In recent days, the only full recent soundtrack running on my computer is Vishal-Shekhar's powerful and quirky Kahaani, with which I have been very pleasantly surprised, feeling that the duo have just delivered one of their best soundtracks to date, expanding their scope of musical expression and delighting us with a titillating new sound.
Bengali, English and Hindi greet the listener with Aami Shotti Bolchi, in which cold-jazz transforms into metal rock and back, hitting a home run with Usha Uthup's and Shekhar Ravjiani's oodles and bundles of attitude. People hailing from Kolkata have a new and ferociously catchy urban song to impress with! The track has been paired to a promotional video that is currently making my cinematic "mouth" water.
Hard rock only calms down for a few seconds before joining a Bengali musical background and the great qawaali singer and Mekaal Hasan Band lead vocalist, Javed Bashir, in a fierce 'alaap' that conveys the tone of the story's turmoil. Piya Tu Kaahe Rootha Re boasts highly effective lyrics written by Sandeep Shrivastava and we also cannot congratulate the duo of musical directors enough for their excellent choice of vocalist in this particular song.
Several of my preferred Vishal and Shekhar hits are romantic ballads. Their soft melodies are usually extremely well crafted and Kahaani, the film's title song, follows in such a tradition, taking the best of Vishal-Shekhar's melodic romantic style and gifting it to the extremely well-cast voices of KK in its male version and Shreya Ghoshal in its female and acoustic counterpart. Shreya's voice here is just the way I fancy it the most. I believe minimalistic musical arrangements truly showcase her talent and the song's chorus deftly pulls the listener into Vidya's (the film's lead) disarray and sensibility with its combination of melancholy inducing chords.
Several of my preferred Vishal and Shekhar hits are romantic ballads. Their soft melodies are usually extremely well crafted and Kahaani, the film's title song, follows in such a tradition, taking the best of Vishal-Shekhar's melodic romantic style and gifting it to the extremely well-cast voices of KK in its male version and Shreya Ghoshal in its female and acoustic counterpart. Shreya's voice here is just the way I fancy it the most. I believe minimalistic musical arrangements truly showcase her talent and the song's chorus deftly pulls the listener into Vidya's (the film's lead) disarray and sensibility with its combination of melancholy inducing chords.
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| Vidya Balan attends the audio launch of Kahaani |
Sukhwinder Singh mixes powerful and mellow vocals in Tore Bina, which starts as a fresh folk song and ultimately slides towards gentle pop. The track is easy to listen to and has vast potential but tends to run in too many style and instrumental directions, which is saddening given its sound melodic base and Singh's compelling vocals. It would have possibly been more effective to keep the arrangements simpler in order to bring out Singh's rendition of the song's lyrics. This said, the track still manages to please.
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| Vishal Dadlani and Shekhan Ravjiani |
The Vishal-Shekhar duo keep a pleasant surprise up their sleeve as their closing track, Ekla Cholo Re, featuring an English chorus sung by Clinton Cerejo, welcoming the sincere and moving voice of Amitabh Bachchan and the words of one of my all-time favorite writers, Bengali legend: Rabindranath Tagore. I would have personally preferred a traditional Bengali background melody but I imagine that the uplifting pop feel has been chosen aiming to be in line with the picturization of Tagore's ode (translation in English here - thank you Dunkdaft and Wikipedia).
Cracking the shell of the stereotype they had been cornered into, Vishal and Shekhar showcase their inventiveness and versatility outside of commercial cinema in this album, which we predict will survive well after the film has received its reviews and accolades. A set of six songs could have limited itself to appear pure and sober. However, the experimental verve the musical pair is displaying has resulted in an exhilarating new sound. Thumbs up!
Our favorite picks: Aami Shotti Bolchi, Piya tu Kaahe Rootha Re and both versions of the Kahaani title song.
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Watch Vidya Balan and Vishal-Shekhar at the Kahaani music launch
KAHAANI
Singers: Usha Uthup, Javed Bashir, Sukhwinder Singh, Clinton Cerejo, Amitabh Bachchan, Krishnakumar Kunnath (KK), Shreya Ghoshal, Vishal Dadlani, Shekhar Ravjiani
Music Directors: Vishal-Shekhar
Music Label: T-Series
Movie Release Date: March 9, 2012