Songs and musician credits at the end.
This review first appeared in the Mumbai edition of The Hindu.
All three songs of the album are of the boisterous, energetic nature, providing composers Ajay Atul the perfect setting to employ their signature grand, percussion-laden orchestral palette. The first song Suraiyya is as richly orchestrated as they come – an assortment of folk percussions, a brass section, Tapas Roy’s plucked strings etc. to back Vishal Dadlani and Shreya Ghoshal’s top singing. And it is these factors that make the song a vibrant affair despite a weak melody. Manzoor-e-Khuda too features a great vocal lineup – Shreya Ghoshal joining Sunidhi Chauhan and Sukhwinder Singh, and all three display fine form. The arrangement, though again comprised of similar elements, is more rebellious in its import, in line with Amitabh Bhattacharya’s words. The song is rather predictable in its progression though, unfortunately – might work as a situational piece in the movie, but does not provide much value as a standalone song. Composers produce their best for the soundtrack in Vashmalle – the phrase means “sing and dance with joy”, a fact I know thanks to the incredible Washmallay from Season 7 of Coke Studio Pakistan, one of my favourite songs from the show. This Vashmalle appears to be a song of drunken revelry, and Ajay Atul’s heavy folk-infused backdrop (that features Macedonian Symphonic Orchestra among others) conveys the mood wonderfully, even as Sukhwinder Singh and Vishal Dadlani do a spectacular job on their part. Loved Amitabh B’s lines, especially in the second verse – man produces a smartly worded drunk anthem here. Nevertheless, I maintain what I mentioned elsewhere earlier – I still like this song less than the Coke Studio Washmallay!
Thugs of Hindostan. Barring Vashmalle where the composers really get going, a mish-mash of an album from Ajay Atul and Amitabh Bhattacharya. Given that they were collaborating with the director who once got Vishal-Shekhar to deliver the brilliant Tashan ten years back (yeah, yeah, I know he also did Dhoom 3 after that), I had much higher hopes from the album.
Music Aloud Rating: 2.5/5
Musician Credits
Song: Vashmalle
Singers: Sukhwinder Singh, Vishal Dadlani
Music Composed, Arranged & Produced by: Ajay-Atul
Lyrics: Amitabh Bhattacharya
Recording Studio: YRF Studios (Vijay Dayal & Chinmay Mestry)
Mixed by: Vijay Dayal (YRF Studios)
Mastered by: Donal Whelan (Mastering World Wales – UK)
Additional Music Credits:
Music & Rhythm Conducted by: Ajay-Atul
Rhythms & Percussions: Satyajeet Jamsandekar, Raju Kulkarni, Pratap Rath
Dhol: Hanif Dafrani, Aslam Dafrani, Aakil Zariya, Aarif Langa
Strokes: Tapas Roy
Song: Suraiyya
Singers: Vishal Dadlani, Shreya Ghoshal
Music Composed, Arranged & Produced by: Ajay-Atul
Lyrics: Amitabh Bhattacharya
Recording Studio: YRF Studios (Vijay Dayal, Chinmay Mestry, Shantanu Hudlikar, Abhishek Khandelwal, Manasi Tare)
Mixed By: Vijay Dayal (YRF Studios)
Mastered By: Donal Whelan (Mastering World Wales – UK)
Additional Music Credits:
Music & Rhythm Conducted by: Ajay-Atul
Dholak: Naveen Sharma, Yusuf Gulam Mohammad, Hafiz Khan, Anup Boroliya, Girish Vishwa
Dholaki: Krishna Musale, Satyajeet Jamsandekar
Strokes: Tapas Roy
Tabla: Sanjeev Sen, Musharuff, Shankar Kamble
Indian Percussions: Dipesh Verma, Satyajit Jamsandekar
Kacchi Dhol: Hanif Dafrani, Aslam Dafrani, Aakil Zariya, Aarif Langa
Tutty Section: Shyamraj, Varad Kathapurkar, Suresh Yadav, Yogesh More, Manchekar
Musician Coordinator: Ramanand Shetty
Song: Manzoor-e-Khuda
Singers: Shreya Ghoshal, Sunidhi Chauhan, Sukhwinder Singh, Additional Vocals – Ajay Gogavale
Music Composed, Arranged & Produced by: Ajay-Atul
Lyrics: Amitabh Bhattacharya
Recording Studio: YRF Studios (Vijay Dayal, Shantanu Hudlikar, Chinmay Mestry, Abhishek Khandelwal, Manasi Tare)
Mixed By: Vijay Dayal (YRF Studios)
Mastered By: Donal Whelan (Mastering World Wales – UK)
Additional Music Credits:
Music & Rhythm Conducted by: Ajay-Atul
Indian Percussions: Raju Kulkarni, Pratap Rath, Dipesh Verma, Satyajit Jamsandekar, Arun Solanki, Keyur Barve, Rahul Rupawate
Musician Coordinator: Ramanand Shetty
