Badhaai Do – Music Review (Bollywood Soundtrack)

Songs and album credits at the end.

Seven years since his debut in Hunterrr, it’s taken another movie by director Harshvardhan Kulkarni  for Khamosh Shah to make his return to Bollywood (for a guest composition though, this time). The man seems to have a way with ballroom-style romantic pieces – my favourite piece from Hunterrr was Chori Chori, and here Shah offers an equally pleasant, waltz-y Maange Manzooriyaan that also sees the playback debut of Maalavika Manoj (known in indie circles as Mali – here’s a recent-ish song of hers that I love). And she does a fine job of delivering Azeem Shirazi’s finely crafted words. Nothing flashy in the arrangement from the composer, but I did love how Jitendra Thakur’s violin solos punctuate the second verse. A male version of the song which is identical to the original in all other aspects bar the scale, is sung by another brilliant musician, Abhay Jodhpurkar. When I first heard Bandi Tot, I totally did not expect it to be an Ankit Tiwari song since I am not used to hearing this level of upbeat from the man. That novelty aside, there isn’t much in offer in this song apart from the singing, by Tiwari and Nikhita Gandhi. Last of the guest acts is Tanishk Bagchi, creating the title song with one of his frequent lyrical collaborators, Vayu. While this one isn’t a “remix”, it does come across as a bit of a mashup between Bagchi’s own Sweety Tera Drama and another wedding-themed blockbuster, London Thumakda (incidentally composed by the movie’s lead composer Amit Trivedi). Once again, it is the sprightly rendition (Nakash Aziz, Rajnigandha Shekhawat & Raja Sagoo) and the song’s visuals that keep it going more than anything else

Amit Trivedi gets four songs in Badhaai Do, two of which get three versions each (someone in the team is a Pritam fan, clearly). And those two also happen to be the best songs of the album. Hum Thay Seedhe Saadhe is a beautifully understated romantic melody, quite fitting for the situation it is used in the movie. While in the movie it is Shashaa Tirupati’s version (which is my favourite among the three) that appears in the sequence, it is a bit annoying to see the YouTube video upload of the video carry Raj Barman’s version – even among the two male renditions of the song, Abhay Jodhpurkar is the superior one, Barman’s sounds weirdly tinny and off in places, possibly owing to some error in the vocal processing. Varun Grover’s lines portray the blossoming romance very well, working in perfect sync with the song’s mood (that takes me back at times to this favourite by Amit Trivedi’s old band Om). Special mention to the flautist Nikhil who doesn’t appear until the second verse, but then puts on a brilliant show, especially in the second interlude. Atak Gaya is where Varun Grover produces his best lines, and once again Amit keeps his melody and arrangement gentle, appearing as the song does, as the backdrop of the evolution of the other romantic arc of the film. Love the folk touch the composer provides to round the song off, with Krishna Kishor’s kanjira providing accompaniment. Arijit Singh and Abhijeet Srivastava lead the vocals in the two versions that feature this arrangement, with Rupali Moghe coming in for the folk outro – Arijit’s version is unsurprisingly the superior one. The third, acoustic version, shorn of the imaginative elements in the arrangement and with the composer himself behind the mic, doesn’t match up either. Gol Gappa has too much of the composer’s older songs all over it to offer anything memorable really. The same would have applied to Hum Rang Hain as well – song that can be considered the anthem of the movie (and hence evocative of similar rock anthems Amit has done in the past) – if not for the visual sequence it has been used around. That final instrumental passage is particularly effective in how the crescendo corresponds with the pivotal moment onscreen.

Badhaai Do. A decent soundtrack (with two amazing songs) made better by its utilisation in the movie. On an aside, given their track record so far, Amit Trivedi really should be collaborating more often with Varun Grover.

Music Aloud Rating: 3.5/5

Top Recos: Hum Thay Seedhe Saadhe, Atak Gaya, Maange Manzooriyaan

Album Credits

Song: Badhaai Do – Title Track
Singers: Nakash Aziz, Rajnigandha Shekhawat & Raja Sagoo
Composed, Programmed And Arranged By Tanishk Bagchi
Lyrics: Vayu
Dholak & Tabla: Raju Sardar
Male Voices: Sudhanshu, Rakesh, Kabul
Female Voices: Surya Ragunaathan, Shudhi Ramani, Debanjali B Joshi, Annette Fernandes
Mixed & Mastered: Eric Pillai At Future Sound Of Bombay
Music Production Coordinator: Chayan Rio Ghosh

Song: Atak Gaya – Arijit Singh
Singers: Arijit Singh & Rupali Moghe
Composed & Produced by Amit Trivedi
Lyrics: Varun Grover
Additional Music Production: Krishna Kishor
Guitars: Keba Jeremiah,
Violin:Sai Rakshith,
Kanjira: Krishna Kishor
Recorded by Mani Ratnam

Song: Atak Gaya – Acoustic
Singer: Amit Trivedi
Composed & Produced by Amit Trivedi
Lyrics: Varun Grover
Programmed by John Paul
Acoustic Guitar, Bass Guitar, Mandola, Backing Vocals: John Paul

Song: Hum Thay Seedhe Saadhe – Raj Barman
Singer: Raj Barman
Composed & Produced by Amit Trivedi
Lyrics: Varun Grover
Additional Music Production: Krishna Kishor
Guitars: Keba Jeremiah
Flute: Nikhil
Rhythm: Krishna Kishor
Recorded by Mani Ratnam

Song: Hum Thay Seedhe Saadhe – Shashaa Tirupati
Singer: Shashaa Tirupati
Composed & Produced by Amit Trivedi
Lyrics: Varun Grover

Song: Gol Gappa
Singers: Neha Kakkar & Amit Trivedi
Music: Amit Trivedi
Lyrics: Anvita Dutt
Produced by Gourab Dutta & Amit Trivedi
Sound Engineer, AT Studios: Abhishek Sortey
Tumbi, Bouzouki, Mandolin, Banjo: Tapas Roy
Live Recording at Seven Heaven Studios
Backing vocals: Arun Kamath, Suhas Sawant & Rajiv Sundaresan
Recorded by Rupak Thakur at Click Studios

Song: Bandi Tot
Singers: Ankit Tiwari & Nikhita Gandhi
Music: Ankit Tiwari
Lyrics: Anurag Bhomia
Music Produced & Programming: Dj Phukan
Pluck Instrument: Tapas Roy
Pluck Instrument Recorded At: Rupjit Das At Playhead Studio
Vocals Recorded At: Ankit Tiwari Studio
Mix Master: Eric Pillai At Future Sound Of Bombay
Music Production Team: Mayur Sharma, Zyra Nargolwala

Song: Hum Rang Hain
Singers: Shashaa Tirupati, Nakash Aziz & Amit Trivedi
Music: Amit Trivedi
Lyrics: Varun Grover
Produced by Raja Rasaily & Amit Trivedi
Backing vocals: Arun Kamath, Suhas Sawant, Rajiv Sundaresan, Rishikesh Kamerkar

Song: Hum Thay Seedhe Saadhe – Abhay Jodhpurkar
Singer: Abhay Jodhpurkar
Composed & Produced by Amit Trivedi
Lyrics: Varun Grover

Song: Maange Manzooriyan – Female Version
Singer: Maalavika Manoj
Music: Khamosh Shah
Lyrics: Azeem Shirazi
Music Production: Sunny M.R. (Chordfather Productions)
Music Programming & Arrangement: Samyukta Narendran Zia & Sunny M.R.
Mixing & Mastering: Farhad K.Dadyburjor
Live Viola & Violin: Jitendra Thakur
Live Guitars : Roland Fernandes
Additional Guitars : Veljon Noronha
Female Vocal Dubbing Studio: Studio 504
Recording Engineer: Rahul Sharma
Male Vocal Dubbing Studio : Euphony Studio
Live Recording Studio: Euphony Studio
Recording Engineer: Partha Protim Das

Song: Maange Manzooriyan – Male Version
Singer: Abhay Jodhpurkar
Music: Khamosh Shah
Lyrics: Azeem Shirazi

Song: Atak Gaya – Abhijeet Version
Singers: Abhijeet Srivastava & Rupali Moghe
Composed & Produced by Amit Trivedi
Lyrics: Varun Grover

Amit Trivedi songs Mixed & Mastered by Shadab Rayeen at New Edge
AT Studios Crew:
Sound Engineer: Urmila Sutar
Assistant Engineers: Pukhraj & Milan
Executive Producer: Krutee Trivedi
Manager: Shruti Shah

Music on Zee Music Company

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,