Songs and musician credits at the end.
This review first appeared in the Mumbai edition of The Hindu.
Guest composer Badshah gets two songs in Namaste England – both adaptations of older Punjabi pop songs. First up is one of his own, Proper Patola, one among the earliest hits in the rapper’s career, and I quite like what he has done with the song here – increasing the tempo and introducing a more engaging reggaeton-esque groove. Diljit Dosanjh’s lead portions in the original version are reduced in favour of Aastha Gill who gets a new set of lines to sing. For his other song, he picks up a Rishi Rich composition from his album The Project – Bhare Baazaar. Once again the lyrics gets modified a bit, Hinglish elements coming in for some of the Punjabi bits, aside of the rap. It is not just the song that borrows from an older version incidentally, even Badshah’s remix elements seem to occasionally reference his own Kaala Chashma remix from 2016. While the song does benefit from the better production value (original came out in 2006) and the vocal replacements (Vishal Dadlani especially, and Payal Dev), it still is something of a mediocre affair.
Rest of the album belongs to Mannan Shaah, making his third Bollywood appearance as composer, after a promising (largely for one song) Commando and its disappointing sequel. And this time he has veteran lyricist Javed Akhtar on his side. In the raag hameer influenced qawwali Tu Meri Main Tera he gets on vocals the man who led his best song in Commando, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. Except with all the processing, Khan sounds far from appealing in his role. It is only when Shadab and Altamash Faridi join him around the choral portions that the vocal department gets a boost. A pity, really, the composition is really nice otherwise, once again bringing to the fore the composer’s skill with raga-based pieces. In the breezy Tere Liye too, the vocals present a bit of a downer with Atif Aslam being the man introducing a déjà vu element. Akanksha Bhandari joining him in the second half is an improvement though, albeit a brief one. Fab arrangement from the composer again, especially in the interludes. In the immersive Ziddi Hai Dil (raag khamaaj based, loosely), the composer himself gets behind the mic. The rendition is not without flaws, but he manages a passable delivery even as the orchestration proves to be the highlight once again. It is in his last two songs that the composer gets his vocalist choice spot on as well, making them my favourites of the album. The sensual jazzy Kya Kahoon Jaaneman offers a lovely retro throwback, led by Shashaa Tirupati’s spectacular rendition of Javed Akhtar’s finely worded lines. While Dabbu’s guitar work finds fab usage throughout the song, it is Inapakurti D Rao’s saxophone that wonderfully accentuates the song’s seductive feel for the duration that it comes into play. Dhoom Dhadakka is the surprise package, appearing to be a regular Punjabi dance track at the outset but turning out to be a nuanced composition, carrying shades of raag miyan malhar. Leading the singing is the incredible Shahid Mallya (who has been having a fine season with Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi and Manmarziyaan) who is in brilliant form here as well. The composer features Omkar Dhumal’s shehnai in splendid fashion in the backdrop – it is only the second interlude that sits a bit odd, but that is a minor quibble.
Namaste England. A competent comeback from composer Mannan Shaah that would have worked even more with a more consistent choice of vocalists.
Music Aloud Rating: 3/5
Top Recos: Kya Kahoon Jaanemann, Dhoom Dhadakka, Proper Patola
Musician Credits
Dhoom Dhadakka
Music – Mannan Shaah
Singers – Shahid Mallya; Antara Mitra
Lyrics – Javed Akhtar
Music Production And Arrangement : Prasad Sashte
Assistant Programmer : Yugandhar Deshmukh
Vocal Design And Tuning : Smith Thampan
Mixed And Mastered By : Shadab Rayeen@Newedge-Mumbai
Assistant Engineers : Abhishek Sortey And Dhananjay Khapekar
Production Manager : Anupam Amod
Musicians :
Guitars : Dabbu
Shehnai : Omkar Dhumal
Backing Vocals : Raja Hassan, Smita Jain, Jyotica Tangri And Mannat Noor
Recording Credits :
All Vocals Recorded By Pranjal Borah At Neosound
Guitars And Shehnai Recorded By Prasad Sashte At Studio Cave , Mumbai.
Tu Meri Main Tera
Lyrics: Javed Akhtar
Music: Mannan Shaah
Singers: Rahat Fateh Ali Khan Feat. Shadab Faridi & Altamash Faridi
Music Production And Arrangement: Prasad Sashte
Assistant Programmer: Yugandhar Deshmukh
Vocal Design: Smith Thampan
Mix And Master: Shadab Rayeen @ Newedge – Mumbai
Assistant Engineers: Abhishek Sortey & Dhananjay Khapekar
Production Manager: Anupam Amod
Musicians:
Guitars: Dabbu
Strings: Chennai Strings Conducted By Sax Raja
Dholak & Tabla: Yusuf Gulam Mohd, Mohd Shadab , Sanjiv Sen, Hafiz Khan
Flute: Naveen Kumar
Harmonium: Amit Padhye
Recording Credits:
Rahat Fateh Ali Khan’s Voice Recorded By Atif Ali At Playback Lounge, Dubai.
Altamash & Shadab’s Voices Recorded By Pranjal Borah At Neosound, Mumbai.
Tabla & Dholak Recorded At Enzy Studios, Mumbai
Strings Recorded By B.Thiru At Berachah Studio, Chennai.
Harmonium Recorded By Pranjal Borah At Neosound, Mumbai.
Tere Liye
Music – Mannan Shaah
Singers – Atif Aslam; Akanksha Bhandari
Lyrics – Javed Akhtar
Music Production And Arrangement – Prasad Sashte
Assistant Programmer – Yugandhar Deshmukh
Vocal Design And Tuning – Smith Thampan
Mixed And Mastered By – Shadab Rayeen@Newedge-Mumbai
Assistant Engineers – Abhishek Sortey And Dhananjay Khapekar
Production Manager – Anupam Amod
Musicians:
Guitars – Dabbu
Strings – Chennai Strings Conducted By Sax Raja
Recording Credits
Atif Aslam’s Voice Recorded At The Creative Factory ,Dubai By Anas Bassam
Akanksha Bhandari Vocals Recorded By Pankaj Bohra At Neosound
Guitars Recorded By Prasad Sashte At Studio Cave, Mumbai.
Strings Recorded At Berachah Studio,Chinnai By B.Thiru
Ziddi Hai Dil
LYRICS: JAVED AKHTAR
MUSIC: MANNAN SHAAH
SINGER: MANNAN SHAAH
MUSIC PRODUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT: PRASAD SASHTE
ASSISTANT PROGRAMMER: YUGANDHAR DESHMUKH
VOCAL DESIGN: SMITH THAMPAN
MIX AND MASTER: SHADAB RAYEEN @ NEWEDGE – MUMBAI
ASSISTANT ENGINEERS: ABHISHEK SORTEY & DHANANJAY KHAPEKAR
PRODUCTION MANAGER: ANUPAM AMOD
MUSICIANS:
STRINGS: CHENNAI STRINGS CONDUCTED BY SAX RAJA
TABLA: NITISH RANADIVE
RECORDING CREDITS:
Vocals recorded by Pranjal Borah at NeoSound, Mumbai.
Tabla recorded by Prasad Sashte at Studio Cave, Mumbai
Strings recorded by B.Thiru at Berachah Studio, Chennai.
Kya Kahoon Jaaneman
LYRICS: JAVED AKHTAR
MUSIC: MANNAN SHAAH
SINGER: SHASHAA TIRUPATI
MUSIC PRODUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT: PRASAD SASHTE
ASSISTANT PROGRAMMER: YUGANDHAR DESHMUKH
VOCAL DESIGN: SMITH THAMPAN
MIX AND MASTER: SHADAB RAYEEN @NEWEDGE – MUMBAI
ASSISTANT ENGINEERS: ABHISHEK SORTEY & DHANANJAY KHAPEKAR
PRODUCTION MANAGER: ANUPAM AMOD
MUSICIANS:
GUITARS: DABBU
SAXOPHONE: I.D.RAO
RECORDING CREDITS:
Vocals recorded by Bhaskar Sarma at EM Square Studios, Mumbai.
Guitars recorded by Prasad Sashte at Studio Cave, Mumbai.
Saxophone recorded by Pranjal Borah at NeoSound, Mumbai
Bhare Baazaar
Music – Rishi Rich; Badshah
Singers – Vishal Dadlani; Payal Dev; Badshah; B Praak
Lyrics – Master Rakesh; Badshah
Rap – Badshah
Addl. Programming – Aditya Dev
Mixing & Mastering – Aditya Dev, Shadab Rayeen@Newedge-Mumbai
Proper Patola
Music: Badshah
Addl. Programming: Meet Sehra
Singers: Diljit Dosanjh, Badshah, Aastha Gill
Rap: Badshah
Mixing: Aditya Dev
