This review first appeared in the Mumbai edition of The Hindu.
Songs and musician credits at the end.
Composer Jeet Gannguli composes one song for Parmanu; chances are, you would not have to look at the credits to figure out which song that is – and I do not mean that as a compliment to the composer. Written by Rashmi Virag, Jitni Dafa is set to that melancholic melody-arrangement template that has been done to death and then some more in Bollywood, primarily in the Bhatt/Mohit Suri line of movies. It is a small mercy that Arijit Singh isn’t singing this one, but Yasser Desai who is the singer, appears to be attempting an Arijit impression at times. Desai gets one more song in the album with the lead composers Sachin Jigar, another wistful and romantic, but happier sounding piece called De De Jagah. Aside of the fact that the singer sounds quite like Arijit here as well (in fact the resemblance feels stronger here), and that the song is penned by poet turned politician Kumar Vishwas, nothing of interest going in the composition. Sachin Sanghvi from the composing duo writes the album’s third romantic track, Sapna, which is also the best among the three. This one, for a change, is sung by the real Arijit Singh (the man weirdly does not sound quite like himself here!). Nice piece, this one, Sanghvi crafts his lines well and the Sachin Jigar set it to a soothing melody and the arrangement sees a pleasant interplay between Dilshad Khan’s sarangi, Tejas Vinchurkar’s flute and Rinku Rajput’s piano. Composers borrow a riff from Maana Ke Hum Yaar Nahi (Meri Pyaari Bindu) to produce one of the song’s prominent instrumental refrains.
For the other half of the soundtrack, composers join hands with lyricist Vayu and produce three songs that convey the movie’s central theme, while imbibing the folk musical flavour of the regions it is primarily set in. Shubh Din’s celebratory vibe is a familiar one (in fact when the song pauses for a couple of seconds in the first verse before the Aayo Re hook, the mind automatically started humming Prem Ratan Dhan Paayo!), but gains from Jyotica Tangri and Keerthi Sagathia’s vocal prowess. Thare Vaste, while trying to be motivational, again via tried and tested routes, has an engaging folksy melody going for it, one that Divya Kumar delivers with soulful exuberance. Kumar also sings the soundtrack’s best track titled Kasumbi in splendid fashion. Kasumbi rang in Gujarati appears to have a patriotic implication akin to Rang de Basanti; and the composers aptly provide a frenzied revolutionary ambience (hat tip to the innovative use of Omkar Dhumal’s shehnai in such a song) to Vayu’s lines here – the only oddity being the use of the Gujarati phrase amidst Punjabi lyrics.
Parmanu. Middling start to the year for Sachin Jigar.
Music Aloud Rating: 2.5/5
Top Recos: Kasumbi, Thare Vaste, Sapna
Musician Credits
Song – Shubh Din
Singers – Jyotica Tangri & Keerthi Sagathia
Music – Sachin – Jigar
Lyrics – VAYU
Programmer/Arranger – Sachin – Jigar
Music Production Head – Romil Ved
Sachin & Jigar’s Assistant – Hrishikesh Gangan
Mix & Master – Eric Pillai @ Future Sound of Bombay
Assistant Mix Engineer – Michael Edwin Pillai & Lucky
Song – Jitni Dafa
Singers – Yasser Desai & Jeet Gannguli
Music – Jeet Gannguli
Lyrics – Rashmi Virag
Programming & Mix – Aditya Dev
Song – Thare Vaaste
Singer – Divya Kumar
Music Composer – Sachin – Jigar
Lyrics – VAYU
Programmer/Arranger – Aditya Dev
Music Production Head – Romil Ved
Sachin & Jigar’s Assistant – Hrishikesh Gangan
Mix & Master – Eric Pillai @ Future Sound of Bombay
Assistant Mix Engineer – Michael Edwin Pillai & Lucky
Song – Kasumbi
Singer – Divya Kumar
Music – Sachin – Jigar
Lyrics – VAYU
Programmer/Arranger – Aditya Dev
Music Production Head – Romil Ved
Sachin & Jigar’s Assistant – Hrishikesh Gangan
Mix & Master – Eric Pillai @ Future Sound of Bombay
Assistant Mix Engineer – Michael Edwin Pillai & Lucky
Live Musicians:-
Shehnai – Omkar Dhumal
Song – Sapna
Singer – Arijit Singh
Music – Sachin – Jigar
Lyrics – Sachin Sanghvi
Programmer/Arranger – Kalyan Baruah
Music Production Head – Romil Ved
Sachin & Jigar’s Assistant – Hrishikesh Gangan
Mix & Master – Eric Pillai @ Future Sound of Bombay
Assistant Mix Engineer – Michael Edwin Pillai & Lucky
Live Musicians:-
Piano – Rinku Rajput
Sarangi – Dilshad Khan
Flute – Tejas Vinchurikar
Song – De De Jagah
Singer – Yasser Desai
Music – Sachin – Jigar
Lyrics – Kumar Vishwas
Programmer/Arranger – Kalyan Baruah
Music Production Head – Romil Ved
Sachin & Jigar’s Assistant – Hrishikesh Gangan
Mix & Master – Eric Pillai @ Future Sound of Bombay
Assistant Mix Engineer – Michael Edwin Pillai & Lucky
Live Musicians:-
Piano & Harmonium – Rinku Rajput
