Songs and musician credits at the end.
This review first appeared in the Mumbai edition of The Hindu.
Like with his last film, director Shoojit Sircar once again entrusts the biggest share of songs from Gulabo Sitabo – four tracks out of the eight originals – to his favourite composer, Shantanu Moitra. His first song, Kanjoos, seems to be a tongue-in-cheek ode to Amitabh Bachchan’s landlord character. Delivered by Mika singh, lyricist Puneet Sharma writes this well, and Moitra’s arrangement is a sprightly folk-based one – which is a running theme throughout the soundtrack – and features a wacky assortment of sounds courtesy khamak (gabgubi?), dotara, morsing, vocal percussions et al (most of them played by Rathijit Bhattacharjee). Kya Leke Aayo Jagme, written and sung by Vinod Dubey, is a bit more pensive in tone, and quite a fitting theme for the times we are going through. Both lyrically and musically, I find the song to belong to the Kabir Café zone (Mumbai folk band that adapts Kabir poetry). And I enjoyed this song more than the first. Moitra’s other two songs are instrumental themes. Folk instruments from the previous songs get on the front seat to kick off the first theme piece, alongside solos on sitar, shehnai etc, giving you the aural equivalent of a pleasant ride through the countryside. It is however the other theme song that I wish were a longer piece (it lasts just under a minute). Shirish Malhotra’s lovely clarinet improvs over a Western-flavoured melody, later joined by a bluesy piano riff, makes for a wonderfully contrasting combo with the Rathijit’s khomok. Continuing on a similarly whimsical note as the clarinet theme (and also annoyingly short like the latter) is Jootam Phenk, composed by Abhishek Arora, who debuted seven years back with the same director-actor combo (as Abhishek-Akshay). Man gets just one song here, but makes it totally count – the delightful swing piece sees Shirish Malhotra and guitarist Ankur Mukherjee running riot in the backdrop, even as Piyush Mishra – a perfect choice for this song – delivers a fine job behind the mic as well. The soundscape does seem reminiscent of Finding Fanny at times – not a bad soundtrack to get reminded of, at all!
These past few years, multiple talented musicians have been handed their Bollywood debut by Shoojit Sircar (including the one who composed the previous song). In Gulabo Sitabo, one more name gets added to the list, Anuj Garg. Garg gets Tochi Raina for Madari Ka Bandar, a pleasantly soothing folk piece written by Dinesh Pant (who writes all of the composer’s songs for the album). The star of the song though is Ankur Mukherjee with his stellar job on an assortment of small strings (the rhythm on guitar reminds me of Pari Hoon Main). One of the things I most liked about Anuj Garg’s songs in the album is the indie folk fusion sound all of them carry. Do Din Ka Ye Mela for instance could fit into a Coke Studio or Indian Ocean set – incidentally it is sung by Rahul Ram as well. Top class arrangement once again – my absolute favourite bit is when the vocals in the first verse nicely segues into a fine classical guitar solo (by Daksh Jain, I assume). An alternate version of the song, which differs only in the vocal aspect, is sung by Tochi Raina. The final song, Budhau (also a song about Bachchan’s character it would seem – really well written by Pant), also comes in two versions. The reprise version is the kind of song that you would expect when you read the song’s rustic lyrics – very earthy, and rendered earnestly by Bhanvari Devi whom you might remember from Ram Sampath’s Coke Studio India Season 3 episode. The main version of the song, however, is a surprising take on the same lines (barring one verse that is slightly modified) – composer takes the Western country music route for this one, and it fits! Ankur Mukherjee is once again in top form here, alongside an equally wonderful Robin Fargose on the trumpet – and leading all of them is vocalist Bobby Cash (wiki tells me he is an Indian country musician; I must confess I did not know of Indians performing country music until now); loved the cool, composed air with which he sings this one.
Shoojit Sircar and Ayushmann Khurrana – both people known to feature great music in their movies (most of the time). And Gulabo Sitabo is the best soundtrack that has featured in their movies in a very long time!
Music Aloud Rating: 4/5
Top Recos: Do Din Ka Ye Mela, Budhau, Jootam Phenk
PS: If online streaming release of movies means a timely release of the full soundtrack, I am totally game for this trend!
Musician Credits
Song – Madari Ka Bandar
Music – Anuj Garg
Singers – Tochi Raina, Anuj Garg
Lyricist – Dinesh Pant
Music Programming – Rupjit Das
Mixed By – Rupjit Das At Playhead Studio
Mastered By – Donal Whelan At Hafod Mastering, Masteringworld, Uk
Acoustic Guitar, Banjo, Mandolin & Various Pluck Instruments – Ankur Mukherjee
Bass – Manas Chaudhary
Electric Guitar – Chaitanya Gadgil
Recorded At – Playhead Studio
Drums By – Anuj Garg Recorded At Blue Cassette Studios
Music Assistants – Diksha Garg
Asistants In Music Programming – Neha Karode And Anil Rawat
Song – Jootam Phenk
Music Director: – Abhishek Arora
Singer – Piyush Mishra
Lyricist – Puneet Sharma
Guitars – Ankur Mukherjee
Clarinet/Saxophone – Shirish Malhotra
Arranger & Programmer – Abhishek Arora
Mixed By – Chester Misquitta
Mastered By – Donal Whelan At Hafod Mastering, Masteringworld, UK
Song – Kanjoos
Composer – Shantanu Moitra
Singer – Mika Singh
Lyricist – Puneet Sharma
Arranged And Programmed By – Tanuj Tikku
Khomok, Do Tara, Kanjira By – Rathijit Bhattachrjee
Recorded By – Kittu Myakal At Sound Ideas Studio
Assistant Recordist – Aishwary Pimple
Mixed And Mastered By – Shadab Rayeen @ New Edge
Song – Kya Leke Aayo Jagme
Composer – Shantanu Moitra
Singers – Vinod Dubey
Lyrics By – Vinod Dubey
Do Tara ,Khomok, Kanjira By – Rathijit Bhattachrjee
Guitar And Banjo By – Ankur Mukherjee
Programmed By – Mukund Ambarish
Recorded By – Kittu Myakal At Sound Ideaz Studio
Assistant Recordist – Aishwary Pimple
Mixed And Mastered By – Kittu Myakal
Song – Do Din Ka Ye Mela – Reprise
Music – Anuj Garg
Singer – Tochi Raina
Lyricist – Dinesh Pant
Music Programming – Brince Bora
Acoustic Electric Guitar, Banjo, Banjola – Ankur Mukherjee
Recorded At – Playhead Studio
Mixed By – Rupjit Das At Playhead Studio
Electric Muted Guitar – Daksh Jain
Live Percussions And Rhythm By – Sanket Naik Recorded At Emsquare Studio By Bhaskar Sharma
Backing Voice – Brince Bora
Mastered By – Donal Whelan At Hafod Mastering, Masteringworld, Uk
Music Assistant – Diksha Garg
Dami Sung By – V Cash
Song – Budhau – Reprise
Music – Anuj Garg
Singer – Bhanwari Devi
Lyricist – Dinesh Pant
Music Programming – Brince Bora
Acoustic Guitar, Banjo, Mandolin & Various Pluck Instruments – Ankur Mukherjee
Live Percussions And Rhythm By – Sanket Naik
Recorded At – 7 Heaven Studio By A. Manivannan
Mixed By – A. Manivannan At 7 Heaven Studio
Mastered By – Donal Whelan At Hafod Mastering, Masteringworld, Uk
Music Assistant – Diksha Garg
Main Vocals Recorded At – Kapil Studio (Jaipur) By Karan Shekhawat
Dami Sung By – V Cash
Song – Do Din Ka Ye Mela
Music – Anuj Garg
Singer – Rahul Ram
Lyricist – Dinesh Pant
Music Programming – Brince Bora
Acoustic Electric Guitar, Banjo, Banjola – Ankur Mukherjee
Recorded At – Playhead Studio
Mixed By Rupjit Das At Playhead Studio
Electric Muted Guitar – Daksh Jain
Live Percussions & Rhythm By – Sanket Naik Recorded At Emsquare Studio By Bhaskar Sharma
Backing Voice – Brince Bora
Mastered By – Donal Whelan At Hafod Mastering, Masteringworld, Uk
Music Assistant – Diksha Garg
Dami Sung By V Cash
Song – Budhau
Music – Anuj Garg
Singer – Bobby Cash
Lyricist – Dinesh Pant
Music Programming – Brince Bora
Mixed By – Rupjit Das At Playhead Studio
Mastered By – Donal Whelan At Hafod Mastering, Masteringworld, Uk
Acoustic Guitar, Ukulele & Various Pluck Instruments – Ankur Mukherjee
Bass – Manas Chaudhary
Congas and Other Percussions – Kirti Prabar Das
Trumpet – Robin Fargose
Backing Voices Design By – Rajiv Sundaresan, Neha Karode
Recorded At – Playhead Studio
Drums By – Anuj Garg, Recorded At Blue Cassette Studios
Music Assistants – Diksha Garg
Main Voice Recorded At – Bobby Cash Studio Dehradun
Song – Gulabo Sitabo Theme
Music Composer – Shantanu Moitra
Programmed And Arranged By Rathijit Bhattacharjee
Khomok, Do Tara, Kanjira, Vocal Percussions By Rathijit Bhattacharjee
Recorded By – Kittu Myakal At Sound Ideaz Studio
Assistant Recordist – Aishwary Pimple
Mixed & Mastered – Kittu Myakal
Song – Gulabo Sitabo Clarinet Theme
Music Composer – Shantanu Moitra
Programmed And Arranged By Rathijit Bhattacharjee
Khomok, Do Tara, Kanjira By Rathijit Bhattacharjee
Clarinet – Shirish Malhotra
Recorded By – Kittu Myakal At Sound Ideaz Studio
Assistant Recordist: – Aishwary Pimple
Mixed & Mastered – Kittu Myakal
