Pataakha – Music Review (Bollywood Soundtrack)

Songs and musician credits at the end.

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

The quarrelsome nature of the two sisters constituting Pataakha’s lead characters is encapsulated wonderfully in Balma where they are heard dissing each other’s lover. The voices come from Rekha Bhardwaj and Sunidhi Chauhan, both of whom are no strangers to such fast paced songs, and nail the rendition (did Sunidhi sneak in a nod to Sridevi with her Balllma around the 3 minute mark?). Gulzar’s lines are set in the dialect, and Bhardwaj’s arrangement is a folk instrument-laden tapestry (though most of them don’t seem to be live, going by YouTube credits). Rekha Bhardwaj does even better in Hello Hello where she goes solo on lead vocals (with a fine chorus supporting her), clearly having a ball of a time delivering Gulzar’s on-point rhymes (bheetarrrr-teetarrrrr-sweeterrrr, to pick a favourite set). Also loved the way VB has incorporated the bass cameos at the end of each interlude.

It is probably something to do the movie’s title, that most of Pataakha’s songs carry a raucous, celebratory vibe. After Balma and Hello Hello, the “explosive” title song too continues on the same energy level. And here it is the composer himself behind the mic – it is nice to hear him sing something different from the mellow kind of songs we are used to hearing his voice in. And this is the song that features the most live instruments, and a delightful array at that – accordion, violin and horns; all of which lend the song a vibrant soundscape that does not sound anything Rajasthani, but is highly engaging all the same.  Bhardwaj gets Sukhwinder Singh to lead the Holi song Gali Gali and the man produces a superb tipsy rendition – the way the chorus breaks the line after kullad phode on multiple occasions reminds me of the kaare kaare pause in Kajra Re (incidentally also written by Gulzar saab). The album’s best is its only song that digresses from its dominant theme. Naina Banjaare, instead, is a  delectable romantic melody, and is sung by the man who also sang my favourite songs in VB-Gulzar’s last (Rangoon) – Arijit Singh. While Arijit is in exceptional form singing this one, equally stellar is Ankur Mukherjee’s work on the guitar which is almost as prominent in the song as the singer’s voice.

Pataakha is the shortest soundtrack that a Vishal Bhardwaj directed film has had in a very long time. It remains a solid entertainer from the prolific team nevertheless, even if the soundscape isn’t always true to its setting and doesn’t touch the high of their past collaborations.

Music Aloud Rating: 3.5/5

Top Recos: Naina Banjaare, Pataakha, Balma

Musician Credits

Song – Balma
Singers – Rekha Bhardwaj & Sunidhi Chauhan
Music – Vishal Bhardwaj
Lyricist – Gulzar
Arrangers/Programmers – Ketan Sodha
Music Producer – Ketan Sodha
Choreographer – Shabina Khan
Dholak – Raju Sardar & Mohd. Yusuf
Music Assistant – Mayukh Sarkar
Recorded By Salman Khan Afridi @ Studio Satya, Mumbai
Mixed & Mastered by TanaY GajjaR @ Wow&flutteR Studio
Assisted by Rupak Thakur

Song – Pataakha
Singer – Vishal Bhardwaj
Music – Vishal Bhardwaj
Lyricist – Gulzar
Music Producer – Ketan Sodha
Acoustic Guitar & Music Assistant – Mayukh Sarkar
Violin – Thomas Gould
Accordion – Eddie Hession
Clarinet – Peter Cigleris
Tenor Trombone – Colin Sheen
Bass Trombone – Ian Moffat
Trumpet – Paul Beniston
Recorded By – Salman Khan Afridi @ Studio Satya, Mumbai
Orchestra Recorded By Jeremy Murphy @ Angel Studios, London
Mixed & Mastered by TanaY GajjaR @ Wow&flutteR Studio Assisted by Rupak Thakur

Song – Hello Hello
Singer – Rekha Bhardwaj
Music – Vishal Bhardwaj
Lyricist – Gulzar
Music Producer – Ketan Sodha
Additional Music Programming – Debarpito Saha
Choreographer – Ganesh Acharya
Choir – Sugandha, Keya Dutta, Meena Joshi, Vijaya Laxmi, Nazim Hussain, Sonu Khan, Irfan Nazan & Mahesh Kumar Rao
Dholak – Raju Sardar & Mohd. Yusuf
Music Assistant – Mayukh Sarkar
Recorded by Salman Khan Afridi @ Studio Satya, Mumbai
Mixed & Mastered by TanaY GajjaR @ Wow&flutteR Studio Assisted by Rupak Thakur

Song – Naina Banjare
Singer – Arijit Singh
Music – Vishal Bhardwaj
Lyricist – Gulzar
Music Producer – Ketan Sodha
Music Assistant – Mayukh Sarkar
Guitar – Ankur Mukherjee
Recorded By Rupak Thakur @ Studio Satya, Mumbai
Mixed & Mastered by TanaY GajjaR @ Wow&flutteR Studio Assisted by Rupak Thakur

Song – Gali Gali
Singer – Sukhwinder Singh
Music – Vishal Bhardwaj
Lyricist – Gulzar
Music Producer – Ketan Sodha
Additional Music Programming – Debarpito Saha
Music Assistant – Mayukh Sarkar
Choreographer – Shabina Khan
Choir – Mridul Ghosh, Sudhanshu Shome, Pankaj Dixit & Divyaansh Mehta
Recorded By Salman Khan Afridi @ Studio Satya, Mumbai
Mixed & Mastered by TanaY GajjaR @ Wow&flutteR Studio Assisted by Rupak Thakur

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