Jab Harry Met Sejal – Music Review

Songs and musician credits at the end (thanks to @chiranjeev100 for helping with the credits)

Hawayein is one of the rare instances in Jab Harry Met Sejal’s soundtrack where composer Pritam takes the tried and tested route for his composition. Not that the song doesn’t work – it is clearly the effectiveness that makes him dip into that pot from time to time – just that with 11 other songs, JHMS has a lot more to offer, both in quantity and quality. The song itself is presented better in its film version, and Arijit Singh delivers both versions. Arijit’s exceptional form is more evident in the finely crafted retro funk styled Beech Beech Mein. Arijit is joined by the equally skilled Shalmali Kholgade and Shefali Alvares, even as Warren Mendonsa and Ernest Tibbs’ guitar chops dominate the song’s groovy soundscape. The singer who possibly has sung the most number of Imtiaz Ali songs – Mohit Chauhan – gets two songs in the soundtrack. In Phurrr (lot of flying references in the song titles; even by Imtiaz Ali standards) he is joined by Tushar Joshi in delivering a melody that Pritam builds over a heady electronic base set by Diplo and Rocky Wellstack (from the remix of Agony by Pinchers, Rocky Wellstack and Jillionaire – thanks to @Prakshid for this info). In the gorgeously ambient Ghar, Mohit plays second fiddle to an ethereal sounding Nikhita Gandhi who also sang two other songs for Pritam earlier this year (including the delightful Ullu Ka Pattha from Jagga Jasoos). While on the subject of Ullu Ka Pattha, there are two songs in the soundtrack that ride on gorgeous acoustic guitars. The melancholic Yaadon Mein has Mohammad Irfan, Jonita Gandhi and Portuguese singer Cuca Roseta singing their heart out, while Mario Pacheco strums his Portuguese guitar in the backdrop (sounds quite close to a mandolin). And Safar where everything comes together just perfectly – a haunting melody that Arijit Singh absolutely owns, atop a sprawling guitar-led soundscape (Aditya Benia, Arijit, Raj Kumar Dewan) that goes perfectly with Irshad Kamil’s poetry about the protagonist’s metaphorical journey.

Rest of the songs all have a Punjabi connection to them, attributable to SRK’s Harry’s Punjabi background (interesting that there is no Gujarati flavoured track to go with Anushka’s character). First among the lot is RadhaSunidhi Chauhan and a loud (because Punjabi farmers apparently sing over the sound of tractors, as said by SRK in the song video) but effective Shahid Mallya are the life of this sprightly piece. Raula is a finer composition belonging to the same genre, the arrangement is mellower yet on point, and singers Diljit Dosanjh and Neeti Mohan both on top of their game. And Butterfly is the least impressive dance track – despite a bunch of talented singers (Nooran Sisters, Sunidhi Chauhan, Dev Negi, Aaman Trikha) it just comes across as a noisy mishmash. Loved the way Dev (?) says “butterfalaay” though! The vocoded Jee Ve Sohaneya bit that opens the track is apparently from a traditional piece (raag bhupali based, possibly) written by Khwaja Ghulam Fareed, and gets presented in its proper and complete form in the Nooran Sisters’ voice and ladies present a soul-stirring rendition of the same. Incidentally when you search for Jee Ve Sohneya on Youtube, the first entry that comes up is a rendition of the song by Bibi Swarn Noora, grandmother of Jyoti and Sultana Nooran; quite fitting then that Pritam chose the sisters to sing this version. Finally, in Parinda the composer infuses rock elements into a Punjabi folk melody, once again with highly engaging results. While Josh Smith, Nyzel D’Lima (guitars), Ernest Tibbs (bass) and Alan Hertz (drums) constitute the former, Pardeep Sran takes care of the folk piece in style. The longer, alternate version titled Search has Tochi Raina replacing Pardeep, but he isn’t able to create the same magic. Nikhil D’Souza’s English phrases are a nice addition though.

Composing for Imtiaz Ali after a gap of eight years, Pritam returns with a vengeance, giving him the team’s biggest and best soundtrack yet in Jab Harry Met Sejal. The movie’s reviews however seem to imply that it isn’t worth such an effort. A pity, really.

Music Aloud Rating: 4/5

Top Recos: Safar, Parinda, Raula, Jee Ve Sohaneya

This review first appeared in the Mumbai edition of The Hindu.

Musician Credits

RADHA

Music-PRITAM

Lyrics- Irshad Kamil

Singer- Sunidhi Chauhan, Shahid Mallya

Music Production & Sound Design: Dj Phukan and Sunny M.R.

Music Programming : Sunny M.R., Arijit Singh, Utkarsh Dhotekar and Tony DB.

Vocal cuts: Rohan Chauhan

Mixed and Mastered by Shadab Rayeen @ New Edge

Assistant engineer : Abhishek Sortey & Dhananjay Khapekar

Recording Engineers- Ashwin Kulkarni, Himanshu Shirlekar, Aaroh Velankar, aniruddh anantha

Music assistants : Tushar Joshi, Amit Sawant, Dev Arijit, Shubham Shirule, akashdeep sengupta

Percussions : Sukanto Singha, Sunny M.R.

Production Manager : Anupam Amod, Manoj Harsh, supriti banerjee

 

BEECH BEECH MEIN

Music-Pritam

Lyrics- Irshad Kamil

Singer- Arijit singh, shalmali kholgade, shefali alvares

Music Production & Sound Design: Dj Phukan and Sunny M.R.

Music Programming : rohan chauhan,

ADDITIONAL PROGRAMMING AND ARRANGEMENT : sunny m.r.

Backing vocals – arjun chandy, akashdeep sengupta

Mixed and Mastered by Shadab Rayeen @ New Edge

Assistant engineer : Abhishek Sortey & Dhananjay Khapekar

Recording Engineers- Ashwin Kulkarni, Himanshu Shirlekar, Aaroh Velankar, aniruddh anantha, alan hertz

Music assistants :Tushar Joshi, Amit Sawant, Shubham Shirule, akashdeep sengupta

Musicians :

Electric & bass guitar – warren mendonsa, ernest tibbs

Horns – andrew lippman (trombone), ludo louis (trumpet and flugelhorn)

Production Manager : Anupam Amod, Manoj Harsh, supriti banerjee

 

SAFAR

Music-Pritam

Lyrics- Irshad Kamil

Singer- arijit singh

Music Production & Sound Design: Dj Phukan and Sunny M.R.

Music Programming : Sunny M.R., Arijit Singh

Mixed and Mastered by Shadab Rayeen @ New Edge

Assistant engineer : Abhishek Sortey & Dhananjay Khapekar

Recording Engineers- Ashwin Kulkarni, Himanshu Shirlekar, Aaroh Velankar, aniruddh anantha

Music assistants : Tushar Joshi, Amit Sawant, Dev Arijit, Shubham Shirule, akashdeep sengupta

Musicians :

Electric and acoustic guitars – arijit singh, aditya benia

Fretless bass – raj kumar dewan

Production Manager: Anupam Amod, Manoj Harsh, supriti banerjee

 

YAADON MEIN

Music-Pritam

Lyrics- Irshad Kamil

Singer- jonita gandhi, mohd. irfan, cuca roseta

PORTUGUESE LYRICS – CUCA ROSETA

Music Production & Sound Design: Dj Phukan and Sunny M.R.

Music Programming : NIKHIL PAUL GEORGE, Ketan Sodha , ramon ibrahim, sunny m.r.

PORTUGUESE GUITAR PERFORMANCE AND ARRANGEMENT : MARIO PACHECO

PORTUGUESE GUITAR & CUCA ROSETA RECORDED BY PEDRO SERRANINHO @ ATLANTICO BLUE STUDIOS

Mixed and Mastered by Shadab Rayeen @ New Edge

Assistant engineer : Abhishek Sortey & Dhananjay Khapekar

Recording Engineers- Ashwin Kulkarni, Himanshu Shirlekar, Aaroh Velankar, aniruddh anantha

Music assistants : Tushar Joshi, Amit Sawant, Shubham Shirule, akashdeep sengupta

Production Manager : Anupam Amod, Manoj Harsh, supriti banerjee

 

BUTTERFLY

Music-Pritam

Lyrics- Irshad Kamil

Singer- Sunidhi Chauhan, dev negi, nooran sisters, aaman trikha

Music Production & Sound Design: Dj Phukan and Sunny M.R.

Music Programming : prasad sashte

ADDITIONAL PROGRAMMING : sunny m.r.

backing vocals – laddi dhaliwal, jelly manjitpuri, neetu bhalla, babita, asa singh, amit, tushar, akashdeep, abhishek, manoj, shubham

Mixed and Mastered by eric pillai @ future sound of bombay

Assistant engineer : michael edwin pillai & lucky

Recording Engineers- Ashwin Kulkarni, Himanshu Shirlekar, Aaroh Velankar, aniruddh anantha

Music assistants : Tushar Joshi, Amit Sawant, Shubham Shirule, akashdeep sengupta

Musicians :

Ethnic strokes – tapas roy

Tumbi – jelly manjitpuri

Algozee – gurpreet singh

Dhol – naseeb singh

Sarangi – harpinder kang

Production Manager : Anupam Amod, Manoj Harsh, supriti banerjee

 

GHAR

Music-Pritam

Lyrics- Irshad Kamil

Singer- nikhita gandhi, MOHIT CHAUHAN

Music Production & Sound Design: Dj Phukan and Sunny M.R.

Music Programming : tanuj tiku,

ADDITIONAL PROGRAMMING : dj phukan

Mixed and Mastered by Shadab Rayeen @ New Edge

Assistant engineer : Abhishek Sortey & Dhananjay Khapekar

Recording Engineers- Ashwin Kulkarni, Himanshu Shirlekar, Aaroh Velankar, aniruddh anantha

Music assistants : Tushar Joshi, Amit Sawant, Shubham Shirule, akashdeep sengupta

Musicians :

Electric & acoustic guitars – warren mendonsa

Tabla – jeetu shankar

Sarangi – dilshad khan

Production Manager : Anupam Amod, Manoj Harsh, supriti banerjee

 

PARINDA

Music-Pritam

Lyrics- Irshad Kamil

Singer- pardeep sran

Music Production & Sound Design: Dj Phukan and Sunny M.R.

Music Programming : nyzel dlima, sunny m.r.

Mixed and Mastered by Shadab Rayeen @ New Edge

Assistant engineer : Abhishek Sortey & Dhananjay Khapekar

Recording Engineers- Ashwin Kulkarni, Himanshu Shirlekar, Aaroh Velankar, aniruddh anantha, alan hertz

Music assistants : Tushar Joshi, Amit Sawant, Shubham Shirule, akashdeep sengupta

Musicians :

Drums – alan hertz

Electric & acoustic guitars – josh smith, nyzel dlima

Bass guitar – ernest tibbs

Production Manager : Anupam Amod, Manoj Harsh, supriti banerjee

 

PARINDA (SEARCH)

Music-Pritam

Lyrics- Irshad Kamil

Singer- TOCHI RAINA, NIKHIL D’SOUZA

Music Production & Sound Design: Dj Phukan and Sunny M.R.

Music Programming : nyzel dlima, sunny m.r.

Mixed and Mastered by Shadab Rayeen @ New Edge

Assistant engineer : Abhishek Sortey & Dhananjay Khapekar

Recording Engineers- Ashwin Kulkarni, Himanshu Shirlekar, Aaroh Velankar, aniruddh anantha, alan hertz

Music assistants : Tushar Joshi, Amit Sawant, Shubham Shirule, akashdeep sengupta

Musicians :

Drums – alan hertz

Electric & acoustic guitars – josh smith, nyzel dlima

Bass guitar – ernest tibbs

Production Manager : Anupam Amod, Manoj Harsh, supriti banerjee

 

RAULA PE JAANE DE

Music-Pritam

Lyrics- Irshad Kamil

Singer- diljit dosanjh, neeti mohan

Music Production & Sound Design: Dj Phukan and Sunny M.R.

Music Programming : sourav roy, Sunny M.R., Abhijit vaghani, abhijit nalani

Mixed and Mastered by Shadab Rayeen @ New Edge

Assistant engineer : Abhishek Sortey & Dhananjay Khapekar

Recording Engineers- Ashwin Kulkarni, Himanshu Shirlekar, Aaroh Velankar, aniruddh anantha

Flamenco guitar dub conducted by – daniel garcia diego

Music assistants : Tushar Joshi, Amit Sawant, Shubham Shirule, akashdeep sengupta

Musicians :

Ethnic strokes – tapas roy, chandrakant

Nylon guitars – ridu shaw

Flamenco guitar – josete ordoñez

Production Manager : Anupam Amod, Manoj Harsh, supriti banerjee

HAWAYEIN

Music-Pritam

Lyrics- Irshad Kamil

Singer- arijit singh

Music Production & Sound Design: Dj Phukan and Sunny M.R.

Music Programming : sourav roy,

ADDITIONAL PROGRAMMING : sunny m.r.

Mixed and Mastered by Shadab Rayeen @ New Edge

Assistant engineer : Abhishek Sortey & Dhananjay Khapekar

Recording Engineers- Ashwin Kulkarni, Himanshu Shirlekar, Aaroh Velankar, aniruddh anantha

Music assistants : Tushar Joshi, Amit Sawant, Shubham Shirule, akashdeep sengupta

Musicians :

Ethnic strokes – tapas roy

Electric & acoustic guitars – roland fernandes

Bass guitar – raj kumar dewan

Production Manager : Anupam Amod, Manoj Harsh, supriti banerjeE

 

HAWAYEIN – FILM VERSION

Music-Pritam

Lyrics- Irshad Kamil

Singer- arijit singh

Music Production & Sound Design: Dj Phukan and Sunny M.R.

Music Programming : sunny m.r., Utkarsh dhotekar

Mixed and Mastered by Shadab Rayeen @ New Edge

Assistant engineer : Abhishek Sortey & Dhananjay Khapekar

Recording Engineers- Ashwin Kulkarni, Himanshu Shirlekar, Aaroh Velankar, aniruddh anantha

Music assistants : Tushar Joshi, Amit Sawant, Shubham Shirule, akashdeep sengupta

Musicians :

Ethnic strokes – tapas roy

Electric, acoustic & bass guitar – roland fernandes

Hang drum – sunny m.r.

Production Manager : Anupam Amod, Manoj Harsh, supriti banerjee

 

JEE VE SOHANEYA

MUSIC – TRADITIONAL

LYRICS – IRSHAD KAMIL & TRADITIONAL

Singers – nooran sisters

MUSIC PRODUCTION & SOUND DESIGN : SUNNY M.R.

MUSIC PROGRamming : sunny m.r.

Mixed and Mastered by Shadab Rayeen @ New Edge

Assistant engineer : Abhishek Sortey & Dhananjay Khapekar

Recording Engineers- Ashwin Kulkarni, Himanshu Shirlekar, Aaroh Velankar, aniruddh anantha

Music assistants : Tushar Joshi, Amit Sawant, Shubham Shirule, akashdeep sengupta

Musicians :

Electric and bass guitars – roland fernandes

Production Manager : Anupam Amod, Manoj Harsh, supriti banerjee

 

PHURRR

MUSIC – pritam, diplo

LYRICS – IRSHAD KAMIL

singer – mohit chauhan, tushar joshi

MUSIC PRODUCTION : diplo, rocky wellstack

all hindi melodic compositions by pritam

pre mixing : sunny m.r.

Mixed and Mastered by Shadab Rayeen @ New Edge

Assistant engineer : Abhishek Sortey & Dhananjay Khapekar

Recording Engineers- Ashwin Kulkarni, Himanshu Shirlekar, Aaroh Velankar, aniruddh anantha

Production Manager : Anupam Amod, Manoj Harsh, supriti banerjee

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,