Songs and complete musician credits at the end.
Given the subject of Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl, the soundtrack had to feature at least one song evoking patriotic fervour; composer Amit Trivedi and lyricist Kausar Munir tick that box with Bharat Ki Beti. And the combination of a soulful melody and an expansive orchestration is effective, if familiar. Arijit Singh leads the singing, backed by a fine chorus – the humming by the chorus along with Omkar Dhumal’s shehnai (excellent playing here) takes one back to a gem in the genre, Swades. Two of the album’s faster songs, with their dominant Punjabi flavour, fall squarely in the zone of Punjabi dance songs the composer has done in the past. Munir borrows Iqbal’s Khudi Ko Kar Buland Itna for the song that eggs the protagonist on to defy all odds in her quest to become Asmaan Di Pari. The star of the song though is Jyoti Nooran, driving the song with her characteristically energetic singing. Great shehnai bits here too from Omkar Dhumal, which combine well with Tapas Roy’s work on the plucked strings. While Rekha O Rekha has Nakash Aziz’s skilful delivery going for it, that doesn’t help mitigate the strong London Thumakda hangover it comes with.
The soundtrack’s two mellower songs are where Trivedi truly delivers – the songs incidentally seem to be interlinked as well (no pun intended). While the chirpy Mann Ki Dori has Armaan Malik in fine form singing about the mann ki dori tied with the lover that he repeatedly promises as being unbreakable, throughout the song, Dori Tutt Gaiyaan appears to be a melancholic retort from the female (voiced beautifully by Rekha Bharadwaj) that the dori did indeed at some point, break. Mann Ki Dori teems with the freshness and joy of the newly in love – Nyzel D’Lima’s guitar and the melodica/harmonica add well to that feel. Dori Tutt Gaiyaan on the other hand is tender, and it is Paras Nath’s flute solos that rule the backdrop here. Despite Sukhwinder Singh’s exuberant presence behind the mic, Dhoom Dhadaka is the movie’s weakest track, with nothing particularly standing out.
Gunjan Saxena. Amit Trivedi’s soundtrack entertains despite being quite derivative in its sound. Then again, it’s hard not to I suppose, given how many Punjabi-based soundtracks the man has worked on.
On an aside, this is the sixth Hindi soundtrack since Covid outbreak that I have reviewed, all released as whole soundtracks, and none featuring an old song remix. Like someone said on twitter the other day, the lockdown phase is truly turning out to be a period of healing for Bollywood music (one of the very few positives in recent times – of course, I fully expect things to go back to the way they were, once all this goes away).
Music Aloud Rating: 3/5
Top Recos: Mann Ki Dori, Dori Tutt Gaiyaan, Asmaan Di Pari
Musician Credits
Song – Bharat Ki Beti
Composed & Produced – Amit Trivedi
Lyrics – Kausar Munir
Singer – Arijit Singh
Backing Singers – Arhaan Khan, Rohan Vaidya, Harshavardhan Gore, Rashi Harmalkar, Shahana Shome, & Aahana Goyal
Programmed & Arranged By – Parikshit Sharma (Parik)
Sound Engineer, A T Studios – Urmila Sutar
Assisted By – Firoz Shaikh
Mixed & Mastered By – Shadab Rayeen, New Edge – Mumbai
Assisted By – Abhishek Sortey & Dhananjay Khapekar
Executive Producer, A T Studios – Krutee Trivedi
Manager, A T Studios – Aditya Hanchinal
Chorus & Guitars Recorded By – A. Manivannan At Seven Heaven Studios, Mumbai
Assisted By – Sanket Tole
Child Singers Coordinators – Dola Basu Shome, Mandar Apte
Live Musicians – Guitars – Nyzel Dlima
Shehnai – Omkar Dhumal
Song – Asmaan Di Pari
Opening Verse From Allama Iqbal’s Poetry
Composed & Produced – Amit Trivedi
Lyrics – Kausar Munir
Singer – Jyoti Nooran
Backing Singers – Rajiv Sundaresan, Suhas Sawant, & Arun Kamath
Programmed & Arranged By – Amit Trivedi & Vineeth Jayan
Additional Rhythm Programming By Kalyan Chakravarthy
Sound Engineer, At Studios – Urmila Sutar
Additional Recording Engineer – Abhishek Gautam
Assisted By – Firoz Shaikh
Mixed & Mastered By – Shadab Rayeen, New Edge – Mumbai
Assisted By – Abhishek Sortey & Dhananjay Khapekar
Executive Producer, At Studios – Krutee Trivedi
Manager, At Studios – Aditya Hanchinal
Live Musicians – Shehnai – Omkar Dhumal
Strokes (Tumbi, Banjo, Charango, Turkish Oud, Bouzouki) – Tapas Roy
Song – Dori Tutt Gaiyaan
Composed & Produced – Amit Trivedi
Lyrics – Kausar Munir
Singer – Rekha Bhardwaj
Programmed & Arranged By – Amit Trivedi
Sound Engineer, A T Studios – Urmila Sutar
Additional Recording Engineer – Abhishek Gautam
Assisted By – Firoz Shaikh
Mixed & Mastered By – Shadab Rayeen, New Edge – Mumbai
Assisted By – Abhishek Sortey & Dhananjay Khapekar
Executive Producer, A T Studios – Krutee Trivedi
Manager, A T Studios – Aditya Hanchinal
Live Musicians: –
Guitars Sanjoy Das
Flute & Woodwinds – Paras Nath
Song – Dhoom Dhadaka
Composed & Produced – Amit Trivedi
Lyrics – Kausar Munir
Singer – Sukhwinder Singh
Programmed & Arranged By – Amit Trivedi & Vineeth Jayan
Additional Rhythm Programming – Kalyan Chakravarthy
Sound Engineer, At Studios – Urmila Sutar
Additional Recording Engineer – Abhishek Gautam
Assisted – Firoz Shaikh
Mixed & Mastered By – Shadab Rayeen, New Edge – Mumbai
Assisted – By Abhishek Sortey & Dhananjay Khapekar
Executive Producer, At Studios – Krutee Trivedi
Manager, At Studios – Aditya Hanchinal
Live Musicians: –
Strokes (Mandolin, Tuntai, & Baglama) – Tapas Roy
Song – Rekha O Rekha
Composed & Produced – Amit Trivedi
Lyrics – Kausar Munir
Singer – Nakash Aziz
Programmed & Arranged By – Amit Trivedi & Raja Rasaily
Additional Rhythm Programming By – Kalyan Chakravarthy
Sound Engineer, At Studios – Urmila Sutar
Additional Recording Engineer – Abhishek Gautam
Assisted By – Firoz Shaikh
Mixed & Mastered By – Shadab Rayeen, New Edge – Mumbai
Assisted By – Abhishek Sortey & Dhananjay Khapekar
Executive Producer, At Studios – Krutee Trivedi
Manager, At Studios – Aditya Hanchinal
Live Musicians: – Strokes (Tumbi, Banjo, Charango, Bangla Mandolin, Oud) – Tapas Roy
– Guitars – Raja Rasaily
Song – Mann Ki Dori
Composed & Produced – Amit Trivedi
Lyrics – Kausar Munir
Singer – Armaan Malik
Programmed & Arranged By – Amit Trivedi & Raja Rasaily
Sound Engineer, A T Studios – Urmila Sutar
Assisted By – Firoz Shaikh
Mixed & Mastered By – Shadab Rayeen, New Edge – Mumbai
Assisted By – Abhishek Sortey & Dhananjay Khapekar
Executive Producer, A T Studios – Krutee Trivedi
Manager, A T Studios – Aditya Hanchinal
Live Musicians: – Acoustic & Electric Guitars – Nyzel Dlima
