Songs and soundtrack credits at the end.
Cutie Cutie equates the protagonist with all things cute and vulnerable and innocent, presumably to establish a ground zero for the transformation that Jerry undergoes through the movie. I could not find an analogue for every song from Kolamaavu Kokila in Good Luck Jerry (although the movie seems to follow the original quite faithfully, as per the trailer), but Cutie Cutie seems to be this movie’s Kalyaana Vayassu, based on the romantic flavour. Electronic sounds dominate the soundscape, as it does for the rest of the soundtrack as well, but with some effective interventions from the live instruments, particularly Dilshad Khan’s sarangi. Also liked the surprise addition of mridangam to the mix towards the end of the song. Nakash Aziz leads this one in confident fashion, supported by composer Parag Chhabra. Mor Mor, the album’s only other “happy” song, is set around a wedding, going by the brass orchestration and lines like Baari Barsi (which lyricist Raj Shekhar gives his own quirky twist to). Once again the arrangement has you hooked to the song, an engaging mix of electronic and folk elements, as does the singing, especially by the ladies Deedar Kaur and Gurlej Akhtar. Jogan appears to be the other end of the journey that begins with Cutie Cutie – and this has in the lead one of my favourites, Romy, provided excellent support by Nikhita Gandhi and Rupali Jagga (sounded a bit like Shilpa Rao in her solo bit in the second verse). Composer sets this one to a lovely haunting melody, and while the immersive backdrop adds perfectly to the feel, it also feels like a nod to A R Rahman (songs like Ranjha Ranjha came to mind) – love that violin solo by Manas Kumar in the interlude, and that gunshot incorporation is a nice touch.
Continuing Raj Shekhar’s theme of tweaking popular adages is Jhand Ba – if you are familiar with the phrase, you already know the gist of the song, and the lyricist presents some smart metaphors to drive the point home in a quirky manner, in keeping with the dark humour theme of the movie. Quality work from Parag yet again; that retro feel imparted by the record crackle, the staccatoed rhythm, Tapas Roy’s short solos on the mandolin (?) all make for an addictive combo. Star of the song though is Madhubanti Bagchi with her spotless rendition. An alternate version of the song sees it shorn of all the lighter elements – since it is titled the sad version – and it is great to see that the melody is equally effective in this emotive form, helped also by Madhubanti Bagchi’s vocals. The Jhand Ba refrain is replaced by the singer’s humming, to suit the situation. My favourite song from the album carries a name that we have encountered quite often over the past two years – Paracetamol. It is amusing to hear the word paracetamol in a deeply philosophical sounding track that essentially appears to be imparting a “keep calm (medicate, rather) and carry on” kind of a message. Jubin Nautiyal leads the first two verses of the song before a cameo from Glaswegian-Indian rapper Soom T and a seamless shift into qawwali mode featuring Navdeep Dhatra, Manish S Sharma and Pankaj Dixit. Some lovely flute pieces from Paras Nath throughout the song.
Having been a big fan of Anirudh’s soundtrack for Kolamaavu Kokila, I was quite curious how Good Luck Jerry would match up. And I have to say that Parag Chhabra has done a splendid job here, made even more impressive by the fact that this is his first full soundtrack. He of course has a lot of help coming from lyricist Raj Shekhar. Special mention also to the top notch production throughout the album. I really, really hope the movie does well, at least for the sake of the songs, if nothing else.
Music Aloud Rating: 4/5
Top Recos: Paracetamol, Jogan, Jhand Ba
Soundtrack Credits
Song: Mor Mor
Song Composed, Produced & Arranged by: Parag Chhabra
Lyricist: Raj Shekhar
Singers: Deedar Kaur, Gurlej Akhtar, Vivek Hariharan & Parag Chhabra
Additional Vocals: Pinky Maidasani
Backing Vocals: Navdeep Dhatra, Manish S Sharma & Pankaj Dixit
Executive Music Producer: Deepak Sugathan
Music Producers: Parag Chhabra, Vineeth Jayan
Additional Music Programmers: Utsav Nanda
Mixing Engineer: Shadab Rayeen At New Edge
Mixing Assistant to Shadab: Pukhraj Sonkar & Anup Kumar
Music Premix Engineer: Deepak Sugathan
Recording Engineers: Sachin Ahuja At Sangeetika Studio & Amey Londhe At Audio Garage Studio
Mastering Engineer: Shadab Rayeen At New Edge
Musicians:-
Ethnic Plucked Instruments: Tapas Roy
Harmonium: Parag Chhabra
Song: Paracetamol
Song Composed, Produced & Arranged by: Parag Chhabra
Lyricist: Raj Shekhar
Singers: Jubin Nautiyal, Parag Chhabra
English Rap Performed & Written by: Soom T
Additional Vocals: Shehnaz Akhar, Sahil Akhtar
Sufi Vocal Section: Navdeep Dhatra, Manish S Sharma & Pankaj Dixit
Executive Music Producer: Deepak Sugathan
Music Producers: Parag Chhabra, Vineeth Jayan
Additional Music Programmers: Utsav Nanda
Mixing Engineer: Shadab Rayeen At New Edge
Mixing Assistant to Shadab: Pukhraj Sonkar & Anup Kumar
Music Premix Engineer: Deepak Sugathan
Recording Engineer: Rupjit Das At Playhead Studio & Chinmay Mistry At Yashraj Studios, Mumbai
Mastering Engineer: Shadab Rayeen At New Edge
Musicians:-
Flute: Paras Nath
Guitars: Utsav Nanda
Sitar: Asad Khan & Sarang Vechalekar
Dholak: Jayant Patnaik
Song: Jogan
Song Composed, Produced & Arranged by: Parag Chhabra
Lyricist: Raj Shekhar
Singers: Romy, Rupali Jagga, Nikhita Gandhi & Parag Chhabra
Backing Vocals: Navdeep Dhatra, Manish S Sharma, Pankaj Dixit & Dipanshu Tiwari
Executive Music Producer: Deepak Sugathan
Music Producers: Parag Chhabra, Sunny M.R. (Chordfather Productions), Vineeth Jayan & Nakul Chugh
Additional Music Programmers: Utsav Nanda, Nabeel Jubair (Chordfather Productions), ZIA (Chordfather Productions)
Mixing Engineer: Deepak Sugathan
Recording Engineers: Rupjit Das At Playhead Studio, Kittu Myakal At Sound Ideas Studio, Ritvik Shah At Chordfather Productions & Franco Bhalla At Kailasa Studio
Mastering Engineer: Deepak Sugathan
Musicians:-
Ethnic Plucked Instruments: Tapas Roy
Violin, Viola: Manas Kumar
Song: Jhand Ba
Song Composed, Produced & Arranged by: Parag Chhabra
Lyricist: Raj Shekhar
Singers: Madhubanti Bagchi & Parag Chhabra
Executive Music Producer: Deepak Sugathan
Music Producers: Parag Chhabra, Sunny M.R. (Chordfather Productions)
Additional Music Programmers: Japjisingh Valecha
Mixing Engineer: Deepak Sugathan
Recording Engineer: Rupjit Das At Playhead Studio
Mastering Engineer: Shadab Rayeen At New Edge
Assistant to Shadab: Pukhraj Sonkar & Anup Kumar
Musicians:-
Ethnic Plucked Instruments: Tapas Roy
Mouth Percussion: Parag Chhabra
Song: Cutie Cutie
Song Composed, Produced & Arranged by: Parag Chhabra
Lyricist: Raj Shekhar
Singers: Nakash Aziz & Parag Chhabra
Additional Vocals: Gary Misquitta, Rishikesh Kamerkar, Keshia Braganza & Suzanne Dmello
Executive Music Producer: Deepak Sugathan
Music Producers: Parag Chhabra, Vineeth Jayan, Sunny M.R. (Chordfather Productions)
Additional Music Programmers: Utsav Nanda & Japjisingh Valecha
Mixing Engineer: Deepak Sugathan
Recording Engineer: Rupjit Das At Playhead Studio
Mastering Engineer: Deepak Sugathan
Musicians:-
Sarangi: Dilshad Khan
Ethnic Plucked Instruments: Tapas Roy
Song: Jhand Ba (Sad)
Song Composed, Produced & Arranged by: Parag Chhabra
Lyricist: Raj Shekhar
Singers: Madhubanti Bagchi & Parag Chhabra
Executive Music Producer: Deepak Sugathan
Music Producers: Parag Chhabra & Japjisingh Valecha
Additional Music Programmers: Utsav Nanda
Mixing Engineer: Deepak Sugathan
Recording Engineer: Rupjit Das At Playhead Studio
Mastering Engineer: Deepak Sugathan
