At the beginning of ‘ Dhagala Lagli ’’s music video, guest star Riteish Deshmukh says to Ayushmann Khurrana that all Bollywood movies of late have Punjabi promotional songs, thereby justifying a Marathi promo song for Dream Girl . While Deshmukh’s point is something I agree with, the song for Dream Girl is as misplaced as most of those Punjabi promo songs he refers to. It’s because the movie appears to bear no Marathi connection based on the trailer. The song is a recreation, of a Marathi folk song — and rides heavily on folk percussion, with its only memorable bits being the original song refrain appears, the additional inclusions fall flat — the lyrics are especially uninspiring.
While their Ganesh Chaturthi song does not work, composers Meet Bros get it right on the other festive song of the album – the Krishna Janmashtami themed ‘ Radhe Radhe ’. A very catchy dance song, this one, yet again relies heavily on folk percussion (almost veering into Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘ Tattad Tattad ’ zone), and is delivered equally well by Amit Gupta. There is a remix version of the song as well, which isn’t anywhere as fun with a dominance of electronic elements in place of the folk ones. As if to relieve Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan of insults in the form of Bollywood remixes, Dream Girl ’s makers have gone back to the good old “time honoured” practice of just reusing his tune without any credit – ‘ Ik Mulaqat ’ is clearly inspired by ‘ Mere Rashke Qamar ’. Wonder if the composers actually thought nobody would notice the similarity, or whether this was just a sneaky workaround to avoid copyright violations. Either way, it’s an average number, that has Altamash Faridi and Palak Muchhal’s vocals as its highlight. And while the movie’s promotional song is in Marathi, the soundtrack does include a token Punjabi song as well, a drinking ditty one at that. ‘ Gat Gat ’ has a very generic sound, and therefore quite forgettable – it is only lead singer Jass Zaildar’s energy that the song has going for it while it lasts. The album’s best is ‘ Dil Ka Telephone’ for which the composers build an engaging quirky track around a fine, mildly 90s-ish melody that is delivered fabulously by Jonita Gandhi, with good support from Nakash Aziz. Never thought I would see Gandhi sing a song for Khurrana onscreen.
DJ Himani Singh’s “trippy” remix of the song isn’t as trippy as the song itself, but is a decent listen.
Though Dream Girl ’s soundtrack needs a bit more zip and vigour, it’s good to have a film from the perennial “guest” composers Meet Bros, during a time when music producers are reduced to being part of multi-composer line-ups.
