- Ajay Parasuraman

This next post is about a form of kriti not everyone would be familiar with. It’s called manipravalam.

Manipravalam, lit. ‘Ruby-Coral’, signifies the merger of two languages, traditionally Tamil and Sanksrit. This form of using two different languages in the same composition was prevalent in the Vaishnavite literature of Tamil Nadu. To read about manipravalam would partly be to read about the origin of a language. Early composers of manipravalam literature, having realized that certain Sanskrit sounds could not be represented by the available letters in Tamil, decided to merge the two languages and thus, Malayalam as a language was born. However, the current form of Malayalam took shape centuries later.

Many recently developed works of literature have mentioned that the earliest form of manipravalam was a mix of Malayalam and Sanskrit. I’d like to highlight that this fact is not true.

In Kerala, the earliest form of manipravalam literature can be seen in a work titled ‘Vaisika Tantram’ (lit. ‘The Treatise of the Courtesan’). Why I’d mentioned that traditionally manipravalam was Tamil and Sanskrit is, once the two languages had blended to form Malayalam, people started composing kritis in a mix of Malayalam and Sanskrit and labelled these compositions as manipravalam. So, currently, any form of literature/composition with more than one language is termed manipravalam. Note that I’ve said ‘more than one’ rather than ‘two’ because owing to ambitious literary pursuits by several writers over the centuries, people started composing with more than two languages. Most of the popular composers — Thyagaraja, Dikshitar etc — have composed kritis in more than two languages, usually among Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu or Malayalam (rare).

Let me try and make a better understanding about what a manipravalam is by examining a kriti. I’d learnt this song about 6 years back. This happens to be a composition by Muthuswamy Dikshitar in the ragam ‘Sree’ and is set to Adi Talam. The lyric of the song is as follows:

Pallavi
Shri Abhayamba
Ninnu Chinthinchina Vaarika
Chinthai Kavalai ellaam theerum amma

Anupallavi
Hey abhayakare vare ishwari krupathonu
endanai rakshikka ithu nalla samayam amma

Charanam
Nı atyadbhuta subhaguna mulu vini nıve dikkani nera nammiti

Madhyamakalasahityam
Nırajakshi nijarupasakshi nityananda guruguha katakshi rakshi

The first two words, viz. ‘Shri Abhayamba’  are in Sanskrit, the next three, viz. Ninnu Chinthinchina Vaariki, are in Telugu, while the rest of the Pallavi, Chinthai Kavalai ellaam theerum amma, is in Tamil. Dikshitar goes on to alternate between the three languages in the anupallavi while in the charanam he uses only Telugu. The kriti ends in a Madhyama kaalam in Sanskrit with Dikshitar’s mudra (stamp) ‘guruguha’. This kriti is a beautiful example of how each of the languages is used just the right amount and one doesn’t feel a sense of one language overbearing the other in the composition. The important feature of this composition is that, even though three different languages have been used, the intended meaning has been kept.

You can listen to a rendition of this song by Shri. Vijay Shiva at the end of this article.

Other compositions in this ‘language’ are:

1. Taruni Njan Endhu Cheyvu in the ragam Dwijavanthi. This happens to be a Padam (song used for Kathakali) by Swati Tirunal which has the languages Malayalam and Sanskrit infused in the composition
2. Jalaja Bandhu in the ragam Surutti. This also happens to be a Padam by Swati Tirunal and has Malayalam and Sanskrit blended in the kriti.

To end on a lighter note, there is a famous song in the 1991 Priyadarshan-Mohanlal-Revathi movie Kilukkam called Ooty Pattanam which is comprised of lyrics which frequently alternate between Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. In light of this article, wonder if Ooty Pattanam was lyricist Bichu Thirumala‘s attempt at a Manipravalam! Click here to watch that song, its fun.

That’s it for this post! I hope to be back sooner next time. Until then!

You can listen to the complete soundtrack here.

There isn’t much need to opine about the adrenalin shot that is Bhaag DK Bose, it’s already a rage. Ram Sampath’s arrangement and Amitabh Bhattacharya’s lyrics form quite a potent combo, and with the composer himself doing an infectiously high energy job at the vocals as well you couldn’t ask for more. You can watch the video here (pliss excuse Vir Das’ exquisite guitar play-acting with an absolutely stationary hand over the fretboard!) The hatke theme of lyrics and arrangement continues with the new age comic qawwali Nakkaddwaley Disco Udhaarwaley Khisko. Wonder if the flawed singing by Kirti Sagathia was a deliberate attempt. It works anyways, and from what I know the song is going to be a fun watch as well. Saigal Blues is up next, Ram Sampath giving a brilliant psychedelic twist to a very KL Saigal-esque base tune, Chetan Shashital imitating the maestro to a tee. The composer next gets his better half Sona Mohapatra to sing Bedardi Raja that is a walk in the park for the lady, being of the folk genre, something she has been acing since the time she entered the Indian music scene. The orchestration is spot on, the use of harmonium especially engaging. The Grind Mix of the song is also tastefully done, though with the dilution of the ethnic elements, not quite at the same level as the original.

The retro whodunit arrangement of Jaa Chudail is interesting, but on the vocals front I didn’t find the song equally impressive, Suraj Jagan seemingly doing a bit too much of shouting and growling. The composer returns to singing along with Tarannum Malik on Tere Siva, undoubtedly one of the soundtrack’s best. The mellow usage of percussion (consisting of mridangam and all, nice!), the breezy arrangement, the classy effort on the vocals, the song is a winner all the way (I must add though that I did get reminded of Sona’s Indianized version of INXS’s Afterglow in places). And the last 50 odd seconds are pure bliss – Sampath’s humming echoing in the background as the guitars and percussion close the song in a beautiful crescendo. Switty Tera Pyaar Chaida is the only song where Sampath looks pretty ordinary, setting Kirti Sagathia’s vocals to a middling techno-Punjabi template. Liked the Punjabi-English lyrics though. And Kirti’s singing, the Arabesque flourishes were brilliant. The Punk Mix version in fact turns out better, the rock elements adding well to the sinister sound of the song. And finally there is another fraud qawwali track I Hate You (Like I Love You) once again headed by Kirti, accompanied by Sona, Shazneen Arethna and Aamir Khan (who for some reason is not credited as a singer) doing a cameo of reciting whacky verses. The closest kin I can find to the arrangement is Bappi da’s Pag Ghunghroo, as Sampath combines the qawwali and 80s disco sounds in a truly splendid manner (the English bits could have been cut down though). And Aamir’s utterances add to the fun! Soundtrack closed in style,really.

Six super fun tracks and two not very bad works (counting the originals alone), Delhi Belly is undoubtedly Ram Sampath’s best work to date. If this doesn’t get him his due then Bollywood can go to hell, they don’t deserve him. Two back-to-back unconventional soundtracks in Shaitan and DB, quite a month this! (Also, hat tip to the other lyricist of the movie Munna Dhiman for his quirky lines in Nakkaddwale and Switty, and Tere Siva)

Music  Aloud Rating – 8.5/10

Top Recos – Bhaag DK Bose, Saigal Blues, Tere Siva, I Hate You

Shruti Pathak as a name might not be familiar to a lot of people, but there is little chance, if you follow Hindi music, that you would have missed her husky voice. Right from the mindblowing Mar Jawaan from the movie Fashion to the haunting folksy portions of Tujhe Bhula Diya from Anjaana Anjaani, Shruti has been in the business of singing awesome songs for about three years now. And you will get to see more of her come Coke Studio next month, where she has sung two songs. Read on as she speaks of that and more in an interview with Music Aloud. Don’t forget to click on the audio links provided here and there.

Tell us a bit about your background. How did you land up in Bollywood?
I’m born and brought up in Ahmedabad. Music is all I wanted to do since childhood, so i finished my Masters with Psychology and moved to Mumbai, to pursue singing as a career.

Almost all your songs so far have been classical-based. How long have you been trained in Classical Music?
Yeah, most of my songs have been classical-based. Be it Paayaliya or Rasiya. And it comes naturally to me cause I’ve been training since I was 13.

Paayaliya is arguably one of the best songs from Dev.D. What’s the story behind the lyrics of Paayaliya? How did you end up writing the song? And how come you didn’t write any more lyrics after that?
Paayaliya is my favorite too. Amit (Trivedi) is a very dear friend for a long time. We used to jam up, write songs together. When he composed Paayaliya, he knew the song was for me and when he played it to me, I instantly fell in love with the song and I told him I wanted to write it too. And he let me, cause he could trust me with it. He knew, I felt the song as much as he did. We were on same page while writing the song, so it fell in place beautifully.
Would love to write for other composers as well. Shout-out to all…

I guess the biggest news at the moment for you would be Coke Studio. How was the experience – Leslie Lewis’ arrangement, the in-house band et al? Could you tell us a bit about the songs you have recorded? And how would you rate Coke Studio India versus Coke Studio the original Pakistani edition?
Ya, I’m very excited too. Coke Studio has set a benchmark for music shows and CS Pakistan is brand in itself. I’m glad, India edition has kick-started. Its a high being a part of such a brilliant show, doing some real good music and collaborating with different artists, which we don’t get to do in playback. I had a blast recording. And it gives me immense pleasure to share that, I’m the only one who’s featured in two episodes. The one with Shafqat (Amanat Ali Khan) was the most memorable experience. He is a fabulous artist and not just that he is one of the nicest people I know. Had a wonderful time recording with him, Kya haal sunawan from his first album. And second one was a folk song I did with Papon who’s again a brilliant artist. Was a very different experience. He sang an Assami folk song going into my song which was a Gujarati folk. Two different cultures, different kind of music all together, but the way Leslie (Lewis) produced it, was so mesmerizing. The blend was so smooth and flawless. It was a beautiful ambience on the sets while recording.
India can never go wrong when it comes to music. We have so many states, languages, cultures, traditions. And hence wide range of variety in music and lot many artists. India is full of talent. We have so much music and art to cater, only missing was the platform, but now we have Coke Studio, and trust me its gonna bring out some real GOOD stuff.

You happened to record for Karsh Kale’s new album Cinema also, one of the few people from Bollywood to feature in that work. How did you bag that one?
I guess I’ve been very lucky with all my projects. And Cinema is also one of them. Always wanted to work with Karsh Kale, and through Salim Merchant I met Karsh, and he gave me MAA. That’s my track on his latest album CINEMA. I totally love the track. Its about mother earth. Beautiful concept!! Must hear [And it truly is a beauty. Go listen to Maa here.]

Quite a few Bollywood singers have come out with private albums. Do you have any such plans?
I want to do my own music. Will happen soon. Hopefully!

There is a heavy influx of new singers into Bollywood from reality shows these days, though unfortunately not many make it big. What is your take on reality shows?

I’m not much in favor of reality shows. As you put it correctly, heavy influx of singers. So many shows, so many singers, so much competition, TRP, melodrama, fake hype, and in the bargain music suffers. But after all this, there are couple of good singers found too.

Every singer has his/her idol. Who would you consider your biggest influence?
Many. In fact, every musician I’ve heard has inspired me in some way or the other. Very difficult to name one.

Upcoming/ongoing projects – film or otherwise?
Yes! Some fun stuff coming up. RA-ONE being one of them. And the rest I won’t be able to speak about, right now. But I promise to reach out to all music lovers soon with more music

Bollywood has a lot of composers who despite their great talent have always been destined to remain away from the limelight, mostly by virtue of the kind of movies they have got to score for, or due to sheer bad luck. The most prominent ones in that list have been Sandesh Shandilya and Ram Sampath, both hardly having received the recognition that their talent demands. The latest to join that group have been Sachin Jigar, the immensely talented duo who debuted with Teree Sang giving five excellent tracks, but we all know what happened to the movie. Similar fate befell their next two movies Krantiveer and F.A.L.T.U., although with FALTU some of their songs at least got valuable air time. In any case, things have finally started looking up for the talented duo with their latest venture, Shor In The City, where the music and the movie have both been appreciated, Saibo especially turning out a huge success. So here is presenting Music Aloud’s interview of the composer twain (in fact Sachin speaking on behalf of both). Yenjoy! (We also had valuable inputs from Pavan Jha of BBC India for this interview, a big thank you to him!)

Sachin Sanghvi and Jigar Saraiya. You are not brothers obviously. So what is the connection? How did Sachin-Jigar happen?

We basically met to share work load. Both of us were doing well in television, but needed support to fetch more work and perform better. There is this thing called coincidence. We naturally gelled; there was the Gujju connect, we complemented each others’ weaknesses etc. so it was destiny I guess.
Tell us a bit about your musical upbringing, classical training et al? We know that Sachin used to sing for movies as a child, when did being a composer occur to you in place of taking up singing professionally?

Oh yes I started learning hindustani classical vocals at the age of six. I really wanted to be a singer then, but I wasn’t enjoying it so much. Then came Roja and A R Rahman swept a whole lot of young guys like me off their feet. It revolutionised the flow of things. I loved music but singing wasn’t enough. After repeatedly listening to Roja I was sure that composing music, recording it and arranging it myself was all I wanted to do for the rest of my life. That’s when I picked up learning the keyboards.
From assisting the traditional-oriented Rajesh Roshan to working for Pritam to developing your own sound, you have seen a lot of transition in your musical career. So what have you adopted from your previous masters, and what have you tried to avoid from those days?

Yes its been quite a journey. Raju bhai and the Roshans gave us the feel of the level at which we had to raise ourselves, the big cinema 70mm sound. We also learned the lessons of how to develop a melody that can sustain itself in the hearts of audience and never leave. But our stint at Pritam sir was the real twist in the tale. He’s a master of the job. From composing to the final stage of mastering he has laid down a procedure and follows it faithfully. According to our skills he divided us in following up with different steps of the big procedure. We learnt lots about sound designing – how to undo dragging a song, how to understand a director, and how to produce the big fat commercial sound of Bollywood.

Both these institutions taught us so much and help us meet the who’s who of the musician and singer community. We developed a certain goodwill and met angels like Bombay Vikings fame Neeraj shridhar. He helped us at every step once we became independent.

When working as a duo, do you divide work as independent artists or collaborate on each and everything you work upon?

While one is sitting on the machine creating music the other sits quietly at the back. That’s a crucial place to be, because from the back you can see even more clearly. So you can give ideas or avoid disturbing. Once satisfied the first one gives way to the other to add on. So its purely collaboration. Even in live dubs and post production we need each other continuously. We’ve strong and weak areas individually, but together we are a comprehensive team. In fact we’ve so gelled that we’ve taken our company beyond the studio and work. We are a family now!

Did the controversy surrounding Teree Sang affect your working in any manner?

There was hardly any awareness till we finished composing for Teree Sang, Satishji and Sameer sir armoured us. We’ve worked for every one as arrangers including the gentleman involved in the controversy. We’re morally too strong to do a film that a senior has already worked on. But the facts were hidden from us and it only helped us do the job. We had nothing to lose so we gave it our best. Later we learnt the whole thing. But it was the kind words of Sameer sir that helped us deal with the shock. We’re proud of Teree Sang and the confidence was instilled in us by Satish Kaushikji
FALTU’s soundtrack must have been a challenge? 11 tracks across genres? How was the experience of working for it?

Faltu was more of a challenge because we were catering to ourselves and personally one is very choosy and doesn’t settle for any less. And that’s exactly what Remo told us, “Score for yourself, bring up songs that you can relate to and will never delete from your ipod”. We had the time luckily and Remo is a cool customer he doesn’t push delivery after briefing so you can churn your mind and beat your own self. We approached every song with bhalta ideas and that’s how we spread across genres. It was very challenging but very satisfying. And nothing beats success, so I feel like the junta approved of our ideas and that’s really encouraging.

Shor In The City has been receiving rave reviews all around on the movie front as well. But your previous three movies were unfortunately not so successful at the box office and therefore some wonderful songs went unnoticed. Ever feel that the music could have been better utilized elsewhere?

You can’t say that. You can’t say “yeh film nahi challi to hamara (kaam) waste ho gaya”. Every film has its family. You are part of the attempt. You have to accept failure as a team and move on. When a song does well you may feel it can be put it any script and make a hit there even more may be. But it doesn’t work like that. It’s a combined effort
You never know which part of the whole will work for the audience.

A lot of composers are into doing live shows of late. What do you think of that? Do you have such plans, considering both of you have proven your calibre as singers as well?

Yeah we’ll take that up sometime in the future. We’d been performing as a band until sometime back. We have dipped into the studio recordings and arrangements quite intensely. And I believe we need to stick here and do some serious work until we take the stage again.

Karma Is a Bitch has an Amit Trivedi-ish sound to it. In the past your Chhote Tere Bday Aaya (Krantiveer) reminded one of Pappu Cant Dance Saala. And right from Teree Sang you have displayed a flair for Sufi rock, making it sound like Pak rock in most cases. So do you get inspired by the sounds of contemporaries? Who do consider your inspirations?

I think people like to say something especially when they like it. That’s their job not ours. We did whatever we thought to achieve a certain sound for Karma. You follow your heart when you believe in something. Besides a comparison with the likes of Amit Trivedi is totally cool as we have been in the same peer group and we’ve looked up on him all through. We don’t have inspirations so that you copy from them. It’s about learning or acquiring. I love John Mayer, and Vishal Bhardwaj amongst Indian composers. But I doubt if our music sounds like theirs at all.

Live recording vs programming of songs – what are your views?

Yesterday we didn’t have technology to back us. But today we have it. It’d be foolish to waste time and energy in few areas of recording a song. But live recordings can add so much value. You have to cast well; you need a great musician and a good recordist to get a good live sample. But it’s worthwhile if it’s adding value. So its best to strike a balance. You can get a controlled cost and a unique sound by striking this balance.

And finally, what are the current projects you are working on? Movies or otherwise?

We’ve been doing Hum Tum Shabana since FALTU. That’s slated for an August release. Other than that I’ve plunged myself into theatre projects. I literally breathe theatre work. Its my first love, will always be. Other than that we are not rushing through too many offers now. Taking it nice n slow.

People who have had Avial will know how what will happen if it is made without coconut, the thing becomes something else. Something similar has happened to our beloved Malayali alt-rock band named after the dish, Avial. And no points for guessing who’s the coconut here, it is Anandraj Benjamin Paul, erstwhile lead singer of the band.

There are lots of stories floating around about his absence from the line up. One of them being some differences with the record label. And it was said that Anandraj was going to make a comeback for the next album. In the meantime Avial has been touring hard and working on multiple projects. Recently they released what I guess is their first work sans Anandraj. And the fans are crying sacrilege. This is not Avial they scream, and rumours are that the band was even booed at a Bombay gig.

The song in question is Aanakallan, which literally translates to Elephant thief, but figuratively means a big liar. Avial did this for a Malayalam flick, Salt n Pepper. It is a tongue-in-cheek song about a small time thief. And musically it is quite different from their earlier songs. An interlude sounds likes Muse‘s Knights of Cydonia. There is Malayalam folk vocals, there is this rhythm which sounds like funk to me. The bass is quite impressive. The song is something Avial hasn’t tried so far in terms of style, content and yes, vocals. But isn’t it what an alternative band supposed to do?

Avial is a band in transformation, most of the bands are in the middle of some kind of tranformation, only thing is that Anandraj seems to have left too early. Assuming Anandraj is not going to come back, it will be interesting to see Avial’s journey from now on. “Aanakallan” is the first step in that direction (barring Ayyo of which a one minute teaser was released some time back) and I would say Avial has done a good job. The song does take some time to grow on you, but it is surely groovy. I have only seen Avial perform with Tony on the vocals and the crowd response was always good.
All this while he was stepping in for Anandraj, Aanakallan is probably the first song written for Tony and difference is evident. One thing is certain, Anandraj is no Jim Morrison, the loss is mutual, just check out Anandraj’s “Thattum Muttum on Youtube and you will know.

- Nagendra S

The Coke Studio fever hit us when were studying at IIM Lucknow, sometime in the second year. The show was on air in MTV Pakistan and it was one show that we music aficionados in India craved for. The idea was simple: get a bunch of talented musicians together, ask them to create awesome music and air the whole thing in a studio setting. Some of the best talent on the various instruments were the common factor while multiple lead artists shared stage.

The best part about the whole package was that it brought together the traditional and modern genres together brilliantly. Sufi music is traditional to Pakistan and has inspired many a band earlier (remember the classic Sayonee from the band Junoon?). In the Coke Studio format though, it gave the Sufi artists the opportunity to share the stage with new-age artists, thus enhancing the effect even more.

My favourites from this format are: Aik Alif and Alif Allah (youtube links provided below). Aik Alif was played so many times on our speakers that neighbours in our hostel blocks thought we had gone crazy.

Anyway, back to India now. Guess there was a huge pent up demand for such a show in our country. The comments on the youtube videos voiced this repeatedly. So, it was only time before the show took shape in here as well. And the folks at MTV have responded! Yes, the good news is that the show will be on air sometime next month on MTV at a prime slot. The clamouring of lakhs of Indians has finally been satisfied!

MTV was eager to get some fan following and publicity before the show and towards this had invited the press (ahem, some bloggers and tweeters essentially) to the recordings of the show so that they could generate some buzz. The Facebook page has already been a huge success and inching towards the 15000 fan mark! According to Nikhil Taneja (many thanks to him, more later), who handled the press (ahem, again) at the recording, all this has been a completely organic fan build up and they have not spent any major monies on this. Remarkable considering that the fan page has been up for a few weeks only now!

The Experience:

Finally, now to the actual experience at the MTV recording studio in Mumbai. The studio is in a rather remote setting, somewhere off Malad and getting there was quite a ride.

Once there, we were escorted to the actual set where the recording was being conducted. To see the lit-up Coke Studio background and the set with all the musical instruments stacked orderly was a visual treat. We had only seen the photos on Facebook and this was a real wow moment.

Completely unaware who was recording that day, we trudged along taking some random pics around the stage. The crew and artists were on a break and we used this time to look around the place. The set is truly well designed and reflects the spirit of music perfectly.A centre pedestal with couple of chairs flanked by a circular setting of instruments on either side. The Coke Studio symbol formed the background for the pedestal. The strings (read guitars and bass) along with the back-up vocals on the left; the percussion and the harmony vocals on the right. All this of course from the viewer’s perspective. Reverse the same for the artist’s perspective.  There are some nice musical instruments inlaid into the pictures on the walls with soft lighting in the back. Wonderfully done!

Soon we discovered that the artists of the day were none other than the legendary Colonial Cousins! The one and only Hariharan made a brief appearance before disappearing into the rehearsal area. We could hear him train the back-up vocalists and the harmony vocals to the smallest detail. The man is gifted with such a smooth voice! Though I have had the opportunity to hear him live, hearing him live (read without any mic / amps / speakers) was heavenly!

Leslie Lewis was moving around with his characteristic braid. Leslie also happens to be the music producer for the show (the equivalent of Rohail Hyatt). Leslie has also composed most of the originals that are on air. The other major artists were Benny Dayal, Suzanne (both famous post success of Slumdog) and the ever smiling Kavita Seth. Such an array of artists and we were waiting for the first take. Since this is a television show, there was as much emphasis on the video aspects as on the audio. A total of 8 cameras were operating in unison to create some exquisite transitions.

Back to the music: the composition was by Leslie and was set to a soft tune. The wordings were sprinkled with ‘Rama, Rama, Krishna, Krishna’ and reminded of the good old ‘Krishna nee’ rendering by the Colonial Cousins. The best part of the composition were the ‘swaras’, in true Carnatic style that were subtly interspersed with rest of the song. The fact that Hariharan was singing them in his brilliant soothing voice made it even better. The song transitioned between Hari, Leslie, Kavita, Benny and Suzanne smoothly and was lingering in my head a long time after I left the studio. The song was shot thrice with the third attempt being the final cut. To finish the day on a high-note (pun intended), we heard the third take direct from the mixer with some studio quality headphones. Boy-o-boy, that was one amazing experience! We could not help but close our eyes and enjoy the soulful music. The sparse audience heard with rapt attention. On completion of the song, the artists were given a standing ovation and it took some time before the applause subsided.

On a scale of musical awesomeness, this was second only to hearing AR Rahman live. Only this time it was in a closed environment with headphones on!

And as for the inevitable comparison to the Pakistani version, there is no doubt that this is going to be equally good. The line up of artists is equally good, the accompanying artists are up there too. The studio set is well designed and the music production team has some great names. The show itself is produced by Idiotbox, the television arm of Red Chillies, another big name. There is no doubt that this is going to be a revelation for the music audience in India.

PS: A special thank to Nikhil Taneja from Viacom who organised the whole event and organised for quick photo shoots. A couple of them have been uploaded for a real-life feel of the studio!

(The author is a good friend and batchmate from IIML, currently working with Mahindra and Mahindra. You can visit his blog here, and he is available on twitter as @nagendra_s)

You can listen to the soundtrack here (Thanks to @prabshoney for the link)

Amar Mohile does one of his best works in recent times in his sole track for Shaitan, the techno-based mishmash called Josh. Interesting in parts, but the mix of genres somewhere strikes a discordant note. Might become a fave at parties, but not my kind. Colin Terence, Shraddha and Abhishek do the vocals, I didn’t quite like the rap portions. The second guest composer, the Bengali lyricist-MD-singer Anupam Roy (who recently composed that fabulous Bengali song in the movie Autograph, Amake Amar. If you haven’t listened to it yet, do so here. NOW! It’s a must-not-miss! apparently I was wrong, it is not the Bengali composer but this person, who has also commented below. Really sorry for the mix-up), makes his Bollywood debut with a nice guitar-dominated instrumental piece called Retro Pop Shit. Surely not as good as Amake Amar, but a good listen nevertheless. Enter guest composer no. 3, the world music guru Ranjit Barot. And of this three songs, Chandan Shive-rendered (Marathi?) Pintya is marred by its functional nature. Amy’s Theme is fabulously orchestrated, with Suzanne D’Mello and the chorus doing their job to a tee. But there too the functionality of the track gets in the way of the entertainment quotient. Nevertheless the composer himself gets behind the microphone and delivers a wonderful rock-based title song.

And that brings to the fore lead composer of the soundtrack, Prashant Pillai. A man who has in the past worked with A R Rahman, has in the past worked with Shaitan’s director Bejoy Nambiar for one of his short films called Rahu, and has already given two movie scores in Malayalam impressive by their unique fusion-based sounds. Here too the man starts off right on top with that whacky multi-genre multilingual trailer-accompaniment track called Bali (The Sound of Shaitan). The singing by Farhad Bhiwandiwala, Preeti Pillai and K S Krishnan (who is also the lyricist for the song) is spot on. Nasha is equally entertaining, the composer preparing a breezy techno-fusion template for this one. The vocal department is handled by Prashant himself, with Bindu Nambiar. A Rock and Soul version of the same song sees Prashant replaced by Ranjit Barot and Farhad. Fareeda sees more fusion, this time the rock-based kind, Suraj Jagan doing the vocal honours. The arrangement is once again very catchy, the dark overtone, the carnatic twist on guitar (raga Hindolam I felt) et al. The composer pays another tribute in Hawa Hawai, reproducing in a very quirky manner the original arrangement from Mr. India and getting Suman Sridhar to render the song in her typical voice and style. Interesting as it is, the song still doesn’t match up to the Laxmikant Pyarelal classic, and the charm it carries about it is mostly borrowed. The vocal tracks are rounded off with a spectacular folk-based song sung by Kirti Sagathia and Preeti Pillai, O Yaara that shows shades of Sindhubhairavi raga in places. Bringing up the rear are two situational instrumental pieces from the man, the short pulsating Enter that leaves a ringing in your ears long after it gets over, the electric guitar-led Outro, and the cacophonously rock track from Bhayanak Maut, Unleashed, which is not exactly an instrumental piece but all it has in terms of vocals is unintelligible growling.

A superb debut from Prashant in Bollywood, characterized by the unconventionality that has set him apart in Malayalam so far. And a superlative effort from the bunch of composers with a leaning towards functional tracks which should work better on-screen.

Music Aloud Rating – 7.25/10

Recommended Tracks – Bali (Sound of Shaitan), Nasha, O Yaara, Zindagi

The 58th National Awards were announced some time back, and here is a quickie on the musical category.

Best Music Director, not very surprisingly, went to Vishal Bhardwaj for that classy score of Ishqiya taking his tally of Best Composer national awards to two. His wife Rekha Bhardwaj won her debut Best Female Playback Singer for Badi Dheere Jali from the same movie. Best Male Playback Singer was awarded to veteran playback singer Suresh Wadkar for the Marathi movie Mee Sindhutai Sapkal. Master lyricist Vairamuthu was presented the top honours in his category for his work in the Tamil movie Thenmerku Paruvakkaatru. The Best Background Score award for the third time too went to a Malayalam movie (1994 – Johnson – Sukritham, 2010 – Ilayaraja – Pazhassi Raja) as Issac Thomas Kottukapally bagged the award for his work in Adaminte Makan Abu, which also won the Best Picture and Best Actor honours. Issac, for the uninitiated, has been working in Malayalam film industry since 2002, giving background scores for some splendid movies including last year’s best movie Kutty Srank. You can see Issac’s Malayalam discography here.

Another music-related award came in the category of Best Art & Culture Film went to the bilingual film made on the cult band Indian Ocean, Leaving Home.

You can listen to the soundtrack here.

Clinton Cerejo’s Life Sahi Hai is very Wake Up Sid in its sound, but works nevertheless due to the general agreeability of the arrangement and a dependable set of vocalists in the form of KK, Vishal Dadlani, Sidd Coutto and Benny Dayal. The composer next offers a Punjabi track Ishq Na Kariyo Kakke sung by Mika Singh and Earl. The orchestration surely has more richness than the general run-of-the-mill Punjabi tracks, but with the flipside that it ends up being cacophonous at times. Should work with the masses nevertheless I guess. Clinton’s last offering for the soundtrack as composer is a revisit version of Koi Aa Raha originally composed by Hitesh Sonik. And this happens to be Clinton’s best work for the movie, a beautifully breezy track sung by Sonu Nigam, Neuman Pinto and Rachel, which though by name a revisit the composer makes his own with some splendid rock-based arrangement.

As said earlier, the original version of Koi Aa Raha brings into picture the second composer for the soundtrack, Hitesh Sonik, who recently debuted with that wonderful soundtrack for Stanley Ka Dabba. And the arrangement of the acoustic track is spot on, kudos to the guitarist. Not that upto the mark is surprisingly Suraj Jagan on the vocals, who doesn’t quite sound his best singing this. The composer brings back Clinton to deliver the sinister rock Baanwre, easily the best track of the album. The arrangement here too is brilliant, the use of guitar once again exquisite. And Clinton makes no mistakes on his part. The director Luv Ranjan takes on the role of music director with Kutta, the only one to have appeared on TV yet. Interesting elements in arrangement, though overall didn’t find it very impressive. Mika Singh does his part well nevertheless. The soundtrack comes to a close with a party track Chak Glassi which works as it should, in its foot-tapping-ness and noise levels. Suzanne D’Mello and Monali Thakur render it with matching exuberance. The Ad Boyz version is as good as the original.

The kind of movie that Pyaar Ka Punchnama seems to be going by initial feelers, its soundtrack definitely exceeds expectations, thanks mainly to Hitesh Sonik who continues his form from Stanley Ka Dabba, and Clinton Cerejo who is only on his second outing as composer after that one track for Jawani Diwani and shows every signs of establishing his mark here too after succeeding in music production and singing.

Music Aloud Rating – 7/10

Recommended Tracks – Baanwre, Koi Aa Raha (both versions), Life Sahi Hai

You can watch the song here and read our review of Shor In The City here.

Chords:
EADGBe
D: xx0232
Dsus2: xx0230
Bm: 224432
A: x02220

(D)Maan yeh saheb ji
Jan hai sab Ji
Phir bhi banaye (Dsus2)bahane

(D)Naina nawabi ji
Dekhe hai sab ji
Phir bhi na samjhe (Dsus2)ishare

(D)Maaan yeh saheb ji haan karta bahane
(Bm)Naina nawabi ji na (D)samjhe (Dsus2)ishare

Dheere (D)dhere naino ko
Dheere (Bm)dhere jiya ko
Dheere (Dsus2)dhere bhayo re sai(A)bo

Dheere (D)dheere begaana
Dheere (Bm)dhere apna sa
Dheere (Dsus2)dheere laage se sai(A)bo

(D)Surkhiyan hai hawaon mein
(Dsus2)Do dilon ki mil(A)ne ki
(D)Ho ho arziyan hai nazaron mein
(Dsus2)lamha yeh tham ja(A)ne ki

(D)Kaise huzur ji yeh lab dikhlaye
(Bm)Chuppi bhi lage ke bhi (D)gazab yeh (Dsus2)dhaye

Dheere (D)dhere naino ko
Dhere (Bm)dhere jiya ko
Dheere (Dsus2)dhere bhayo re dai(A)bo

Dheere (D)dheere begaana
Dheere (Bm)dhere apna sa
Dheere (Dsus2)dheere laage se sai(A)bo

Dheere dheere…
Dheere dheere…
Dheere dheere…

Chords Courtesy: Guitar Chord World