Commando 3 – Music Review (Bollywood Soundtrack)

Songs and complete musician credits at the end.

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

It was the 2013 Vidyut Jammwal starrer Commando that marked the debut of composer Manan Shah. The soundtrack had one composition that bore promise. In the six years that followed, the composer has had two letters added to his name (it is Mannan Shaah now), but unfortunately only as many albums added to his portfolio as well – the sequel to Commando, and Namaste England last year, which was a more promising affair. And this year it is back to the third part of the Commando franchise (never watched any of the Commando movies, but very curious now, given that the series is now three strong!). Well, Shaah gets just one half of the soundtrack this time; Marathi composer Vikram Montrose, who debuted in Bollywood with Sanju last year, gets the other half.

Montrose gets the heavier, more aggressive songs of the album. Tera Baap Aaya is forgettable hip hop based fare, especially for its middling, mostly silly rhymes. Farhad Bhiwandiwala, who writes the lines, also delivers them. His second song turns out slightly better, thanks to a catchy melody at the core, delivered by the spirited as ever Sukhwinder Singh. The composer himself handles the rapping here (presumably the writing too), and this too is more listenable than the childish threats in the first one. In both of the previous Commando instalments, Mannan Shaah had delivered a competent melody apiece. In Commando 3 too, his first offering is a soothing melodic composition – written mostly in Punjabi (unsurprisingly) by Sahil Sultanpuri. Ankhiyan Milavanga is sung by Arijit Singh and Malayali singer Sruthy Sasidharan, making her Hindi film debut, and both do a great job on their part. I like the fact that composer chose to use a qamancha (played by Rasa-Lila Buniatyan) instead of a violin, as one of the leading instruments. Shaah gets Ankit Tiwari to sing Main Woh Raat Hoon, the soundtrack’s final entry. Not sure if it is Tiwari’s influence rubbing off on Shaah, but the song could very much pass off for something the former came up with (which brings me to the question as to why he does not compose more these days; his composing style did have a lot of takers and clearly the labels still want songs of the kind). The melancholic rock base, the slow build-up to a soaring finish is all very familiar. Nevertheless, it still is one of the album’s better songs.

Much like the previous two instalments of the Commando franchise, Commando 3 too has just one song that is worth multiple revisits. And that one comes from Mannan Shaah. Well, at least they avoided including a recreation (just to refresh your memory, for Commando 2 they recreated the Bhool Bhulaiya title song; a song that was less than 10 years old at that point!).

Music Aloud Rating: 2/5

Top Recos: Ankhiyan Milavanga

Artist Credits

Song: Tera Baap Aaya
Singer: Farhad Bhiwandiwala
Music: Vikram Montrose
Lyrics: Farhad Bhiwandiwala, Vikram Montrose
Song Programmed and Arranged by Vikram Montrose
Sound Design: Utpal Das
Songs Mixed & Mastered by Eric Pillai (Future Sound Of Bombay)
Mix Assistant Engineers: Michael Edwin Pillai

Song: Akhiyaan Milavanga
Singers: Arijit Singh & Sruthy Sasidharan
Music: Mannan Shaah
Lyrics: Sahil Sultanpuri
Music Production: Sourav Roy
Guitars: Shomu Seal
Qamancha: Rasa-Lila Buniatyan
Mix & Master: Shadab Rayeen @NewEdge, Mumbai
Vocal Design: Smith Thampan
Production Manager: Anupam Amod
Assistants to Shadab: Abhishek Sortey & Dhananjay Khapekar
Recording Credits:
Live Instruments recorded by Pranjal Borah @NeoSound, Mumbai.
Engineer at Arijit Singh’s studio: Sukanto Singha
Sruthy’s vocals recorded by Charles Nazareth @Wave Weaver Studios, Kochi.

Song: Iraade Kar Buland
Singers: Sukhwinder Singh, Vikram Montrose
Music: Vikram Montrose
Lyrics: Vikram Montrose, Azeem Shirazi
Song Programmed and Arranged by Vikram Montrose
Guitars: Appai Prachotosh Bhowmick
Sound Design: Utpal Das
Songs Mixed & Mastered by Eric Pillai (Future Sound Of Bombay)
Mix Assistant Engineers: Michael Edwin Pillai
Vocals & Live recorded by Kittu Myakal (Soundideaz Studio)

Song: Main Woh Raat Hoon
Singer: Ankit Tiwari
Music: Mannan Shaah
Lyrics: Abhendra Kumar Upadhyay
Music Production: Prasad Sashte
Guitars: Dabbu
Backing Vocals: Harjot Kaur
Chorus: Anupam Amod, Mannan Shaah
Mix & Master: Shadab Rayeen @NewEdge, Mumbai.
Vocal Design: Smith Thampan
Production Manager: Anupam Amod
Assistant to Prasad: Tushar Joshi
Assistants to Shadab: Abhishek Sortey & Dhananjay Khapekar
Recording Credits:
Ankit’s Vocals recorded by Samir Dharap at Asia Music Vision Recording Studio, Mumbai.
Chorus and Backing Vocals recorded by Rupjit Das at Playhead Studio, Mumbai.
Guitars recorded by Prasad Sashte @StudioCave, Mumbai.

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