orchestra (this version of the song occasionally takes me back to the composer’s brilliant Shaaradendu from the 1998 Malayalam movie Daya). Baaghi Re is the track that actually feels like a theme song of the movie. The rock-flavoured arrangement follows along the lines of other songs in the genre VB has created in the past, except with a seeming touch of Wild West in keeping with the movie’s Chambal settings. The decision to hand vocal duties to the folk powerhouse Mame Khan helps escape the tedium to an extent as well, as the man brings in his brand of improvisations et al to the rendition. The song has a remix too – the remix trend in Hindi has reached such a level that the remix of a song from the same album actually comes as a welcome change – The Groove Room Producers sprucing up the original arrangement. Nicely done, though I prefer the touch of hinterland in the original.
Sonchiriya. Uncharacteristically middling fare from Vishal Bhardwaj, that feels particularly ordinary coming on the back of two exceptional soundtracks these last couple of weeks (Gully Boy in Hindi and Kumbalangi Nights in Malayalam).
Music Aloud Rating: 3/5
Top Recos: Ruan Ruan, Baaghi Re, Sonchiriya Reprise
Musician Credits
Song: Baaghi Re
Lyrics: Varun Grover
Music: Vishal Bhardwaj
Singer: Mame Khan
Music Producer: Ketan Sodha
Additional Programming: Debarpito Saha
Guitars: Ankur Mukherjee
Music Assistant: Mayukh Sarkar
Recorded by Salman Khan Afridi @ Studio Satya, Mumbai
Mixed by Steve Fitzmaurice For 365 Artists
Assistant Mix Engineer: Darren Heelis
Mixed At The Pierce Rooms, London
Mastered by Christian Wright@ Abbey Road Studios, London.
Song: Sonchiraiya
Lyrics: Varun Grover
Music: Vishal Bhardwaj
Singer: Rekha Bhardwaj
Music Producer: Ketan Sodha
Guitars: Chintoo Singh
Music Assistant: Mayukh Sarkar
Recorded by Salman Khan Afridi @ Studio Satya, Mumbai.
Mixed by Tanay Gajjar @ Wow & Flutter
Assistant Mix Engineer: Rupak Thakur
Mastered by Christian Wright@ Abbey Road Studios, London.
Song: Ruan Ruan
Lyrics: Varun Grover
Music: Vishal Bhardwaj
Singer: Arijit Singh
Music Producers: Simaab Sen & Ketan Sodha
Guitars: Ankur Mukherjee
Additional Guitars: Dhruv Visvanath
Bass: Saurabh Suman
Choir: Aditya Narayan
Music Assistant: Mayukh Sarkar
Recorded by Salman Khan Afridi @ Studio Satya, Mumbai
Mixed by Tanay Gajjar @ Wow & Flutter
Assistant Mix Engineer: Rupak Thakur
Mastered by Christian Wright@ Abbey Road Studios, London.
Song: Naina Na Maar
Lyrics: Traditional Recreated By Ashok Mizaj Badr
Music: Vishal Bhardwaj
Singers: Sukhwinder Singh & Rekha Bhardwaj
Music Producer: Ketan Sodha
Additional Programming: Dipanjan Guha & Ketan Sodha
Dholaks: Raju Sardar, Girish Vishwa, Yusuf Khan & Navin Sharma
Music Assistant: Mayukh Sarkar
Recorded by Salman Khan Afridi @ Studio Satya, Mumbai
Mixed by Tanay Gajjar @ Wow & Flutter
Assistant Mix Engineer: Rupak Thakur
Mastered by Christian Wright@ Abbey Road Studios, London.
Song: Saanp Khavega
Lyrics: Varun Grover
Music: Vishal Bhardwaj
Singer: Sukhwinder Singh
Choir: Mridul Ghosh, Sudhanshu Shome, Pankaj Dixit &Tanmay Bhawalkar
Music Producer: Ketan Sodha
Music Assistant: Mayukh Sarkar
Orchestra: Budapest Film Orchestra
Conductor: Daryl Griffith
Recorded by Salman Khan Afridi @ Studio Satya, Mumbai
Mixed by Alok Punjani
Mixed at The Islanders @ Studio 208
Mastered by Christian Wright@ Abbey Road Studios, London.
Song: Sonchiraiya Reprise
Lyrics: Varun Grover
Music: Vishal Bhardwaj
Singer: Rekha Bhardwaj
Music Producer: Ketan Sodha
Additional Programming: Amey Ghuley
Music Assistant: Mayukh Sarkar
Orchestra: Budapest Film Orchestra
Conductor: Daryl Griffith
Recorded by Salman Khan Afridi @ Studio Satya, Mumbai.
Mixed by Alok Punjani
Mixed at The Islanders @ Studio 208
Mastered by Christian Wright@ Abbey Road Studios, London.
Song: Baaghi Re – Remix
Music: Vishal Bhardwaj
Produced by The Groove Room Producers
Mixed & Mastered by Keshav Dhar
