Songs and musician credits at the end.
From four songs in Piku (incidentally his Bollywood debut) to two songs in Pink, composer Anupam Roy’s contribution gets further halved in Shoojit Sircar’s latest, October. If I had not seen Roy’s name in the credits beforehand, I would not have thought of him as Tab Bhi Tu’s composer – the melancholic piece is possibly the most un-Anupam Roy-ish work I have heard; the presence of Rahat Fateh Ali Khan behind the microphone does not help much either. It is only the occasional deft guitar work (Sanjoy Das and Rishabh Ray) that prevents the song from sounding entirely dated. After being associated with two of Sircar’s previous ventures as Abhishek-Akshay (Vicky Donor and Running Shaadi), Abhishek Arora goes solo with Theher Ja that is penned by Abhiruchi Chand who previously collaborated with the composer on his song Dil Jaane Naa from Dil Juunglee. And the song scores well on all counts – neat, simple lyrics by Chand, an incredibly engaging funky arrangement (I sense some Get Lucky influence in places) from Arora and Armaan Malik doing a brilliant rendition, backed by Neuman Pinto.
Rest of the soundtrack goes to the man with whom the director has had the most memorable musical collaborations – Shantanu Moitra (their first work Yahaan still remains the best soundtrack for a Sircar film, in my book). And the man delivers splendidly to expectations in the breezy Manwaa, a song written by Moitra’s trusted lyrical partner Swanand Kirkire. The gentle melody is delivered spotlessly by Sunidhi Chauhan, while Pronob Biswas’s (another name you are likely to have come across in Moitra’s past works) classical ad libs echoing in the backdrop complement her singing wonderfully. The ambient arrangement is highlighted by the use of strings. While on the subject of strings, the composer creates a theme song for the movie that is a heart wrenchingly soulful mélange of violins, cello, viola and harp – Rohan Roy’s work on lead violin is particularly moving. Tanveer Ghazi, who wrote the poem Tu Chal for the movie Pink (also set to music by Moitra) writes a similarly titled Chal for October. This one is a lot different from the former though, carrying a much lighter and benign tone, and set to a sprightly tune by the composer. Except the tune and the arrangement do not impress a great deal. Great job by Monali Thakur on the vocals, nevertheless, and that makes it an engaging listen while it lasts, as do Ghazi’s carpe diem-implying lines.
October. A decent soundtrack where director Shoojit Sircar gets the best songs from his oldest collaborator Shantanu Moitra.
Music Aloud Rating: 3/5
Top Recos: October Theme, Manwaa, Theher Ja
This review first appeared in the Mumbai edition of The Hindu.
Musician Credits
Song – Theher Ja
Singer – Armaan Malik
Music – Abhishek Arora
Lyricist – Abhiruchi Chand
Produced by Samyuktha Narendran and Abhishek Arora
Electric Guitars by Ankur Mukherjee
Electric Bass by Ketan Sodha
Backing Vocals by Neuman Pinto
Recorded at Beatcrush Studio
Mixed by Kenneth Basumatari
Mastered by Donal Whelan (Hafod Mastering, UK)
Song – October Theme
Music – Shantanu Moitra
Lead Violin – Rohan Roy
Love Theme Programmed And Produced By George Joseph
Additional Violins Maria Ten, Polina Romanova
Cello – Ilya Ten
Harp – Sophia Kiprskaya
Piano – George Joseph, Artem Panteleev
Viola – Pavel Zhukov
Recording Producer – Mikhail Nesterov
Tracking Engineer – Borissov Ivan
Mixed And Mastered By Kittu Myakal
Song – Tab Bhi Tu
Singer – Rahat Fateh Ali Khan
Music – Anupam Roy
Lyricist – Tanveer Ghazi
Arrangement & Progamming by Shamik Chakraborty
Acoustic Guitar & Bass by Sanjoy Das
Electric Guitar by Rishabh Ray
Drums by Sandipan Parial
Tabla by Joy Nandi
Flute by Sushanta Nandi
Instruments Recorded by Debojit Sengupta at Sonic Solution, Kolkata
Mixed by Shomi Chatterjee
Mastered by Donal Whelan (Hafod Mastering, UK)
Song – Manwaa
Singer – Sunidhi Chauhan
Music – Shantanu Moitra
Lyricist – Swanand Kirkire
Guitars – Ankur Mukherjee
Additional Vocals – Pronob Biswas
Recorded By Kittu Myakal At Sound Ideaz
Recorded By Kittu Myakal At Sound Ideaz
Mixed And Mastered By Shadab Rayeen At New Edge Studios
Assistant Engineers – Abhishek Sortey & Dhananjay Khapekar
Song Programmed And Arranged By Tanuj Tiku
Song – Chal
Singer – Monali Thakur
Music – Shantanu Moitra
Lyricist – Tanveer Ghazi
Recorded By Kittu Myakal At Sound Ideaz
Mixed And Mastered By Shadab Rayeen At New Edge Studios
Assistant Engineers – Abhishek Sortey & Dhananjay Khapekar
Guitars – Ankur
