Bombay Talkies: Music

Music: Amit Trivedi

Lyrics: Swanand Kirkire, Amitabh Bhattacharya

Bombay Talkies, an anthology of short films made by 4 leading directors of the country: Karan Johar, Anurag Kashyap, Dibakar Bannerjee and Zoya Akhtar, is marked to celebrate the centenary of Indian cinema. For everything so grand, we could have expected A R Rahman to get roped in to make the celebration even grander; but Amit Trivedi is not at all a disappointment as he's easily the best music composer after Rahman in this country. 

The celebratory mood is let to burst out with Richa Sharma going "Jo filam na ho yaar sun lo, toh jeena ho bekaar sun lo" in the title track with Kailash Kher. Incredible arrangement (from percussion to dhols and everything in between), competing vocals and overall feel of the song takes you to the feel-good milieu that of a recent Shyam Benegal film. No wonder why I'm reminded of this song:

The other version of the title track sounds very electronic with a line-up of singers (Udit Narayan, Kavita Krishnamoorthy, Shaan, Sukhwinder Singh, Mohit Chauhan) each singing on the music of their songs like: Udit Narayan on Papa Kehte Hain bit, Shaan on Dus Bahane, Mohit Chauhan on Sadda Haq, and a female chorus on Yeh Ishq Haaye of Jab We Met. All packed in a short length of 2 minutes, this should be one entertaining closing credits roll-out for the film.

Mohit Chauhan's lovable track Akkad Bakkad has a Dhak Dhuk (English Vinglish) feel to it and the main lyrical hook "Sau sau baras ka hua, yeh khiladi na buddha hua" is very reminiscent of a Govinda song from '90s. (See here). This one scores higher for it's easy-flowing arrangement with violin, shehnai, and hoots and hums.

Murabba, too, has two different versions: one sung by Amit Trivedi and Kavita Seth, and other solely by Javed Bashir. The duet version with light, breezy and typical Amit Trivedi  tune is very lyrical and has a longing effect to it. On the other hand Bashir's version is accentuated with his own style of singing. The fast pacing of the track is set on the sound of a train mixed well with trumpets, taking you on melancholic journey of life.

Sukhwinder's Bachchan-Bachchan-Bachchan hook is catchy in this otherwise nauseating track especially made as a tribute for Mr. Bachhan, who is synonymous to the Indian cinema. 

Keeping aside the fact that it is an Amit Trivedi album, and our expectations with that and the '100 years' celebration together, it has enough moments to cherish the joy of cinema, if not 100 years from now, momentarily at least.