After ending the last decade with a period film about a Maratha warrior, composers Ajay Atul start their ’20s innings with another song in a very similar setting. The duo though, have just one song this time as the rest of Tanhaji ’s soundtrack is composed by several others. The duo themselves do not appear to have shed the memories of that last project, as ‘ Maay Bhavani ’ carries a bit of a hangover from ‘ Mere Mann Mein Shiva ’. Despite the derivative aspect though, this ends up a slightly better affair, buoyed by the mellower melodic passages and the delivery led by Sukhwinder Singh and Shreya Ghoshal.
The album’s other devotional song, with a heavier folk bent, is a more entertaining listen. Mehul Vyas’s ‘ Shankara Re Shankara ’ is sung by the composer and Adarsh Shinde. And thanks to the choice of instruments in the backdrop, this is the only song in the soundtrack that, at seems to belong closest to the time the movie is set in although the lyrics, do dilute that effect.
The composing duo who had a fairly busy 2019 – Sachet Tandon and Parampara Thakur – get the other half of the soundtrack. And after the token devotional song entries, Sachet-Parampara’s first offering is the token battle anthem. While this song too follows a pretty formulaic approach, the core refrain – delivered in multiple forms throughout the piece – lends it a rousing, haunting quality, particularly in the way it’s rendered by the chorus. That tune though, seems to be reminiscent of an older melody.
The composers’ other song is a romantic melody titled ‘ Tinak Tinak ’ – a pleasant piece that is very well arranged. The plucked strings and shehnai, in particular are well employed throughout the song, and Harshdeep Kaur is in top form behind the mic. The problem with the number though, is that it doesn’t sound like it belongs to the period, or even the region in this case. In fact, the song sounds so contemporary filmi most of the time, the lyrics could well be the standard Punjabi-Hindi mix and it would fit right in. A special mention to Pritesh Mehta who did the music production here – possibly one of the last projects he did before his untimely and unfortunate death last year.
