Babumoshai Bandookbaaz – Music Review (Bollywood Soundtrack)

Listen to the songs here. Complete musician credits at the end (Thanks to Rujul for helping with this).

One of the most remarkable things about this album is singer Orunima Bhattacharya, composer Gaurav Dagaonkar’s partner in his band Synchronicity. The lady sounds as composed rendering the classical nuances of Barfaani as she does mischievous in the folksy, raucous Aye Saiyaan. Talking of the former, Barfaani is a masterly piece of work from Dagaonkar that is immensely impressive in both versions, the other one sung by Armaan Malik. Ghalib Asad Bhopali’s finely written verse introduces a new term to the mainstream through the song’s title. Aye Saiyaan is apparently based on a folk song from UP. The earthy tone of the track evokes memories of Anaarkali of Aarah that came out earlier this year. While I still am not a fan of the remixing trend, Dagaonkar to his credit does fair justice to the RD Burman-Anand Bakshi song Ghunghta in his rework for Bandookbaaz. More importantly, he makes a fine choice of vocalist in Neha Kakkar who is in exceptional form here. There is something about singer Papon’s rich voice and languid rendition style that makes it a perfect fit for retro flavoured melodies. In Chulbuli that magic works yet again, even as the composer gives the tune a charming European style backdrop. Once again Ghalib Asad Bhopali’s choice of words deserves special credit. The final song, Khali Khali, has some standout moments in the arrangement, but the song’s melancholy gets monotonous and daunting after a while.

Gaurav Dagaonkar, after the occasional unremarkable song in low profile movies, finally strikes gold in Babumoshai Bandookbaaz!

Music Aloud Rating: 3.5/5

Top Recos: Chulbuli, Barfaani, Aye Saiyaan

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

Musician Credits

Barfaani

Music: Gaurav Dagaonkar

Singer(s): Armaan Malik/Orunima Bhattacharya

Lyrics by: Ghalib Asad Bhopali

Programmers: Nilesh Dahanukar, Tanveer Singh Kohli

Guitars / Dobro: Shomu Seal

Guitars recorded by: Ajinkya Dhapare @Satellite Studios

Mixed and Mastered By: Amey Londhe @Audio Garage

Chulbuli

Music: Gaurav Dagaonkar

Singer: Papon

Lyrics by: Ghalib Asad Bhopali

Additional Vocals: Vivek Hariharan

Programming / Arrangements: Dipanjan Guha

Mixed and Mastered by: Pankaj Borah

Ghunghta

Programming / Arrangements: Nilesh Dahanukar

Additional Music Production: Prateek Gandhi (AUM Studios)

Guitars: Arvind Haldipur

Additional Guitars: Sanmeet Waghmare

Chorus: Vivek Naik, Rahul Chitnis, Santosh Bote

Mixed and Mastered by: Pankaj Borah

Recording Engineers: Lijin Jolly Alex, Hemant Khedekar (Songbird Studios)

Assistant Engineer: Ajinkya Dhapare (Satellite Studios)

Original Composer: Rahul Dev Burman

Original Lyricist: Anand Bakshi

Film: Dhongee

Aye Saiyaan

Music: Gaurav Dagaonkar

Lyrics: Ghalib Asad Bhopali

Programming / Arrangements: Nilesh Dahanukar

Harmonium: Satyajeet Prabhu

Rhythm and Percussions: Satyajeet Jamsandekar

Guitars: Arvind Haldipur

Mixed and Mastered by: Pankaj Borah

Recording Engineers: Amey Londhe (AudioGarage), Bhaskar (EmSquare Studios), Hemant Khedekar (Songbird Studios)

Khaali Khaali

Music composed & produced by: Debjyoti Mishra,  Abhilash Lakra & Joel Dubba

Singer: Mohit Chauhan

Lyrics: Ghalib Asad Bhopali

Guitars, keys & programming: Abhilash Lakra

Song mixed and mastered by: Abhilash Lakra

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