Thursday, June 1, 2023

Sunidhi sang her hubby’s composition

Zwigato released in 2023.

On screen, it was about a food delivery rider (essayed by Kapil Sharma).

But there was no two ways about the fact that it was a lady who delivered the goods with the microphone in hand.

I am talking about the one and only Sunidhi Chauhan.

And her contribution to the soundtrack of the film was Yeh Raat.

It was composed by her husband, Hitesh Sonik, and was just a couple of minutes and 29 seconds long.

One of the two geetkaars (lyricists) was aptly named Geet.

The other was Devanshu.

Thankfully, it (Fari)didn’t go unnoticed

The title of the third – and final – song on the soundtrack of Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway had a repetition – Shubho Shubho.

If it were arranged in the alphabetical order, as well as in the descending order of their durations, it would be the third – it was just a couple of minutes and 56 seconds long.

The song was rendered by Altamash Faridi.

And fortunately for him, and the rest of the team associated with it, it did not go unnoticed.

It was written by Kausar Munir, and was composed by none other than Amit Trivedi.

This trAcK was a duet

Only one of the three songs on the soundtrack of Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway was a duet.

It was titled Maa Ke Dil Se.

The man who lent it his voice is a household name – Javed Ali.

But unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the female singer.

Her name is Dipakshi Kalita.

If the songs from the film were arranged in the alphabetical order, as well as in the ascending order of their durations, it would be the second – it was three minutes and 33 seconds long.

Kausar Munir wrote the Amit Trivedi composition.

 

 

 

It was an underrated nuMBer

My collection contains three songs from Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway, which released in 2023.

If they were arranged in the alphabetical order, and in the descending order of their durations, Aami Jaani Re would be the first – it was four minutes and as many seconds long.

The title of the song is a Bengali phrase, which could be translated to, “I know”.

It happened to be a female solo – the lady who lent her voice to it was Madhubanti Bagchi.

While Kausar Munir wrote the song, (Am)it was composed by none other than Mr Trivedi.

Saaj sang this guest composition

The third – and final – song on the soundtrack of Kanjoos Makhichoos was titled Namo Hari.

It was not composed by Sachin Sanghvi and Jigar Saraiya.

In fact, the involvement of Shabbir Ahmed in the song was not restricted to writing it, but he happened to be the guest composer as well.

If the three songs on the film’s soundtrack were arranged in the ascending order of their durations (or the descending order, if you please), it would be the second – it was four minutes long.

The man who lent it his voice was Saaj Bhatt.

The composers were the Sing(h)ers

There’s no two ways about the fact that Kho Gaye – the second track on the soundtrack of Kanjoos Makhichoos – was an apt title.

And the only reason for that is that of late, it is very easy for songs rendered by legendary Sing(h)ers to be lost in a bunch of run-of-the-mill songs.

Not only was it the second contribution of composers Sachin Sanghvi and Jigar Saraiya to the film’s soundtrack, but they sang it too.

In fact, Sukhwinder joined them behind the microphone for it.

Priya Saraiya wrote the song, which was five minutes long.

Aziz Joined the muSic directors

Kanjoos Makhichoos released in 2023.

The film’s music team was stingy with the number of songs on its soundtrack – there were just three of them.

The first of those was Damru.

The involvement of Sachin-Jigar in the song was not restricted to composing it, but they happened to be two of the three men who lent their voices to it too.

The third was Nakash Aziz.

The song was written by Vayu.

Mercifully, it was just three minutes long – it was not the kind of track to whose beats anyone would shake a leg anyway.

It was sung by Utsavi

Most of my recent blog posts are about songs sung by renowned singers.

Therefore, the subject of this post is, quite literally, a breath of fresh air, because I had never heard of the singer – Utsavi Jha – before I listened to her only contribution to the soundtrack of Gulmohar.

The song in question was Woh Ghar.

And it was three minutes and 56 seconds long.

In fact, it was the longer of the two songs in the film whose duration is under four minutes.

Shellee wrote the song, which Siddhartha Khosla and Alan Demoss composed.

Kavita rendered this one too

There’s no two ways about the fact that the lady who sang the shortest of the four songs on the soundtrack of Gulmohar lent her voice to the longest one too.

The singer in question was Kavita Seth.

And the track I’m referring to was Sapno Ki Pakhi (which was four minutes and 39 seconds long).

Actually, I was surprised to read an incorrect transliteration of the first word, which is pluralised, and should be written in English as ‘Sapnon’.

Grammatical liberties, however, are acceptable, because Shellee wrote the Siddhartha Khosla and Alan Demoss composition.


This Seth solo was short

In 2023, Holi coincides with International Women’s Day – both fall on March 8.

And the festival, whose name is also pronounced Hori, has anyway been a perennial favourite with the Hindi film music industry.

So why should Kavita Seth be far behind?

The shorter of her two contributions to the soundtrack of Gulmohar was Hori Mein.

In fact, it was the shortest of the four songs on the soundtrack of the film – it was three minutes and as many seconds long.

The song was written by Shellee, and composed by Siddhartha Khosla and Alan Demoss.

It was rendered by Talat

Gulmohar released in 2023.

The soundtrack of the film contains four songs, and my collection contains all of them.

If they were arranged in the alphabetical order, Dilkash would be the first of those.

And if they were arranged in the ascending order of their durations, it was the second – it was four minutes and 39 seconds long.

The song was rendered by Talat Aziz, who is a very popular ghazal singer, but is far from prolific when it comes to playback singing assignments.

It was written by Shellee, and was Siddhartha Khosla’s solo composition.

Mishra composed (K)aur rendered it

Chor Nikal Ke Bhaga was a film that released on Netflix in 2023.

One of the tracks in it was to=was title was Janiye.

The involvement of Vishal Mishra in the song was not restricted to writing and composing it.

But he also happened to be one of the two people who lent their voices to it.

If he has his way, he would have sung the female portion too.

But he wasn’t, so that portion was sung by a lady, whose name is Rashmeet Kaur.  

The song was three minutes and 43 seconds long.

It waS sung by Kanika

If the five songs from Bholaa in my collection were arranged in the alphabetical order, Paan Dukaniya would be the last.

And if they were arranged in the ascending order of their durations, it would be the first – it was three minutes and 41 seconds long.

Unlike the previous four tracks from the film, this item number happened to be a duet.

The two people who lent their voices to it were the not too oft-heard Kanika Kapoor and Swaroop Khan.

The song was written by Irshad Kamil.

And it was composed by Ravi Basrur.

Javed’s vocals were a change

So accustomed have we become to listening to terrible music from the Hindi film industry of late, that we tend to look for a change that is refreshing.

And one song which was precisely that was Nazar Lag Jayegi.

It was the fourth song from Bholaa in my collection.

The man who lent his voice to it was none other than Javed Ali.

And he was the reason I called it a refreshing change.

The track, which was written by Irshad Kamil, was composed by Ravi Basrur.

It was three minutes and 56 seconds long.

Mishra’s solo featured a classic

Featuring lines from an iconic song is one thing, and becoming one is another.

I don’t know if Dil Hai Bholaa – the title track of Bholaa – would be able to achieve the latter, but the former was true.

It featured two lines of Aaj Phir Jeene Ki Tamanna Hai, from Guide (1965).

If the tracks on the film’s soundtrack were arranged alphabetically, and in the ascending order of their durations, the Amit Mishra solo would be the second – it was four minutes and 46 seconds long.

Irshad Kamil wrote the song, which Ravi Basrur composed.

The legendary Hariharan rendered it

Although songs by singers we have grown up listening to are a rarity now, there is the occasional track that takes Hindi film music enthusiasts down melody lane.

And that was precisely what Aaraaro Aararo – the Hariharan solo – was.

If the five songs on the soundtrack of Bholaa were arranged in the alphabetical order, it would be the second.

And if they were arranged in the ascending order of their durations (or the descending order), it would be the third – it was four minutes and 18 seconds long.

Irshad Kamil wrote the Ravi Basrur composition.

B Praak was fully committed

Bholaa released in 2023.

My collection contained five songs from the film.

If they were arranged in the alphabetical order, as well as in the descending order of their durations, Aadha Main Aadhi Vo would be the first – it was half-a-dozen minutes and 18 seconds long.

Although the title of the song had two words that mean half, there is no two ways about the fact that the team behind it was fully committed to it.

It was sung by B Praak.

The song, which was written by Irshad Kamil, was composed by Ravi Basrur.

It wAS a BhOjpuri song

So accustomed have Hindi film music buffs’ ears become to listening to Punjabi songs that songs with other regional flavours have tended to take a backseat.

But Herail Ba came as a breath of fresh air.

It was a Bhojpuri song, and happened to be the second track from Bheed in my collection.

Not only did Anurag Saikia compose the song, but he was also one of the two people who lent it his voice.

The other was Omprakash Yadav.

It was written by Dr Sagar, and was five minutes and a dozen seconds long.

It wAS sung by Romy

Bheed released in 2023.

And it wouldn’t be incorrect to state that its soundtrack stood out from the slew of films that released that year, because it had just a couple of songs.

If they were arranged in the alphabetical order, as well as in the ascending order of their durations, Chanda Mama was the first – it was three minutes and a dozen seconds long.

Anurag Saikia didn’t just compose it, but also happened to be one of the two men who sang it.

The other was Romy.

The song was written by Shakeel Azmi.

Mr Soin was an all-rounder

If the four songs on the soundtrack of Am I Next were arranged in the alphabetical order, Savera would be the last.

And if they were arranged in the ascending order of their durations, it would be the first – it was three minutes and 23 seconds long.

The solo involvement of Sukhamrit in the So(i)ng was not restricted to writing it, but he happened to lend his voice to it as well.

But it was pretty clear that both those roles were not enough.

So, he also teamed up with Sachin to compose the song.

It was a Bhatia solo

If the four tracks on the soundtrack of Am I Next were arranged in the alphabetical order, Meri Khata was the third.

And if they were arranged in the descending order of their durations, it would be the first – it was four minutes and 24 seconds long.

In fact, it was the only song in the film that exceeded the four-minute mark.

The song was written by Adif Altaf, who also happened to be one of the two men who composed it.

The other was Rohit Bhatia.

Rohil Bhatia lent his voice to the song.

Unsurprisingly, no web (Bis)was spun

Makdi Ke Jaale is a Hindi phrase which could be translated to, “Cobwebs”.

And those are precisely what the Hindi film music scene desperately needs to dust off, if it wants to ensure a better future for itself.

That phrase was also the title of a song from I Am Next.

And, like Dil Ronda Hai, it was also written by Rahat Kazmi (who was also the director of the film), composed by Tuhin K Biswas, and sung by Shovan Biswas.

The second-longest track in the film, it was three minutes and 40 seconds long.

Shovan (Bis)wasn’t off the mark

Am I Next released in 2023.

The soundtrack of the film contained four tracks.

If they were arranged in the alphabetical order, Dil Ronda Hai would be the first.

And if they were arranged in the ascending order of their durations, it would be the second – it would be three minutes and 25 seconds long.

The title of the song is Punjabi for, “The heart cries” (which it does upon listening to a majority of Hindi film songs now).

It was written by Rahat Kazmi, composed by Tuhin K Biswas, and sung by Shovan Biswas.