Uri – Music Review (Bollywood Soundtrack)

Songs and musician credits at the end.

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

From its original folk version for the lovelorn, to becoming a pop song about the plight of NRIs – which in turn inspired another song in a similar vein in the 2010 movie Crook – Challa gets a punchier, more aggressive makeover in Uri. To be fair, this isn’t much of an adaptation in that aside of the central hook the song is pretty much composer Shashwat Sachdev’s own. Even on the lyrical front, it is Kumaar’s (who incidentally was the writer of the Crook adaptation too) words that make up majority of the song, rather than the traditional piece. Sachdev’s main man Romy leads the vocals in style, supported by Vivek Hariharan and the composer. Jagga Jiteya has some interesting things happening in terms of its electronic backdrop, but the song itself is rather unremarkable but for Dee MC’s rap, even with Daler Mehndi’s vocal power on its side.

Things continue on a war footing in Jigra sung by indie man Siddharth Basrur, and here too there isn’t much recall value in the melody itself, but a racy arrangement dominated by the guitars (Youngmin Kim and Shashwat Sachdev) and percussion (Sivamani) make it a relatively more effective affair. While the tone mellows down in Manzar Hai Yeh Naya (written by Abhiruchi Chand), the import remains that of the inspirational kind even here. The composer once again does a neat job with the orchestration, the use of the chorus is especially good. The lead singing by Shantanu Sudame is a bit of a let-down though. It is in the one song that moves away from the movie’s dominant theme that Sachdev delivers his best work of the album. Behe Chala is written by the movie’s second guest lyricist Raj Shekhar who once again demonstrates his way of making profound impact with the simplest of words. And Sachdev, on his part, conveys the pensive tone brilliantly with a placid melody and an understated arrangement that once again finds fab use of Youngmin Kim’s guitars. A competent Yasser Desai handles the vocal department.

Shashwat Sachdev’s debut as solo composer doesn’t quite work out as well as expected, probably also owing to the theme of the movie itself, but in Behe Chala he has delivered his best song to date.

Music Aloud Rating: 3/5

Top Recos: Behe Chala, Challa, Jigra


Musician Credits

Song: Challa (Main Lad Jaana)
Singers: Romy, Vivek Hariharan & Shashwat Sachdev
Music: Shashwat Sachdev
Lyrics: Kumaar
Executive Music Producer: Vivek Hariharan
Backing Vocal(s): Yamy Singh, Arun Ingle, Mandar Apte, Nitin Tupe & Mayuresh Madgavkar
Music Produced & Performed By Shashwat Sachdev
Plucked Instrument(s):Tapas Roy
Bass: Mohini Dey
Tumbi: Romy
Dhol: Manoj Kumar Hela, Asfak Khavra, Kadir Khavra, Husen Langha, Iqbal Shiekh, Kadir Shiekh

Sound Engineers –
Kuhn Labs, Mumbai: Shashwat Sachdev
Backing vocals recorded at Asia Music Vision – Rahul Sharma
Mixed & Mastered by Shadab Rayeen@NewEdge
Assistant to Shadab Rayeen – Abhishek Sortey

Song: Behe Chala
Singer(s): Yaseer Desai & Shashwat Sachdev
Music: Shashwat Sachdev
Lyrics: Raj Shekhar
Executive Music Producer: Vivek Hariharan
Guitar(s): Youngmin Kim
Music Produced & Performed By Shashwat Sachdev

Sound Engineers –
Kuhn Labs, Mumbai: Shashwat Sachdev
Mixed & Mastered by Shadab Rayeen@NewEdge
Assistant to Shadab Rayeen – Abhishek Sortey

Song: Jagga Jiteya
Singer(s): Daler Mehndi, Dee MC & Shashwat Sachdev
Music: Shashwat Sachdev
Lyrics: Kumaar
Rap written & performed by Dee MC
Executive Music Producer: Vivek Hariharan
Music Produced & Performed By Shashwat Sachdev

Sound Engineers –
Kuhn Labs, Mumbai: Shashwat Sachdev
Recording Engineer for Daler Mehndi: Aakash Jaitley
Mixed & Mastered by Shashwat Sachdev

Song: Manzar Hai Yeh Naya
Singer(s): Shantanu Sudame & Shashwat Sachdev
Music: Shashwat Sachdev
Lyrics: Abhiruchi Chand
Executive Music Producer: Vivek Hariharan
Backing Vocal(s): Warsha Easwar, Aditi Ramesh, Gouri Ranjit, Aksha Kini, Clyde Rodrigues, Nitesh Kadam, Nihar Shembekar & Anup Satam
Vocal Conductor: Arun Haridas Kamath
Music Produced & Performed By Shashwat Sachdev
Rhythm Section & Percussions: Sivamani
Guitar(s): Youngmin Kim
Bass: Shashwat Sachdev& David Sinchury
Keys: Shashwat Sachdev & Siddharth Pandit
Shehnai: Raju Dhumal

Sound Engineers –
Kuhn Labs, Mumbai: Shashwat Sachdev
Backing Vocals & Percussions recorded at Yash Raj Studios, Mumbai: Shantanu Hudlikar
Assistant to Shantanu Hudlikar Abhishek, Manasi
Mixed & Mastered by Shadab Rayeen@NewEdge
Assistant to Shadab Rayeen: Abhishek Sortey

Song: Jigra
Singer(s): Siddharth Basrur & Shashwat Sachdev
Music: Shashwat Sachdev
Lyrics: Kumaar
Executive Music Producer: Vivek Hariharan
Backing Vocal(s): Arun Haridas Kamath, Romy, Vivek Hariharan & Shashwat Sachdev
Vocal Producer: Shashwat Sachdev
Music Produced & Performed By Shashwat Sachdev
Rhythm Section & Percussions: Sivamani
Wind instruments (s): Naveen Kumar
Guitar(s): Youngmin Kim
Bass Guitar: Shashwat Sachdev

Sound Engineers –
Kuhn Labs, Mumbai: Shashwat Sachdev
Rhythm & Percussions recorded at Yash Raj Studios, Mumbai: Shantanu Hudlikar
Assistant to Shantanu Hudlikar Abhishek Khandelwal, Manasi Tare
Wind instrument(s) recorded at Asia Music Vision, Mumbai: Rahul Sharma
Mixed & Mastered by Shashwat Sachdev

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