Simran
Composers Sachin-Jigar started off their career arranging music for Pritam. But this year, they’ve been very busy with their own projects: A Gentleman , Simran and the upcoming Bhoomi with Haseena Parkar and Parmanu in the works. Here’s how the Kangana Ranaut film’s music has fared.
‘Majaa Ni Life’ is an incredibly witty song about matrimony woes thanks to lyricist Vayu Srivastava. For their part, the two composers set the track to an electronic backdrop devoid of much variation, but it’s addictive nonetheless. Vocalist Shalmali Kholgade is in her element delivering it to perfection, especially nailing the accented rap portions. Two more songs follow in the same light-hearted vein, albeit they are evocative of other films. ‘ Lagdi Hai Thaai’ is to Simran what ‘ London Thumakda’ was to Queen. Then there’s the film’s title track, which is totally reminiscent of ‘Ala Barfi ’ from Barfi! . Of course, that’s not say that both songs aren’t effective, the two are brilliantly executed. ‘ Lagdi Hai Thaai’ is bound to rule dance playlists thanks also to the vocal stylings of Jonita Gandhi and Guru Randhawa. ‘Simran’ is as heart-warming as the track from Ranbir Kapoor’s film, especially because of Tapas Roy’s musical talent and Priya Saraiya’s lyrics. The latter also pens the inspirational and soulful ‘Pinjra Tod Ke’, delivered to a tee by Sunidhi Chauhan. Equally soulful is Mohit Chauhan’s rendition of ‘Baras Ja’ , a beautifully soothing melodic piece. The weakest link in this five-track album is ‘Meet’ that fails largely due to Arijit Singh’s lacklustre vocals.
Lucknow Central
It’s time for yet another fictional band from Farhan Akhtar in his upcoming Lucknow Central. After watching the promos, I was a tad worried about Akhtar singing most of the album’s tracks. So it was a big relief when my concerns were unfounded.
So far, Sukhwinder Singh has been largely underrated as a composer. Arjunna Harjaie adapts Singh’s ‘Kaavaan Kaavaan’ (from Monsoon Wedding, 2001) using Divya Kumar’s commendable vocal skills. It’s remarkable, that award-winning Canadian composer Mychael Danna stepped in to lend his talent. However, there’s a remixed version of the track by Tanishk Bagchi, which ends up being terribly redundant.
Bagchi does much better in his original track, the sprightly ‘Baaki Rab Pe Chhod De’ . Harjaiee too offers two original compositions. ‘Rangdaari ’ is the run-of-the-mill Sufi track we’ve all heard before. It’s rendered all the more derivative by Arijit Singh’s singing.
A highlight of the soundtrack is ‘ Teen Kabootar’ with Kumaar’s tongue-in-cheek lyrics and superb percussion thanks to Taufiq Qureshi’s Mumbai Stamp. Another great track, ‘ Meer-e-Kaarwaan’ comes from Rochak Kohli. Despite sounding slightly familiar, it’s still an addictive melody with Amit Mishra and Neeti Mohan’s voices.
To conclude, while Sachin-Jigar’s talent shines in Simran , Lucknow Central effectively utilise the multi-composer route to great results.
