Songs and complete musician credits at the end.
After that brief dip in her output at the start of the decade, it has been nice to see Sunidhi Chauhan’s Bollywood portfolio pick up again in recent months – imagine my delight spotting her name against four songs in Jubilee! Some of the album’s top songs too, that once again showcase the singer’s versatility. I was excited about Babuji Bhole Bhaale right from the time I heard a snippet of it in the show’s trailer, and it totally delivers on its promise. Evocative of the light-hearted songs with Western-influenced orchestration from the 50s (Tadbeer Se Bigdi Hui, Shola Jo Bhadke, even Sar Jo Tera Chakraye comes to mind for the quirkiness), Sunidhi is at her exuberant best in this one. Love what Amit Trivedi has done with the arrangement here – the horns punctuating every line with the short phrases, the characteristic breaking out of dholaks towards the end of the interludes etc. Not sure if the show takes place across multiple time periods, because Sunidhi’s other solo act, the spotlessly delivered Voh Tere Mere Ishq Ka, appears to be a nod to Khayyam’s ghazal-infused work from many years later (Dil Cheez Kya Hai, to pick one). As expected, the song features some fine use of tabla (Satyajit Jamsandekar), harmonium (Akhlak Warsi), sarangi (Dilshad Khan) and sitar (Bhagirath Bhatt). Papon joins Sunidhi for the flirtatious Nahin Ji Nahin (wonderfully written by Kausar Munir), a song that once again carries a strong European influence in its orchestration and is set to the waltz rhythm as well. Here too the composer uses the short phrasing of instrumental notes to great effect – the staccato use of accordion (Shubhash Parab), the violin-flute combination in the second and third stanzas for instance. Papon and Sunidhi trade verses throughout the song (the melody seems to carry shades of kalavati/valachi raaga I think?), and the call-response nature adds to the playful charm of the piece. In a soundtrack where Amit Trivedi pays tribute to multiple composers, the most on-the-nose ones belong to Shankar-Jaikishan. On listening to the accordion-led waltz that opened Itni Si Daastaan, the first song that came to mind was Jeena Yahaan, but given the romantic nature of the track and the period, the reference point is perhaps Dil Ki Nazar Se. Sunidhi’s male counterpart here, Mohammed Irfan, modulates his voice really well to sound almost like Mukesh. Na Koyi Mera instantly brings memories of Ye Raat Bheegi Bheegi (but also seems to occasionally reference other SJ songs of the time). Papon is behind the mic for this one as well, alongside an equally proficient Vaishali Made (good to see her sing in Bollywood after long, Kalank was the last perhaps).
Dariyacha Raja begins with the Marathi folk track indicated by the title, before switching to the Shankar-Jaikishan folk zone, reminiscent of songs like Ramayya Vastavayya and Barsaat Mein Hum Mile. The riddle-filled Chandu Naacha – with Swanand Kirkire, and for a brief period, Amit Trivedi, posing musical questions answered by a kids’ chorus – is likely a nod to Ichak Dana. There seems to be something about Kirkire’s singing that works really well for such kiddie-style songs – remember the Picture Shuru ditty from Barfi. Interestingly this song probably makes Swanand Kirkire the person to have lent vocals in most number of Amit Trivedi’s retro themed soundtracks, having sung in Lootera and Qala before this. Udankhatole would appear to belong to an even earlier era, going by Kausar Munir’s lines (lot of Sanskrit-origin words) and the way Mohammed Irfan and Vaishali Made enunciate the words (great voice modulation by both the singers). The saxophone solo from I D Rao in the second interlude was an interesting touch. Itraati Chali also has a percussion template that indicates the same period as Udankhatole, but the other elements of the song sound a lot more contemporary – one of the rare instances in the album where you feel the composer’s own stamp making its appearance. This one too features Mohammed Irfan and Vaishali Made on vocals. Dil Jahaan Pe Le Chala, with that horsecart rhythm et al, has got to be an O P Nayyar tribute. Kausar Munir’s carpe diem-themed lines also made me think of Main Zindagi Ka Saath.. The song comes in two versions – sung by the composer himself and by Shahid Mallya, and between the two I prefer the latter; not just for the singing, but also for the lighter arrangements (on the percussion front) that suit the carefree mood of the song better. Love that short laugh with which Mallya ends the song – very Kishore Kumar of him! The soundtrack’s longest song goes to one of my favourite underrated singers of the industry – Devenderpal Singh. A singer whose portfolio is mostly made up of Amit Trivedi songs, the composer has employed Devender in some really soulful pieces – and Saare Ke Saare Akele is another beauty to add to that list. A song that feels like a nod to two glorious songs that SD Burman composed for Guru Dutt – Yeh Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaaye and Dekhi Zamaane Ki Yaari, both sung by Rafi. Lyrically it feels closer to the latter – there is even a kaagaz ke gul reference thrown in for good measure! Like both of those songs, this one too is set to a waltz rhythm, and this too is a slow burner, gradually building up intensity, layer upon layer, and finally bursting into a more upbeat choral outro. This is Devenderpal Singh’s show though – the man pours his heart out into this achingly beautiful melodic piece, with some fine support from the instruments that make their presence felt from time to time, the woodwinds and violins being the most effective among them.
Amit Trivedi has already built a great reputation at delivering retro-flavoured soundtracks. Jubilee further cements this rep – the composer manages to produce a wonderful tribute to some of the giants of yesteryear Hindi film music, almost entirely eschewing his personal brand in favour of that authenticity. An extremely enjoyable and accessible set of songs – it feels good to see the Amit Trivedi-Vikramaditya Motwane team come up with another cracker, after that blip in Bhavesh Joshi Superhero.
Music Aloud Rating: 4.5/5
Top Recos: Too many to list – but Saare Ke Saare first among equals 🙂
Musician Credits
1 Babuji Bhole Bhaale
Composed by Amit Trivedi
Lyrics by Kausar Munir
Singer – Sunidhi Chauhan
Crew
Produced by Parikshit Sharma, Amit Trivedi
Sound Engineer, AT Studios – Urmila Sutar
Recording Engineers at YRF Studios – Vijay Dayal, Chinmay Mestry
Mixed and Mastered by Shadab Rayeen @ New Edge
Assistant Engineers – Pukhraj & Anup
Manager, AT Studios – Shruti Shah
Live Sessions
Song Violin – Chandan Singh
Woodwinds – I D Rao
Dholak – Girish Vishwa & Hafeez Khan
Brass – Robin Fargose, Geet Vaz, Walter Dias, Zameer Shaikh
Percussion – Deepak Borkar
Mandolin – Tapas Roy
Backing Vocals: Jitendra Tupe, Madhura Paranjape, Rohan Patil, Archana
Gore, Deepti Rege, Aditi Prabhudesai, Janardan Dhatrak, Rucha Padhye,
Umesh Joshi, Vijay Dhuri
2 Dil Jahan Pe Le Chala (Amit Trivedi)
Composed by Amit Trivedi
Lyrics by Kausar Munir
Singer –Amit Trivedi
Crew
Produced by Sunny Subramanian, Amit Trivedi
Sound Engineer, AT Studios – Urmila Sutar
Recording Engineers at YRF Studios – Vijay Dayal, Chinmay Mestry
Mixed and Mastered by Shadab Rayeen @ New Edge
Assistant Engineers – Pukhraj & Anup
Manager, AT Studios – Shruti Shah
Live Sessions
Song Violin – Chandan Singh
Woodwinds – I D Rao
Mandolin – Laxmikanth Sharma
Dholak- Girish Vishwa, Hafeez Khan
3 Nahin Ji Nahin
Composed by Amit Trivedi
Lyrics Kausar Munir
Singer/s Papon & Sunidhi Chauhan
Crew
Produced by Parikshit Sharma & Amit Trivedi
Sound Engineer, AT Studios – Urmila Sutar
Recording Engineers at YRF Studios – Vijay Dayal, Chinmay Mestry
Mixed and Mastered by Shadab Rayeen @ New Edge
Assistant Engineers – Pukhraj & Anup
Manager, AT Studios – Shruti Shah, Aditya Hanchinal
Live Musicians
Song Violin – Chandan Singh
Mandolin – Laxmikanth Sharma
Accordion – Shubhash Parab
Woodwinds – I D Rao
Group Violin – Chandan Singh, S Rao, Mohan Goyal, Dharmendra Jawda, Jitendra
Jawda, Sanjay Verma, Dilshad Ahmed
4 Voh Tere Mere Ishq Ka
Composed by Amit Trivedi
Lyrics by Kausar Munir
Singer– Sunidhi Chauhan
Crew
Produced by Amit Trivedi
Sound Engineer, AT Studios – Urmila Sutar
Recording Engineers @YRF studios – Vijay Dayal, Abhishek Khandelwal,
Dileep Nair
Mixed and Mastered by Shadab Rayeen @ New Edge
Assistant Engineers – Pukhraj & Anup
Manager, AT Studios – Shruti Shah, Aditya Hanchinal
Live Sessions
Tabla – Satyajit Jamsandekar
Side Rhythm – Deepak Borkar
Harmonium – Akhlak Warsi
Sitar – Bhagirath Bhatt
Sarangi – Dilshad Khan
Vibraphone – Dnyanesh Bhalchandra Deo
5 Na Koyi Mera
Composed by Amit Trivedi
Lyrics Kausar Munir
Singer/s Papon & Vaishali Made
Crew
Produced by Sunny Subramanian & Amit Trivedi
Sound Engineer, AT Studios – Urmila Sutar
Recording Engineer at Ajivasan – Avadhoot Wadkar
Mixed and Mastered by Shadab Rayeen @ New Edge
Assistant Engineers – Pukhraj & Anup
Manager, AT Studios – Shruti Shah
Live Musicians
Woodwinds – I D Rao
Percussion & Rhythm – Deepak Borkar
Accordion – Satyajit Prabhu
Mandolin – Laxmikanth Sharma
Song Violin – Chandan Singh
Group Violin – Jitendra Thakur, Sandeep Thakur, Pradeep Thakur, Chandan Singh, Mohan Goyal, Sanjay Verma
6 Chandu Naacha
Composed by Amit Trivedi
Lyrics by Kausar Munir
Singers – Swanand Kirkire & Amit Trivedi
Crew
Produced by Sunny Subramanian, Amit Trivedi
Sound Engineer, AT Studios – Urmila Sutar
Recording Engineers at YRF Studios – Vijay Dayal, Chinmay Mestry
Mixed and Mastered by Shadab Rayeen @ New Edge
Assistant Engineers – Pukhraj & Anup
Manager, AT Studios – Shruti Shah
Live Sessions
Song Violin – Chandan Singh
Accordion – Subhash Parab & Satyajeet Prabhu
Woodwinds – I D Rao
Mandolin – Tapas Roy
Backing Vocals – Rashi Harmalkar, Shahana Shome, Prapti Mitra,
Shubhayu Mukherjee, Mohit Gokhale, Harshvardhan Gore, Rohan
Vaidya, Isha Khandekar, Archana Gore
7 Udankhatole
Composed by Amit Trivedi
Lyrics by Kausar Munir
Singers – Mohammad Irfan , Vaishali Made
Crew
Produced by Parikshit Sharma, Satyajit Jamsandekar, Amit Trivedi
Sound Engineer, AT Studios – Urmila Sutar
Recording Engineers @ YRF Studios – Vijay Dayal, Chinmay Mestry
Mixed and Mastered by Shadab Rayeen @ New Edge
Assistant Engineers – Pukhraj & Anup
Manager, AT Studios – Shruti Shah
Live Sessions
Song Violin – Chandan Singh
Mandolin – Laxmikanth Sharma
Woodwinds – I D Rao
Violin – Chandan Singh, S Rao, Mohan Goyal, Dharmendra Jawda,
Jitendra Jawda, Sanjay Verma, Dilshad Ahmed
Dholak – Girish Vishwa & Hafeez Khan
8 Dariyacha Raja
Composed by Amit Trivedi
Lyrics by Kausar Munir
Singers- Divya Kumar & Mohammad Irfan
Crew
Produced by Parikshit Sharma, Satyajit Jamsandekar, Amit Trivedi
Sound Engineer, AT Studios – Urmila Sutar
Recording Engineers at YRF Studios – Vijay Dayal, Chinmay Mestry
Mixed and Mastered by Shadab Rayeen @ New Edge
Assistant Engineers – Pukhraj & Anup
Manager, AT Studios – Shruti Shah
Live Sessions
Song Violin – Chandan Singh
Woodwinds – I D Rao
Mandolin – Laxmikanth Sharma
Violin – Chandan Singh, S Rao, Mohan Goyal, Dharmendra Jawda,
Jitendra Jawda, Sanjay Verma, Dilshad Ahmed
Dholak- Girish Vishwa
Percussion – Deepak Borkar
Accordion – Satyajeet Prabhu
Santoor – Mangesh Jagtap
Backing Vocals – Umesh Joshi, Janardan Dhatrak, Rohan Patil, Vijay
Dhuri, Jitendra Tupe, Aditi Prabhudesai, Rucha Padhye, Archana Gore,
Madhura Paranjpe, Deepti Rege
9 Itni Si Hai Dastaan
Composed by Amit Trivedi
Lyrics Kausar Munir
Singer/s Mohammed Irfan & Sunidhi Chauhan
Crew
Produced by Parikshit Sharma, Satyajit Jamsandekar & Amit Trivedi
Sound Engineer, AT Studios – Urmila Sutar
Recording Engineer at Ajivasan – Avadhoot Wadkar
Mixed and Mastered by Shadab Rayeen @ New Edge
Assistant Engineers – Pukhraj & Anup
Manager, AT Studios – Shruti Shah
Live Musicians
Percussion & Rhythm – Deepak Borkar
Accordion – Satyajit Prabhu
Mandolin – Laxmikanth Sharma
Song Violin – Chandan Singh
Violin – Jitendra Thakur, Sandeep Thakur, Pradeep Thakur, Chandan Singh, Mohan
Goyal, Sanjay Verma
10 Dil Jahan Pe Le Chala (Shahid Mallya)
Composed by Amit Trivedi
Lyrics by Kausar Munir
Singer – Shahid Mallya
Crew
Produced by Sunny Subramanian, Amit Trivedi
Sound Engineer, AT Studios – Urmila Sutar
Recording Engineers at YRF Studios – Vijay Dayal, Chinmay Mestry
Mixed and Mastered by Shadab Rayeen @ New Edge
Assistant Engineers – Pukhraj & Anup
Manager, AT Studios – Shruti Shah
11 Itraati Chali
Composed By – Amit Trivedi
Lyrics – Kausar Munir
Singers – Mohammed Irfan & Vaishali Made
Produced By – Parikshit Sharma & Amit Trivedi
Sound Engineer, AT Studios – Urmila Sutar
Mixed and Mastered by – Shadab Rayeen @ New Edge
Assistant Engineers – Pukhraj & Anup
Manager, AT Studios – Shruti Shah
12 Saare Ke Saare Akele
Composed by Amit Trivedi
Lyrics Kausar Munir
Singer Devender Pal Singh
Backing vocals – Umesh Joshi, Vijay Dhuri, Vivek Naik, Devendra Chitnis, Yash
Kulkarni, Pragati Joshi, Deepti Rege, Mrunmayee Dadke, Duhita Kunkavlekar, Seema Lele
Crew
Produced by Sunny Subramanian & Amit Trivedi
Sound Engineer, AT Studios – Urmila Sutar
Recording Engineer at Ajivasan – Avadhoot Wadkar
Mixed and Mastered by Shadab Rayeen @ New Edge
Assistant Engineers – Pukhraj & Anup
Manager, AT Studios – Shruti Shah
Live Musicians
Woodwind- I D Rao
Percussion & Rhythm – Deepak Borkar
Accordion – Satyajit Prabhu
Mandolin – Laxmikanth Sharma
Song Violin – Chandan Singh
Violin – Jitendra Thakur, Sandeep Thakur, Pradeep Thakur, Chandan Singh, Mohan
Goyal, Sanjay Verma
