Rock On 2 – Music Review (Bollywood Soundtrack)

rock-on-2-poster

Songs and credits at the end.

Like with the first edition soundtrack, Rock On 2 also has the movie’s main man Farhan Akhtar singing in multiple songs. While his singing worked for its novelty factor in part 1, in this soundtrack that is the aspect that weighs the soundtrack down. One of the songs where he does relatively better is You Know What I Mean, a song that one is bound to link to Socha Hai. As effective as the latter too, thanks largely to the guitar work. Farhan manages well in Jaago too, with Siddharth Mahadevan – the harmonies work especially nicely. Rest of the song however isn’t as impactful, despite the energetic arrangement. The composers’ lovely melody and an equally gorgeous guitar-laden arrangement had the potential to make Manzar Naya one of the soundtrack’s best, but for the singing.

Akhtar’s last song is a duet with the movie’s leading lady Shraddha Kapoor, another prominent vocal presence in the soundtrack. And Kapoor does a pretty decent job of delivering Wo Jahaan. The song also features in its interlude a brief raag bhimplasi-ish cameo by sarod player Soumik Datta (whose absence to me was one of the biggest disappointments regarding the soundtrack. Given that in the movie’s teaser one of Magik’s members was introduced as a sarod player, I expected to hear a lot more of the talented British-Indian sarod man). Kapoor sounds better in her other two songs – Tere Mere Dil which is only marred by its heard before feel and the excellently executed Udja Re where the lady’s singing is punctuated by Shankar Mahadevan’s nuanced repetition of the title phrase, in an interestingly processed voice.

Ishq Mastana and Hoi Kiw/Chalo Chalo are the soundtrack’s most richly orchestrated songs. Ishq follows on the lines of SEL’s Bol Beliya and the like, carrying a similar dark vibe and Punjabi elements, but more rock. Excellent singing by Digvijay Singh Pariyar, who sang in Katti Batti for the trio before this. Hoi Kiw is the soundtrack’s best – SEL collaborating with Shillong band Summersalt, infusing Hindi lyrics (sung splendidly by Usha Uthup) into their highland music from Khasi hills that could very well pass off as an Irish drinking song!

A soundtrack that would have worked much better if it had more quality vocals.

Rating: 3/5

Top Songs: Hoi Kiw, Udja Re, Ishq Mastana

This review first appeared in the Mumbai edition of The Hindu

Full Credits

Jaago
Vocals – Farhan Akhtar & Siddharth Mahadevan
Drums – Jai Row Kavi
Bass – Sheldon D’Silva
Lyrics – Javed Akhtar

Recorded at Yash Raj Studios by Manasi Tare, Abhishek Khandelwal & Shantanu Hudlikar
Mixed by Shantanu Hudlikar at YRF Studios
Mastered by – Chris Athens at ChrisAthensMasters

Udja Re
Vocals – Shraddha Kapoor
Additional Vocals – Shankar Mahadevan
Drums – Jai Row Kavi
Arranged by Shane Mendonsa
Lyrics – Javed Akhtar

Recorded at Yash Raj Studios by Manasi Tare, Abhishek Khandelwal & Shantanu Hudlikar
Mixed by Shantanu Hudlikar at YRF Studios
Mastered by – Chris Athens at ChrisAthensMasters

You Know What I Mean
Vocals – Farhan Akhtar
Drums – Aatur Soni
Bass – Dibyajyoti Nath
Lyrics – Javed Akhtar

Recorded at Yash Raj Studios by Manasi Tare, Abhishek Khandelwal & Shantanu Hudlikar
Mixed by Shantanu Hudlikar at YRF Studios
Mastered by – Chris Athens at ChrisAthensMasters

Manzar Naya
Vocals – Farhan Akhtar
Percussion – Anupam Deghatak
Lyrics – Javed Akhtar

Recorded at Yash Raj Studios by Manasi Tare, Abhishek Khandelwal & Shantanu Hudlikar
Mixed by Shantanu Hudlikar at YRF Studios
Mastered by – Chris Athens at ChrisAthensMasters

Tere Mere Dil
Vocals – Shraddha Kapoor
Arranged by Shane Mendonsa
Lyrics – Javed Akhtar

Recorded at Yash Raj Studios by Manasi Tare, Abhishek Khandelwal & Shantanu Hudlikar

Mixed by Abhishek Khandelwal at YRF Studios
Mastered by – Chris Athens at ChrisAthensMasters

Woh Jahaan
Vocals – Shraddha Kapoor & Farhan Akhtar
Drums – Darshan Doshi
Bass – Sheldon D’Silva
Sarod – Soumik Dutta
Lyrics – Javed Akhtar

Recorded at Yash Raj Studios by Manasi Tare, Abhishek Khandelwal & Shantanu Hudlikar
Mixed by Shantanu Hudlikar at YRF Studios
Mastered by – Chris Athens at ChrisAthensMasters

Hoi Kiw/Chalo Chalo
Summersalt Feat. Usha Uthup
Vocals – Usha Uthup, Kit Shangpliang & Pynsuklin Syiemiong

Summersalt
Front/Acoustic Guitar – Kitkupar C.Shangpliang
Duitara – Adorbha C.Shangpliang
Drums/Vocals – Dawadhok C.Shangpliang
Female Vocals – Pynsuklin Syiemiong
Bass Guitar/Vocal Support – Baiaineh
Gregory Ford – C.Shangpliang
Electric Guitar/Vocal Support – Nongrum
Percussion Support:
Ka Bom – Damang Syngkon

Lyrics (Hindi) – Javed Akhtar
Lyrics (Khasi) – Kit Shangpliang

Recorded at Yash Raj Studios by Manasi Tare, Abhishek Khandelwal & Shantanu Hudlikar
Mixed by Shantanu Hudlikar at YRF Studios
Mastered by – Chris Athens at ChrisAthensMasters

Ishq Mastana
Vocals – Shankar Mahadevan & Digvijay Singh Pariyar
Chorus – Sanjay Pancholi
Drums – Aatur Soni
Bass – Dibyajyoti Nath
Guitar – Ehsaan Noorani
Percussion / Tabla – Anupam Deghatak
Dhol – Hanif Dafrani & Aslam Dafrani
Dholak – Prasad Malandkar
Keyboard – Gulraj Singh
Additional Programming – Shon Pinto & Gulraj Singh

Lyrics – Javed Akhtar
Recorded at ENZY Studios by Julian Mascarenhas
Mixed by Vijay Dayal at YRF Studios
Mastered by – Chris Athens at ChrisAthensMasters

Backing Vocals on all songs – Nihaal Shetty, Loy Mendonsa, Ehsaan Noorani, Shankar Mahadevan, Soumil Shringarpure & Siddharth Mahadevan, Arun Kamath & Jaspreet Jasz

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,