Toofaan – Music Review (Bollywood Soundtrack)

Songs and musician credits at the end.

You don’t need to look at the credits to surmise that Jo Tum Aa Gaye Ho isn’t a Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy composition. The song comes from Samuel (Shetty)-Akanksha (Nandrekar) who debuted in Jalebi back in 2018 (this is their first film song since then I believe). While I like this better than Tum Se, what with Arijit Singh pouring his heart out, this too carries a similar sound (Bhatts™). The arrangement is markedly better too, love that the duo got Ehsaan Noorani to play guitars on this one. SEL’s set starts with the title track whose anthemic rock flavour and the presence of Siddharth Mahadevan evokes the obvious comparison with an eight year-old song that involved pretty much the entire team, Zinda from Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. While there are definite parallels to be drawn, what is noticeably missing – not just in this track, but in the whole album – is the Punjabi flavour, courtesy the movie’s Mumbai setting. And Toofaan holds its own well in comparison to Zinda, thanks to Siddharth Mahadevan’s vocal efforts and some slick guitars. Siddharth is joined by Divya Kumar and Himani Kapoor in the dance-y Star Hai Tu (Divya Kumar incidentally had a similarly peppy Maston Ka Jhund in BMB) that carries a slightly 90s sound. While the heavy street band style orchestration props the song up considerably, it fails to create much of an impression – my favourite bit is Himani’s entry towards the end of the song, to the backdrop of the Marathi folk beats. Like BMB had Gurbaani, Toofaan has Ganpati Vandana, and this too is presented in a simple fashion – Ojas Adhiya’s tabla and some lovely flute by Paras Nath accompanying Meenal Jain and Vedanti Satyajit Prabhu’s (and chorus) competent rendition. Towards the end when a shehnai solo joined the proceedings, my mind went back to Hrishikesh-Saurabh-Jasraj’s brilliant Ranga Maliyela (Anandi Gopal).

Shankar Mahadevan’s incredible adeptness at delivering classical-flavoured tunes (and a great backing team) goes a long way in making Purvaiya one of the album’s top songs. Javed Akhtar’s pensive lines are on point, and set to a fine melody by the trio – it is only the rock fusion arrangement that doesn’t seem to work consistently. The album takes an indie turn in the remaining three tracks. In Ananya, the composers get everything right – a gentle folk pop-ish piece that Arijit Singh croons in his trademark languid style, while the arrangement is kept fittingly minimal. A movie set in Mumbai, focusing on the struggles of a commoner, in a post Gully Boy era, it isn’t surprising that this story features two rap songs. Both Dekh Toofaan Aaya Hai and Todun Taak are written and performed by D’Evil, the former composed by SEL and the latter by Dub Sharma. I like D’Evil’s delivery, but the songs feel very run-of-the-mill. I liked the fact that central hook of Dekh Toofaan Aaya Hai is built around a sporting chant, but nothing else really stands out.

For a team that gave us Bhaag Milkha Bhaag and more importantly Mirzya, Toofaan is underwhelming. There are clearly equivalents in the soundtrack to songs from BMB; wish they had picked BMB’s best songs to do this.

Music Aloud Rating: 3/5

Top Recos: Ananya, Purvaiya, Toofaan

Musician Credits

Song: Toofaan (Title)
Singer: Siddharth Mahadevan
Lyrics: Javed Akhtar
Composers: Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Drums: Jai Row Kavi
Chorus: Ravi Mishra & Arshad Mohammed
Siddharth Mahadevan Singer recorded at Lambodara Studios
Drums recorded by Kuber Sharma at FatCat Studios
Produced by Tubby
Song recorded at Purple Haze Studios by Abhay Rumde, Vrikpal Singh Khambay assisted by Sreejith Padmakumar
Song mixed by Vijay Benegal at Lambodara Studios
Assisted by Ameya Mategaonkar
Mastered by Donal Whelan at Hafod Mastering, UK

Song: Todun Taak
Singer: D’Evil
Composer: Dub Sharma
Lyrics: D’Evil
Mastered by Donal Whelan at HAFOD Mastering, UK

Song: Star Hai Tu
Singer: Himani Kapoor, Siddharth Mahadevan & Divya Kumar
Composers: Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Lyrics: Javed Akhtar
Chorus – Soumil Shringarpure, Arshad Mohammed & Shehnaz Akhtar
Shehnai – Yogesh More
Mandolin & Saaz – Tapas Roy
Live Rhythm & Percussion Arranged & Conducted by Dipesh Varma
Percussion performed by Dipesh Varma & Omkar Salunkhe
Divya Kumar Singer recorded by Rushik Patel at Psalm 33 Studio, Bandra
Siddharth Mahadevan Singer recorded at Lambodara Studios
Tapas Roy recorded by Ameya Mategaonkar at Lambodara Studios
Song recorded at Purple Haze Studios by Abhay Rumde assisted by Sreejith Padmakumar
Song mixed by Vijay Benegal at Lambodara Studios
Assisted by Ameya Mategaonkar
Mastered by Donal Whelan at Hafod Mastering, UK

Song: Jo Tum Aa Gaye Ho
Singer: Arijit Singh
Composers: Samuel & Akanksha
Lyrics: Javed Akhtar, Manoj Kumar Nath
Music Arrangement and Production : Samuel Shetty & Akanksha Nandrekar
Song programmed by : Samuel Shetty
Drums : Samuel Shetty
(Drums Recorded LIVE by Aslam Khan & Benvin Fernandes at Headroom Studios, Mumbai)
Guitars : Ehsaan Noorani
Vocal Recording Engineer at Arijit’s Studio : Ritvik Shah
Song Mixed by : Vijay Benegal at Island City Studios, Mumbai
Assisted by Adhithya Sivakumar and Hersh Desai
Song Mastered by : Donal Whelan at Hafod Mastering, UK

Song: Purvaiya
Singer: Shankar Mahadevan
Lyrics: Javed Akhtar
Composers: Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Chorus – Arshad Mohammed, Ravi Mishra, Mani Mahadevan & Latesh Poojari
Shankar Mahadevan recorded by Ameya Mategaonkar at Lambodara Studios
Song recorded at Purple Haze Studios by Abhay Rumde assisted by Sreejith Padmakumar
Song mixed by Vijay Benegal at Lambodara Studios
Assisted by Ameya Mategaonkar
Album Mastered by Donal Whelan at Hafod Mastering, UK

Song: Ananya
Singer: Arijit Singh
Lyrics: Javed Akhtar
Composers: Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Violin: Manas Kumar
Arijit Singh Singer recorded by Sukanto Singha
Song recorded at Purple Haze Studios by Abhay Rumde assisted by Sreejith Padmakumar
Song mixed by Vijay Benegal at Lambodara Studios
Assisted by Ameya Mategaonkar
Mastered by Donal Whelan at Hafod Mastering, UK

Song: Dekh Toofaan aaya hai
Performed By D’Evil
Lyrics / Written by D’Evil
Composers: Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Music Production: DAWgeek
Mixed by DAWgeek
Song recorded at Purple Haze Studios by Abhay Rumde assisted by Sreejith Padmakumar
Mastered by Donal Whelan at Hafod Mastering, UK

Song: Ganpati Vandana
Singers: Meenal Jain & Vedanti Satyajit Prabhu
Lyrics: Traditional
Composers: Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Chorus: Prajakta Shukre, Zeenia Roy & Madhura Paranjape
Tabla: Ojas Adhiya
Flute: Paras Nath
Song recorded at Purple Haze Studios by Abhay Rumde assisted by Sreejith Padmakumar
Song mixed by Vijay Benegal at Lambodara Studios
Assisted by Ameya Mategaonkar
Mastered by Donal Whelan at Hafod Mastering, UK

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