Raabta. A word which until recently had just one association in the minds of Bollywood followers – Pritam and Amitabh Bhattacharya’s 2012 super hit from the movie Agent Vinod (also employed in a brilliant sequence in the movie). The Sushant Singh Rajput – Kriti Sanon starrer that released yesterday has been in the news for the similarity the film’s trailer with S.S Rajamouli’s hit Magadheera . Then there was the exit of the movie’s composer Pritam over differences with T-series owing to their inclusion of a different composer’s work in the soundtrack. Pritam’s part of the soundtrack was subsequently taken over by his A&R company Jam 8.
The makers of Raabta clearly did not find four versions of the same number enough and decided to get Pritam to create a fifth version of his Agent Vinod song (now credited to Jam 8). A decently done remix, to be fair, just that I would rather still go back to the ‘Night In the Motel’ version from the original set. While Irshad Kamil supplies the additional lyrics for the Raabta version that Nikhita Gandhi delivers in style, joined by Arijit Singh (who incidentally has been part of every version of this song). ‘ Ik Vaari Aa ’ continues on the remix lines with amped-up electronic dance elements, and doesn’t serve much of a purpose except perhaps to jive along to in a club. Singh handles the main version of the song while Jubin Nautiyal sings the version bearing the honest title, Jubin Version (this one is credited to Pritam). ‘ Sadda Move ’, the staple Punjabi-flavoured entry, fares mildly better despite the standard elements – the arrangement is a tad more imaginative here. Interesting to note specific credits for dhol and tumbi sound design (Tigerstyle). Diljit Dosanjh and Pardeep Singh Sran (who last recorded Cutie Pie for Pritam) handle the singing in this one, with rap by Raftaar.
While it’s not clear whether ‘ Lambiyan Si Judaiyan ’ had any involvement at all from Pritam, but the song’s melancholic sufi rock-ish sound is reminiscent of the composer’s style. Singh’s singing (with fine support from Shadab and Altamash Faridi in the sufi portions) only adds to that feeling. Atif Aslam gets the best song of the lot – the pleasant, breezy melodic piece titled ‘ Darasal ’. Finally there is ‘ Main Tera Boyfriend ’, the track that triggered Pritam’s departure from the project.
I fail to see why the label had to go with the Sohrabuddin track’s remix which recalls Pritam’s older tracks. In fact, someone could replace that ‘ Main Tera Boyfriend Tu Meri Girlfriend ’ hook with ‘ Love Mera Hit Hit Soniye ’ and you probably would not find anything amiss. Singh leads the vocals on this one too, with Neha Kakkar, Meet Bros and rapper Roach Killa joining him at different points.
A soundtrack devoid of anything particularly remarkable. And while Jam 8 is Pritam’s company, it needs to move out from under his shadow, musically, and develop their own sound.
Vipin Nair writes on his website MusicAloud.com and curates lists on Apple Music
