Songs at the end.
The soundtrack of Monsoon Mangoes starts off quite promisingly with Mangoes, a breezy retro-ish piece that conveys pretty much the same vibes as the movie’s trailer did. Excellent arrangement (guitars and horns) and Rakesh Kishore’s lead vocals are backed very neatly by composer Jakes Bejoy and Udith. Rosie continues on that retro vein, taking a more disco-oriented route. Not as effective as the first one, though it does go really well with the video (at the end of the review), propped up by some super vocals from Shreya Ghoshal, supported again by the composer. And there is one kickass bass-led interlude you need to watch out for!
Asha is an attempt to recreate an old Hindi film song setting, clearly drawing on O P Nayyar’s style of arrangement. Jakes manages to sincerely reproduce the characteristic elements (the horse-cart rhythm!), and the singers Jagdish and Muhammed Aslam too try to remain true to the yesteryear style, though the overall effect is nowhere close to the classics. There is a second Hindi song in the album too, the ghazal-styled Beete Din (possibly jog or tilang raaga), also penned by Raqeeb Alam. Nicely and rather conventionally done track, given extra teeth by the choice of Mame Khan Mangniyar’s earthy folky voice for rendition. Vijay Yesudas leads the feel-good prayer song Naadinu, with splendid support from the Elfa Choir. While the tune is regular, what makes the song really click is the arrangement where European elements abound, the interlude led by the choir and accordion is my favourite.
Monsoon Mangoes. Simple, feel-good soundtrack from Jakes Bejoy. Not quite there in terms of the promise indicated by the trailer and music videos, but somewhere in the ball park.
Music Aloud Rating: 6.5/10
Top Recos: Mangoes, Beete Din, Naadinu
