Eight years after his directorial debut, actor Ajay Devgn dons the director’s hat once again with Shivaay .
His debut, U Me Aur Hum, had music by Vishal Bhardwaj. This time, it’s multi-composer Mithoon and young indie musician Jasleen Royal. Since his stellar debut in 2006, Mithoon has had a rather chequered career. Royal, on the other hand, has been dabbling in Bollywood music off and on (most recently with two songs in Baar Baar Dekho) . There were talks of the British band The Vamps doing a cameo in the soundtrack, but the jukebox released by T-Series seems to be missing that.
Mithoon’s new age devotional piece ‘ Bolo Har Har Har’ starts off promisingly; Mohit Chauhan’s voice echoing across a sprawling soundscape before the electronic elements kick in and the ubiquitous Badshah raps his ode to lord Shiva. The composer then tries to weave in more and more sound elements, Sanskrit chants and the like, and the song dwindles into a mishmash. ‘ Tere Naal Ishqa’ loses its spunk in far less time; the melody is pretty ho-hum, and the arrangement doesn’t help its case much either. Even Kailash Kher, despite his singing props, only ends up adding to the tedium. It is only in his last song that Mithoon manages to produce a truly engaging composition.
Explosion of guitars, drums
‘ Darkhaast’ has a nice, likeable melody that the composer gets the very reliable Sunidhi Chauhan and Arijit Singh to render well as expected. The arrangement, too, is quite neatly done, starting with a quiet, ambient sound before taking off around the central refrain to an explosion of guitars and drums, and the switch back to the minimal portions happens just as smoothly.
Royal presents two versions of her song ‘ Raatein’ in the soundtrack. The main version has a tune that is quite like the lady’s song ‘ Kho Gaye Hum Kahaan’ from Baar Baar Dekho , a feeling that is accentuated by Royal’s own rendition of the track. But while the latter had a rather minimal arrangement, the backdrop is more crowded here with violins, drums and more.
The general happy vibe around the song makes it work, despite the repetition. In the reprise version, the singer attempts a dark spin to the same tune. It’s an awkward fit at best, though, the melody doesn’t seem to quite sit with the sombre background.
It’s largely uninspiring work from two talented composers. Then again, belonging as it does to the action thriller genre, Shivaay probably doesn’t require much musical brilliance.
Vipin Nair writes about music on his website MusicAloud.com and curates music on Apple Music as MusicAloud
Shivaay
Top Recos: Raatein, Darkhaast
Composers: Mithoon and Jasleen Royal
