Raees – Music Review (Bollywood Soundtrack)

Songs and credits at the end.

JAM8 (Pritam’s A&R team) musicians seem to have been quite eager to proclaim their association with Pritam while composing for the movie; there is an unmistakable stamp of the composer in two of their three songs. First of them, Zaalima, is the best of their offerings for the movie. The pleasantness of the melody helps alleviate the overwhelming familiarity to an extent, as does the singing by Arijit Singh (who also plays acoustic guitar) and Harshdeep Kaur. Saanson Ke is credited as composed by Aheer for JAM8. The melancholic track takes one back to the time when Pritam used to compose for Bhatt movies. The fact that KK sings the song only accentuates that déjà vu. Dhingana, also credited to Aheer, derives its spunk from the energy that its percussion-heavy Marathi folk base comes with. The song doesn’t have much going for it otherwise though, even Mika Singh’s singing doesn’t impress.

Ram Sampath’s part of the soundtrack starts with the latest entry to the Bollywood remix bandwagon, Laila Main Laila. Catchy, but largely owing to the memories it evokes of Kalyanji Anandji’s original. Excellent use of Ed Gibson’s trumpets though, and good singing by Pawni Pandey. There is a conscious effort to include Gujarati elements in the rest of Sampath’s songs, set as the movie is in the state. Udi Udi Jaaye and Ghammar Ghammar are where the folksiness comes out in the most prominent fashion. Javed Akhtar’s wonderful kite flying-based love analogies are set to a thoroughly engaging dandiya song format by the composer. Sukhwinder Singh and Bhoomi Trivedi are exceptional with their rendition, helped by Karsan Sagathia with his cameo. Tapas Roy’s mandolin and charango are prominently featured throughout the song and the man aces his part. Roshan Rathod leads Sampath’s adaptation of the traditional song Ghammar, another high energy piece that the singer delivers with finesse. Enu Naam Che Raees plays out almost like an Afro Celt Sound System song, the way the world folk elements are laid out over a heady electronic base (with a lot of enjoyable bass drop moments). Sampath’s delivery of the song is bold as required, with Tarannum Malik playing chorus.

Entertaining soundtrack, largely owing to the efforts of Ram Sampath. I hope JAM8 deliver their own identity pretty soon, there is only so far they can go with a borrowed sound that even its owner has moved on from.

Music Aloud Rating: 3.5/5

Top Recos: Udi Udi Jaaye, Enu Naam Che Raees, Zaalima

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

Musician credits

Laila Main Laila
Composed By: Kalyanji – Anandji
Recreated & Produced By: Ram Sampath
Lyrics: Indeevar
Additional Lyrics: Javed Akhtar
Singer: Pawni Pandey

Percussions: Taufiq Qureshi
Guitars: Sanjoy Das
Additional Arrangements: Yash Divecha
Additional Vocals: Chaandni R M W & Team Omgrown
Additional Percussions: Nitish Ranadive
Trumpets: Ed Gibson
Bass: Vin Benjamin

Recording Engineers : Yash Divecha and Nitesh Bisht
Additional Percussion Recording By: Julian Mascarenhas at Enzy Studio, Mumbai
Mixed By: Yash Divecha and Nitesh Bisht at Omgrown Music, Mumbai
Mastered By: Donal Whelan at Hafod Mastering, Wales
Assistant Engineers: Priyank Sharma , Sunil Mhatre , Girish Patro
Executive Producer for Omgrown Music: Sona Mohapatra

Zaalima
Music: JAM8
Lyrics: Amitabh Bhattacharya
Singers: Arijit Singh and Harshdeep Kaur

Sound Design:- Dj Phukan, Sunny M.R.
Programmers:- Sourav Roy, Dj Phukan, Sunny M.R., Rohan Chauhan, Arijit Singh
Mix & Master:- Shadab Rayeen @ Newedge
Assistant:- Abhishek Sortey
Shoot Mix:- Ashwin Kulkarni
Recording Engineers:- Ashwin Kulkarni, Himanshu Shirlekar, Aaroh Velankar, Kaushik Das
Vocal Conductor:- Akashdeep Sengupta, Kaushik Das, Tushar Joshi

Musicians:-
Drums:- Alan Hertz
Bass:- Ernest Tibbs
Duff:- Iqbal Azad
Harmonium:- Feroz Shaikh
Acoustic Guitars:- Pawan Rasaily and Arijit Singh
Electric Guitars:- Pawan Rasaily

Udi Udi Jaye
Music Composed & Produced by: Ram Sampath
Singers: Sukhwinder Singh, Bhoomi Trivedi & Karsan Sagathia
Lyrics: Javed Akhtar

Live Percussions by : Nitish Ranadive
Mandolin and Charango by : Tapas Roy
Bass : Vin Benjamin
Kantele by : Jutta Pesonen
Additional Arrangements :- Vrashal Chavan , Nitesh Bisht

Recording Engineers : Yash Divecha and Nitesh Bisht
Mixed By: Yash Divecha and Nitesh Bisht at Omgrown Music, Mumbai
Mastered By: Donal Whelan at Hafod Mastering, Wales
Assistant Engineers : Priyank Sharma , Girish Patro , Shayan Chakraborty

Executive Producer for Omgrown Music : Sona Mohapatra

Dhingana
Music Composer: Aheer (JAM8)
Music Produced by: Omgrown Music
Singer: Mika Singh
Lyrics: Mayur Puri

Arranged by : Parikshit Sharma
Guitars by : Shon Pinto
Additional Vocals : Team Omgrown
Recording Engineers : Yash Divecha and Nitesh Bisht
Mixed By: Yash Divecha and Nitesh Bisht at Omgrown Music, Mumbai
Mastered By: Donal Whelan at Hafod Mastering, Wales
Assistant Engineers : Priyank Sharma , Girish Patro
Executive Producer for Omgrown Music : Sona Mohapatra

Enu Naam Che Raees
Music Composed & Produced by: Ram Sampath
Singers: Ram Sampath , Tarannum Malik
Lyrics: Ram Sampath , Hiral Brahmbhatt

Live Percussions by : Farai Arendse , Dayo Afolayan
Uilleann Pipe by : Ulick Newell
Additional Arrangements :- Vrashal Chavan
Additional Vocals : Team Omgrown
Recording Engineers : Yash Divecha and Nitesh Bisht
Mixed By: Yash Divecha and Nitesh Bisht at Omgrown Music, Mumbai
Mastered By: Donal Whelan at Hafod Mastering, Wales
Assistant Engineers : Priyank Sharma , Girish Patro
Executive Producer for Omgrown Music : Sona Mohapatra

Saanson Ke
Music: Aheer for JAM8
Lyrics: Manoj Yadav
Singer: KK

Sound Design: DJ Phukan
Programmers :Tanuj Tiku
Mix&Master : Shadab Rayeen @ Newedge
Assistant : Abhishek Sortey
Recording Engineers : Ashwin Kulkarni, Himanshu Shirlekar, Aaroh Velankar
Vocal Conductor : Tushar Joshi.

Musicians –
Acoustic Guitars & Electric Guitars : Roland Fernandes
Clarinet & Flute: Shrish Malhotra
Chorus : Thomson Andrews, Ryan Dias, Dean Sequeira, Murishka Dcruz, Shazneen Arethna, Gwen Dias
Chorus Recording Engineer : Ravi Jasraj@JD Pictures and Studio

Ghammar Ghammar
Music Produced by: Ram Sampath
Singer: Roshan Rathod
Lyrics: Traditional

Additional Arrangements :- Sidharth Chopra , Yash Divecha
Recording Engineers : Yash Divecha and Nitesh Bisht
Mixed By: Yash Divecha and Nitesh Bisht at Omgrown Music, Mumbai
Mastered By: Donal Whelan at Hafod Mastering, Wales
Assistant Engineers : Priyank Sharma , Girish Patro
Executive Producer for Omgrown Music : Sona Mohapatra

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