Songs and complete soundtrack credits at the end.
Qala’s director Anvitaa Dutt gets the perennially underrated Sagar Desai to do a guest composition for the soundtrack – Udh Jaayega by Sant Kabir. The song is a bhajan that you will find multiple renditions of on Youtube, by Pt. Kumar Gandharv, Rahul Deshpande etc. If you are familiar with Sagar’s previous works, particularly the movie Ankhon Dekhi, you will already know why it is a great idea to get the man for such a track. And the man absolutely does not disappoint here, with his own classical-flavoured (raag bhimplasi perhaps?) take on the poem. Shahid Mallya, the singing voice for the male protagonist of the movie (played by Babil Khan) – a choice evocative of the era the movie is set in – is in fabulous form singing this one, even as he is matched in brilliance by his two accompanists, Sarang Kulkarni (sarod) and Satyajeet Talwalkar (tabla). In keeping with the essence of the bhajan genre, Sagar ends the song on a frenetic note with a chorus joining the singer. For people yet to watch the movie, the composer has also done a fine job with the movie’s BGM. Kabir’s lines feature in one more song titled Nirbhau Nirvair, but here, it is largely Anvita Dutt riffing off the poet’s words and philosophy to create another devotional piece. Also a Shahid Mallya solo act, this one is bread-and-butter stuff for the singer who has excelled at Punjabi folk songs right from his Mausam days. Amit Trivedi’s orchestration is simple yet again – and this is a running theme throughout the soundtrack, for obvious reasons – it is Tapas Roy’s rabab (which at times takes my mind to Dilbaro from Raazi) and Akhlak Warsi’s harmonium that dominate the backdrop in addition to Madhav Pawar’s tabla. Phero Na Najariya defines a pivotal moment for Tripti Dimri’s Qala in the movie, and Kausar Munir’s words, written in a very period-appropriate colloquial tone, beautifully conveys the character’s pleas for validation. Lovely soulful melody from Amit Trivedi here that is aced by Sireesha Bhagavatula, Dimri’s musical voice in the movie. I love how each song highlights different instruments; in this one it is sitar (Bhagirath Bhatt) and sarangi (Dilshad Khan) adding beautifully to the pathos.
Quite difficult to pick favourites in this album, but the other half of the soundtrack is what I like slightly more than the above three tracks. First of those, Shauq, accompanies a placid evening setting on a boat, and the song is very reflective of that (did I sense the faintest nod to Deewana Hua Baadal?). Amit’s extremely soothing and hummable melody is bolstered by an arrangement that features a lot of breezy, water-evocative touches, like Mangesh Jagtap’s santoor and some fine woodwind from I D Rao. Note the mention of Chandan Singh, credited for “song violin”, as he does exactly that – shadowing the singers throughout the song. Varun Grover is the lyricist for this one, and his words are replete with metaphors that brilliantly invoke the song’s setting. Speaking of Grover, he also plays a lyricist in the movie (named Majrooh!) who at one point makes a joke about how you could hide a corpse in a song’s third antara since nobody listens to it. And this is one thing that felt uncharacteristic about the soundtrack – let alone a third verse, none of the songs bar Shauq even features a second antara. Shauq is also the only song to feature a third singer – Swanand Kirkire, who has incidentally penned another song in the movie, doing a cameo at the start of the piece. The two songs that seem to stay truest to the film songs of the era are Ghodey Pe Sawaar written by Amitabh Bhattacharya and Rubaaiyaan written by Swanand Kirkire. The former is a Sireesha show all the way as she recreates the yesteryear feel in her singing with aplomb. Spectacular orchestration from Amit here – I have always considered the use of harmonium/accordion as an indicator of Amit Trivedi’s form – you will find a lot of his old tracks that substantiate this theory – and it makes me very happy to hear some fine specimens of both instruments in this album, even if it is to maintain that authentic feel. In Ghodey Pe Sawaar it is Satyajeet Prabhu with the accordion. Finally, Rubaaiyaan – probably the song I would pick as my top favourite, gun to my head – has Shahid Mallya seemingly channeling the likes of the great K L Saigal (and not in a Chetan Shashital in Saigal Blues kind of way). Although the melody is a bit light-hearted, there is a touch of melancholy in Kirkire’s lines, and the instrumental passages too carry a sense of foreboding. Special mention to I D Rao’s work on what sounds like oboe/clarinet, that creates some beautiful harmonies with Mallya’s singing. Also loved the cameo from Sireesha towards the end.
Anvitaa Dutt makes up for the lack of songs in her debut movie, in style! And in a year that has seen Amit Trivedi deliver in quantity but not so much in quality (10 movie soundtracks, which is probably the highest he has ever had in any year), it is heartening to finally see a soundtrack that shows us what the man can produce when he is really..on song! And like I wish every time I hear a new work of his, here’s hoping that we get to hear Sagar Desai more and more.
Music Aloud Rating: 4/5
Top Recos: All of them!
Soundtrack Credits
Ghodey Pe Sawaar
Composed By: Amit Trivedi
Lyrics: Amitabh Bhattacharya
Singer: Sireesha Bhagavatula
Crew
Produced By: Sunny Subramanian & Amit Trivedi
Sound Engineer (At Studios): Urmila Sutar
Recording Engineers (Yrf Studios): Vijay Dayal, Chinmay Mistry
Mixed & Mastered By: Shadab Rayeen
New Edge Assistant Engineers: Pukhraj & Anup
Manager (At Studios): Shruti Shah
Live Musicians
Song Violin: Chandan Singh
Mandolin: Laxmikanth Sharma
Accordion: Satyajeet Prabhu
Violin: Chandan Singh, S Rao, Mohan Goyal, Dharmendra Jawda, Jitendra Jawda, Sanjay Verma, Dilshad Ahmed
Dholak: Girish Vishwa, Hafeez Khan
Percussion: Deepak Borkar
Woodwinds: I D Rao
Rubaaiyaan
Composed by: Amit Trivedi
Lyrics: Swanand Kirkire
Singers: Shahid Mallya, Sireesha Bhagavatula
Crew
Produced By: Sunny Subramanian & Amit Trivedi
Sound Engineer (At Studios): Urmila Sutar
Recording Engineers (Yrf Studios): Vijay Dayal, Chinmay Mistry
Mixed & Mastered By: Shadab Rayeen
New Edge Assistant Engineers: Pukhraj & Anup
Manager (At Studios): Shruti Shah
Live Musicians
Song Violin: Chandan Singh
Mandolin: Laxmikanth Sharma
Violin: Chandan Singh, S Rao, Mohan Goyal, Dharmendra Jawda, Jitendra Jawda, Sanjay Verma, Dilshad Ahmed
Dholak: Girish Vishwa, Hafeez Khan
Percussion: Deepak Borkar
Woodwinds: I D Rao
Veena: Narayan Mani
Sarod: Indrayudh Mujumdar
Shauq
Composed By: Amit Trivedi
Lyrics: Varun Grover
Singers: Swanand Kirkire, Shahid Mallya, Sireesha Bhagavatula
Crew
Produced By: Sunny Subramanian & Amit Trivedi
Sound Engineer (At Studios): Urmila Sutar
Recording Engineers (YRF Studios): Vijay Dayal, Chinmay Mistry
Mixed & Mastered By: Shadab Rayeen
New Edge Assistant Engineers: Pukhraj & Anup
Manager(At Studios): Shruti Shah
Live Musicians
Song Violin: Chandan Singh
Woodwinds: I D Rao
Percussion: Deepak Borkar
Veena: Narayan Mani
Santoor: Mangesh Jagtap
Sarod: Indrayudh Mujumdar
Phero Na Najariya
Composed by: Amit Trivedi
Lyrics: Kausar Munir
Singer: Sireesha Bhagavatula
Crew
Produced by: Amit Trivedi
Sound Engineer (At Studios): Urmila Sutar, Vijay Dayal, Abhishek Khandelwal, Dileep Nair
Recording Engineers (YRF Studios): Vijay Dayal, Abhishek Khandelwal, Dileep Nair
Mixed & Mastered By: Shadab Rayeen
New Edge Assistant Engineers: Pukhraj & Anup
Manager(At Studios): Shruti Shah, Aditya Hanchinal
Live Musicians
Tabla: Satyajit Jamsandekar
Side Rhythm: Deepak Borkar
Harmonium: Akhlak Warsi
Sitar: Bhagirath Bhatt
Sarangi: Dilshad Khan
Vibraphone: Deepak Deo
Nirbhau Nirvair
Composed By: Amit Trivedi
Lyrics: Sant Kabir & Anvitaa Dutt
Singer: Shahid Mallya
Crew
Produced By: Amit Trivedi
Sound Engineer (At Studios): Urmila Sutar
Recording Engineers (YRF Studios): Vijay Dayal, Abhishek Khandelwal, Dileep Nair
Mixed & Mastered By: Shadab Rayeen
New Edge Assistant Engineers: Pukhraj & Anup
Manager (At Studios): Shruti Shah, Aditya Hanchinal
Live Musicians
Tabla: Madhav Pawar
Side Rhythm: Deepak Borkar
Harmonium: Akhlak Warsi
Rabab: Tapas Roy
Vibraphone: Deepak Deo
Udh Jayega
Composed by: Sagar Desai
Lyrics: Sant Kabir
Singer: Shahid Mallya
Live Musicians
Tabla: Satyajeet Talwalkar
Sarod: Sarang Kulkarni
