Bastu Shaap – Music Review (Bengali Soundtrack)

bastu shaap posterSongs at the end.

Amar To Golp Bola Kaj is a sweet, simple melody that the composer (Indradeep Dasgupta) sets to a rather basic acoustic guitar-laden arrangement. The song therefore owes a large part of its appeal to National award winner Rupankar Bagchi’s finely nuanced singing. The only problem with the song is that at nearly six minutes, it seems a tad too long for a song that does not carry much variation. In a soundtrack that is largely made up of slow, mellow melodic tracks, Gache Gache Rod Jhilmil Lege Jay is the odd one out with its faster, bluegrass-y base. The arrangement is inherently happy in nature and Bonnie Chakraborty matches the energy behind the mic. Not that conversant with Indradeep’s style but this song’s sound struck me as very Anupam Roy-ish.

It is in the remaining songs that the composer really strikes gold. Tomake Chuye Dilam has a beautiful tune that is set to an immensely captivating arrangement, once again the foundation is laid by guitars but it is the violin that steals the show. While Shreya Ghoshal is in her elements delivering the female version to a tee, Arijit Singh handles the male version equally well (the restrained rendition by the man took me back to his rendition of Saawli Si Raat from Barfi). I particularly liked how he quite subtly replaces the classical humming (yaman/kalyani raga possibly) that opens the song (and appears later as well) in Shreya’s version with its note equivalent. Even the other day I was part of a discussion on twitter about Indradeep Dasgupta’s love for sarod. Another testimony of that love is the final track of Bastu Shaap, Raja Ranir Bhalo Hok, another gorgeous melody that is nailed by Shreya Ghoshal, even as the sarod and violins create the perfect ambience to go with it.

Bastu Shaap. Beautifully melodic soundtrack from Indradip Dasgupta. Also, I notice that the director of this movie is Kaushik Ganguly. Having heard songs from his Apur Panchali and this movie, and having been recommended another of his movies Khaad as one of Indradip’s best (have managed to hear just one track, which I loved), I now have enough reasons to keep a tab on this team’s future projects!

Music Aloud Rating: 8/10

Top Recos: Tomake Chuye Dilam, Raja Ranir Bhalo Hok, Gache Gache

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