Songs and musician credits at the end.
This review first appeared in the Mumbai edition of The Hindu.
The song video for Chashni starts with a voiceover by Salman Khan that goes “Indian cinema ko mil gaya tha apna pehla superstar Rajesh Khanna, lekin hum they old school, Dilip Kumar ke fan” – the song, however, sounds too contemporary to belong to either era really (what’s with Bollywood period films featuring all modern sounding songs?). That quibble aside, Vishal Shekhar’s song is as sweet as its title, delivered neatly by Abhijeet Srivastava. The mellow orchestration with a smattering of folk elements like esraj and ghatam adds beautifully to its charm. In what has become a pattern with Ali Abbas Zafar films, the soundtrack features a Neha Bhasin-rendered unplugged version of Chashni, produced by Sameer Uddin. But unlike the previous two instances, this one fails to impress. With Slow Motion the era-based dissonance goes up even further, since even lyrically (Irshad Kamil, the man) the Hinglish combination sits at odds with the setting. A very close equivalent I can find is incidentally also a recent song, Pritam’s First Class from Kalank last month. And like that song, this one too is a very catchy affair – in-form Shreya Ghoshal and Nakash Aziz, and that addictive hook on guitar being the main contributors. Ironically, the song titled Slow Motion ends on double-time. Aithey Aa, the album’s other dance song, derives a lot of its appeal from the quirkiness factor. Joining Akasa Singh and Neeti Mohan in the song is the man whose filmography is largely comprised of Salman movies, Kamaal Khan. Not that I have anything against his choice of course, man still sounds good. While this version of the song has the female voice being all assertive, an alternative, slightly differently worded dance version (not that the original is any less of a dance version, IMO) has Nakash Aziz delivering the whole song.
Aaya Na Tu is a curious composition in more ways than one – the use of Jyoti Nooran’s voice in a bass register is the biggest surprise (almost didn’t recognise her the first time). And while the song’s melody does well to convey the longing in Irshad Kamil’s wonderfully written lines, the arrangement carries an almost anthemic flavour at times (interestingly, the first interlude features the first verse melody repeated as-is on harmonium). Sukhwinder Singh gets to lead two songs, both heavy on Punjabi folk. Thap Thap interestingly starts off briefly sounding like Pataakha Guddi, before taking its own route, albeit a middling one. Turpeya on the other hand sees a lot more of the composers’ creativity, resulting in a groovy folk-electronic mix, topped off with Singh’s ace rendition. The soundtrack’s token inspirational song, Zinda, sees the movie’s director Ali Abbas Zafar turn guest composer (alongside Julius Packiam) and lyricist. The composition itself is nothing special, and is held together largely by the vocalisation – the ever-dependable Vishal Dadlani and a solid chorus.
Director Ali Abbas Zafar appears to love a lot of constants in his cast and crew, and that love unsurprisingly reflects in the musical section as well – Irshad Kamil, Vishal Shekhar, Julius Packiam, Neha Bhasin, Sukhwinder Singh etc. Stands to reason then, that the quality of music in his movies too stays pretty much at a constant level – nothing brilliant, but reasonably engaging stuff. Ditto with Bharat.
Music Aloud Rating: 3/5
Top Recos: Chashni, Turpeya, Slow Motion
Musician Credits
1. SONG: SLOW MOTION
ARTISTS: VISHAL & SHEKHAR FEATURING NAKASH AZIZ AND SHREYA GHOSHAL.
LYRICS: IRSHAD KAMIL
MUSIC ARRANGED & PRODUCED: MEGHDEEP BOSE
MUSIC LABEL: T-SERIES
MIXED & MASTERED: ERIC PILLAI @ FUTURE SOUND OF BOMBAY.
ASSISTED BY: MICHAEL EDWIN PILLAI
GUITARS: WARREN MENDONSA & MEGHDEEP BOSE
BASS: ADI MISTRY
INDIAN REEDS AND WOODWINDS ENSEMBLE – (MESSENGER-RAMANAND SHETTY)
RAJ KUMAR SODHA, SURESH YADAV, SHAYAMRAJ, KIRAN KUMAR, SHANKAR INDORKAR, YOGESH MORE, RAJENDRA SOLANKE, UMESH CHIPLUNKAR
ADDITIONAL PERCUSSIONS ARRANGEMENT – DIPESH VARMA
LIVE PERCUSSIONS PERFORMED: DIPESH VARMA, OMKAR SALUNKHE, KEYUR BARVE, KHWAB HARIA, SHIKHAR NAAD QURESHI
MUSIC RECORDED: SHANTANU HUDLIKAR, VIJAY DAYAL, ABHISHEK KHANDELWAL, MANASI TARE & CHINMEY MESTRY @ YRF STUDIOS.
VOCALS RECORDED: HANISH TANEJA @ VNS STUDIO.
2. SONG – CHASHNI
ARTIST – VISHAL & SHEKHAR FEAT. ABHIJEET SRIVASTAVA
LYRICS – IRSHAD KAMIL
MUSIC LABEL – T-SERIES
MUSIC PRODUCERS @ FLYING CARPET PRODUCTIONS – AMAN MORONEY, ASHISH MANCHANDA
ADDITIONAL MUSIC PRODUCTION – ABHIJIT NALANI
ACOUSTIC GUITAR / ESRAJ – AMAN MORONEY
RECORDED AT – FLYING CARPET PRODUCTIONS, MUMBAI
MIXED AND MASTERED BY – ERIC PILLAI @ FUTURE SOUND OF BOMBAY
ASSISTED BY MICHAEL EDWIN PILLAI.
3. SONG – AITHEY AA
ARTISTS – VISHAL & SHEKHAR FEAT. AKASA SINGH, NEETI MOHAN, KAMAAL KHAN
LYRICIST – IRSHAD KAMIL
MUSIC LABEL – T-SERIES
MUSIC ARRANGED & PRODUCED BY MEGHDEEP BOSE
VOCALS RECORDED BY
SAMARTH CHAWLA @ ISLAND CITY STUDIOS.
MIXED & MASTERED BY-
ERIC PILLAI @ FUTURE SOUND OF BOMBAY.
ASSISTED BY – MICHAEL EDWIN PILLAI
4. SONG – ZINDA
COMPOSED BY – JULIUS PACKIAM & ALI ABBAS ZAFAR, FEATURING VISHAL DADLANI
LYRICS – ALI ABBAS ZAFAR
MUSIC LABEL – T-SERIES
MUSIC ARRANGED & PRODUCED BY – JOEL CRASTO
MUSIC SUPERVISOR – AMANDEEP SINGH JOLLY
MIXED & MASTERED BY (SONG) – ABHISHEK KHANDELWAL
MIXED BY (PROMO) – GANESH GANGADHARAN
5. SONG: TURPEYA
ARTISTS: VISHAL AND SHEKHAR FEATURING SUKHWINDER SINGH.
LYRICS: IRSHAD KAMIL
MUSIC LABEL: T-SERIES
MUSIC PRODUCER: ABHIJIT NALANI
6. SONG: AAYA NA TU
ARTISTS: VISHAL & SHEKHAR FEATURING JYOTI NOORAN
LYRICIST: IRSHAD KAMIL
MUSIC ARRANGED & PRODUCED BY MEGHDEEP BOSE
MUSIC LABEL: T-SERIES
GUITARS – WARREN MENDONSA & MEGHDEEP BOSE
BASS – ADI MISTRY
DRUMS – JAI ROW KAVI
SHEHNAI – YOGESH MORE
CHOIR & BACKING VOCALS PERFORMERS – MARIANNE D’CRUZ, NEUMANN PINTO, BIANCA GOMES, VIVIENNE POCHA, SHAZNEEN ARETHNA, RAJIV SUNDARESAN, FRANÇOIS CASTELINO
LIVE PERCUSSIONS PERFORMED BY- DIPESH VARMA, KEYUR BARVE, OMKAR SALUNKHE, SHIKHAR NAAD QURESHI
TABLA DHOLAK SECTION – RAJU SARDAR, SANJEEV SEN & MADHAV PAWAR
RECORDED BY-SHANTANU HUDLIKAR, ABHISHEK KHANDELWAL & MANASI TARE @ YRF STUDIOS.
ABHAY @ PURPLE HAZE STUDIOS, MUMBAI
MIXED & MASTERED BY-ERIC PILLAI @ FUTURE SOUND OF BOMBAY.
ASSISTED BY -MICHAEL EDWIN PILLAI
7. SONG: THAP THAP
ARTISTS: VISHAL AND SHEKHAR FEATURING SUKHWINDER SINGH
LYRICS: IRSHAD KAMIL
MUSIC LABEL: T-SERIES
MUSIC PRODUCER: ABHIJIT NALANI
LIVE PERCUSSIONS SECTION: DIPESH VARMA, KEYUR BARVE, OMKAR SALUNKHE, SHIKHAR NAAD QURESHI
8. SONG: CHASHNI REPRISE
ARTISTS: VISHAL & SHEKHAR FEATURING NEHA BHASIN
LYRICS: IRSHAD KAMIL
MUSIC LABEL: T-SERIES
MUSIC PRODUCER: SAMEER UDDIN
GUITARS AND PLUCKS – SAMEER UDDIN
MIXED BY – KENNETH BASUMATARI
9. SONG: AITHEY AA (DANCE VERSION)
ARTISTS: VISHAL & SHEKHAR FEATURING NAKASH AZIZ & NEETI MOHAN
LYRICIST: IRSHAD KAMIL
MUSIC LABEL: T-SERIES
MUSIC ARRANGED & PRODUCED BY MEGHDEEP BOSE
SHEHNAI – YOGESH MORE
TABLA DHOLAK SECTION – RAJU SARDAR, SANJEEV SEN & MADHAV PAWAR
GUITARS & BASS -MEGHDEEP BOSE
MIXED & MASTERED BY-ERIC PILLAI @ FUTURE SOUND OF BOMBAY.
ASSISTED BY -MICHAEL EDWIN PILLAI
