Trenchant

Dev D and Rock on – music at its bollywood best!

Rock On!

I was really late to catch ‘Rock on!’. I saw the movie only today, after probably half an year of its release. But I admit, I’m given in to the movie in all aspects. Farhan Akhtar, man this guy, I thought was a great director after DCH. Then I heard he acted in Rock on, then I realized he sang too. And he’s such a talented singer I tell you, he shines while he sings the high notes in numbers like ‘Sindbad’ in Rock On. Farhan Akhtar seems to have a thing for stories about friends, they being great friends and then something happens with them and they go separate ways and something pull them back to their normal selves, back as friends. DCH was one such and Rock on was on the same lines.

Coming to talk about the music, Shankar Ehsaan Loy + Javed Akhtar makes a winner combination, well always. Rock on did sound like a rock album, but it had two melodious soul numbers ‘Phir Dekhiye’ and ‘Ye thumari meri baatein’. I did not realize initially that it could be Shankar Ehsaan Loy, but when the guitar suddenly appeared on ’sindbad the sailor’ number, I thought it was them for sure. The lead guitar sounds similar to the one in ‘kuch hum bhi paagal hai’ from Ye kya ho raha hai.

The numbers :
Phir dekhiye – Caralisa Monteiro : I seriously did not ever hear this name but this is one song that you cant afford to miss. The modulation she does with her voice sounds like divine. With just the guitar and keyboard to accompany the singer, the song is a beauty.

Pichle Saat Dinon Mein – Farhan Akthar : I’m a fan of his singing already. I’m humming the song right from the first time I heard it. Its still ringing in my ears. Its an attempt to rock and the number sure rocks!

Rock On – Farhan Akhtar: The song initially gives you a feeling that it were on the same lines as was ‘mai aisa kyo hoon’ from Lakshya. But as soon as they say Rock On… you don’t feel like thinking much but just lose yourself to the spirit the song introduces you to. hai ye waqth ka ishara.. zindagi milegi na dubara.. yeah true.

Sindbad The Sailor – Farhan Akhtar, Raman Mahadevan : The song starts with the guitar which sure prompts at a music arrangement similar to that on ”kuch hum bhi paagal hai’ from Ye kya ho raha hai, one of my favorites by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. But soon as we catch the lyrics on, we want to listen to what’s being told, the story of Sindbad. Sindbad the sailor was a free spirit, he followed his dreams and we all have a message to take home from the story – follow your dreams. Well sung in a chorus. Again Farhan Akhtar shines as a singer. Fresh as his voice sounds, one can notice the spirit of a rock star in his tone.

Socha Hai - Farhan Akhtar: I wouldn’t call this number as thought provoking (the questions and then they ask socha hai?) but the song is a pleasure to listen to. A typical Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy jiggle with a touch of the Pakistani ‘Strings’.

Tum Ho Toh – Farhan Akhtar: Have you listened to ‘tu hai aasmaa mein’ from Jhankar Beats? This one is on the same lines. you can’t miss the bit where Farhan goes ‘ye zindageee e ee eee eeeh’.

Ye Tumhari Meri Baatein – Dominique Cerejo : We’ve heard her sing for A R Rahman, but this is the 1st time I’ve stood up an took notice. This is an out and out soul song, a number that can make you get up and jive a bit, or sit and tap your feet all along, it can also you put you to sleep once you’ve heard it over like fifteen times. I love the song.

Zehreelay – Suraj Jaggan: Well this isn’t my kinda music. I can’t comment on this one much. I listened to it only once and skipped it there on, each time I came across it.

The music was for the movie but it sure is an Indie-Rock album with two soul numbers. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Javed Akhtar and most importantly Farhan Akhtar were at their spiritual best.

Dev D

Saw it yesterday. Oh boy what do I say. This was one hell of  a movie. We get to see such high quality in Bollywood movies these days. You could catch better reviews of the movie than what I would write. For one, read this review by ‘Khalid Mohamed’ here.

The music: According to me, there has never been such music for a movie ever, ever. I’m out of words to describe the genre. Its such refreshing, such engaging, such mature, such….special. I really don’t have many words, huh.

Music by Amit Trivedi. Well, we don’t really know who this guy is, but where the hell was he all these days? What was he doing if he was not making music?

This is original and fresh and its a riot of rock, folk, club, soul, Punjabi… you name it, there is a bit of it in here.

Dev D is one album I would listen to, for a long time from now.

Emosanal Attyachar (Brass Band) – Rangeela and Rasila – Don’t know if these are real names of the artists. But the Brass band version of this song is really interesting, both visually and otherwise.  Written and executed to perfection I would say.

Duniya - Amit Trivedi – Sounds like a club number with the ‘ji ji ji jee’ tickling you all the way. There are those blanks in between that leave you asking for more and there it comes again. Tastefully mixed and recorded.

Nayan Tarse – Amit Trivedi – how would it sound if you sang a blues number and mixed it with rock an roll? Listen to this one, you’d get an idea how. Some strong lyrics and heavy percussion and guitar. Short number, you wouldn’t mind listening to it over and over.

Pardesi – Tochi – They play the veena on guitar or is it the veena itself? Well they say “that’s how we do it”. Sung in the punjabi accent I think, there is so much to listen to in the number, the techno, the tabla and such beautifully added chorus.

Saali kushi – Amit Trivedi – When you feel you’ve lost everything, you wonder where has all the kushi gone. If you add a little pun to it, you have this song – ‘kahaan gayi hai saali kushi’. Simple but effective music arrangement. To start with, the song feels its a looser’s song on what he lost! But soon as you hear ‘ayya ho, ayya ho…’ there should be a smile on your face. Sung well and good chorus again.

Paayaliya - Shruti Pathak – A club number it feels with the way it starts. The heavy bass and the DJ like ‘my god’ that comes in between is some improvisation to this kind of a song. A hint of the tabla, the veena add to the easy-on-the-ears number.

Mahi Mennu – Labh Janjua – A through Punjabi number. We get to hear so many of these techno-punjabi rap numbers majorly originating from UK-based-punjabi-rich-kid rappers. This might sound a little like one of them but the number sure stands out.

Aankh Micholi – Amit Trivedi – Sounds more like a remix of an old Hindi movie number to start with but soon you’ll realize it isn’t. I’m not too impressed with this one but it can make a dance number at a disco, or may be one has to add a little more thump and tempo. That I’m sure the DJ would do. The lyrics aren’t any refreshing but are woven around how unpredictable ‘zindagi’ is. I like the chorus again.

Yahi Meri Zindagi - Aditi singh Sharma – This is perfect ‘personality’ song. This is me, this and that I do, its my life is what it attempts to express. Aditi does the job with ease. Sounds like one an english solo to start with. What hooked me to the number is the voice modulation Aditi manages (or is it true that her voice is such?) . The way the voice stops, breaks, flows is so unique. Another very well recorded number.

Dhol Yara Dhol – Shilpa Rao & Kshitij Tarey – Sounds at first like a folk song, that you could being sung by folks riding a bullock cart. For a moment, with the istrumentation in the foreground, you get a feeling as though you are listening to ‘Euphoria’ from ‘Dhoom’ or ‘Phir dhoom’.

Ek Hulchul Si – Joi – Now this is my favorite. The song did really evoke some knid of a ‘hulchul’ in me. Keeps the tempo on all through.

Hikknaal – Labh Janjua – Another punjabi number, sounds more like a dance number, you know, the punjabi dance with both your hands lifted up as though you were signalling a sixer! Dance aside, but this number sure has some good techno instrumentation in addition to the ususal dholak and the little string instrument (guessing its called the ‘tumbi’) that is key to punjabi numbers.

Dil Mein Jaagi – Anusha Mani – sounds like one of those many little songs in the old Hollywood musical ‘Sound of Music’. Again a shrot and melodious number.

Emotional Attyachar (Rock) – Bony Chakravarty – If you thought we wont find real rock numbers in Bollywood movies, wait, listen to this one. These guys sure rock. But if you ask me, for the spirit of the song, the brassband song scores better.

Ranjhana – Shilpa Rao & Kshitij Tarey – The only other duet in the album. Or is it not? Kshitij Tarey sings nothing more than ‘dola dola re…’.  But I must admit Shilpa Rao has a great voice that renders the ‘tuj bin kuch baaye na’ song a piece of art.

Mahi Mennu – Labh Janjua – The sad version has not much instrumentation. Labh Janjua brings out the emotion in the right praportion with his tone modulation.

Dev-Chanda theme 1 & 2 – both are soft instrumentals to which you can do a small lil dance with your partner. Could be  called romantic. I like the flute in the first one and the whistle in the second. Pleasure to listen to.

Dev D, the album has 18 numbers in all. But nothing in it felt unnecessary and none was any lengthier.

Though we’ve heard quite some music from Shankar-Ehsaaan-Loy, Rock On was sure special. With majority of the album’s numbers being indie-rock, the album sounds rocking all the way.

Dev D by Amit Trivedi sounds fresh and at the same time proves Amit not only as one great composer but also as a singer of great capability. Hope to listen to more from him again soon.

Cant wait to listen to music by Piyush Mishra in Gulaal, another of Anurag Kashyap’s movies.

Thanks a lot for reading this far. Leave a comment if you please.