Label: T-Series

Artistes: Vishal Dadlani, Shekhar Ravjiani, Javed Bashir, Shreya Ghosal, Sukhwinder Singh, Amitabh Bachchan, Usha Uthup.

Lyricist: Amitabh Bhattacharya

Music Director: Vishal-Shekhar

Vidya Balan’s forth coming flick ‘Kahaani’ is riding high on expectation prior to its release. With the first look of its video trailer, the music composition has further added fuel to the rising blockbuster prospects.

Complementing each other’s work since 2003, director Sujoy Gosh has once again cashed on his bankable music director Vishal-Shekhar. Being known for delivering the most consistent performance for past few years, the duo has scored some of their best experimental music which takes over the gritty territory of the story and reflects the laid-back tone of Kolkata. The composers have manifested a peculiar blend of hard-rock cum contemporary western music with Indian classical musical genre through-out its listing of six tracks.

As a salute to the city of joy - Kolkata, the track ‘Ami Shotti Bolchi’ sets-off the album to a grueling start with its intriguing and descriptive kaleidoscopic view of buzzing and impulsive city. The thriving and coarse voice of Usha Uthup and Shekhar Ravjiani emphasizes the aggressive bombastic orchestral feel in the 70’s thematic musical upsurge. The track rides on compositional blend of death-rock and RD Burman styled musical permeates, depicting the mindset of the protagonist. With the inherent Bengali lyrics by Amitabh Bhattacharya the soundtrack is the highlight of the album and can be set-up as the powerful background score.

Exploring the on-going trend of Indian classical fusion, the second track ‘Piya Tu Kahein Rutha Re’ begins with the classical ragas splendidly rendered by Javed Bashir. The high-pitched and energetic vocals are fused noticeably well with hard-rock music, emphasising the sound of indie-rock band Indian Ocean.

Title-track ‘Kahaani’ is a melodious offering with a blend of innovative lyrics and soulful vocals by KK and Vishal Dadlani in varying tones. A well versed narrative number unravels the current craze of featuring music in acoustic and minimalist arrangement. Conceptualized on the popular genre of soft-rock ballad, the track embarks the strong thematic sentiments of the protagonists.

Being a woman centric film, the title track has also been specially treated in ‘Kahaani (Female)’. The somber honey coated voice of Shreya Ghosal is well-versed with soulful choral impacts of Vishal. The female version is mesmerizing both in rendition as well as in acoustic music decorum.

‘Tore Bina’ opens with a pleasant folk music impeccably clubbed with acoustic guitar. The number stays at its helms with Sukhwinder Singh’s splendid rendition which alters flawlessly towards the tender chords. The introductory folksy music reminisce listeners of Vishal’s composition for the collaborative track ‘Minds without fear’ from Dewarist.

Lending elite treat to its listeners, the album concludes with an interpretation of Rabindranath Tagore’s oft-covered ‘Ekla Cholo Re (Walk Alone)’ by Amitabh Bachchan. Juxtaposing the distinct texture of Bachchan’s voice with music producer Clinton Cerejo’s gospel chorus, the composer has added their own superlative twist to Tagore’s famous poem. The translations from Bengali to English are minimal keeping intact the melodious feel of the poetry and the somber voice.

Overall, the humming lyrics with eloquent composition towards the end complement the whole musical arrangements of the album. Conjuring up a beautiful tribute to Kolkata and savoring the poetic lyrics, the album works seamlessly well in portraying the protagonist’s character and will compliment the lasting temper of the movie. The classy and well composed album is one of the best works by Vishal-Shekar delivering competitive, consistent and prolific musical team.  It features right voices as per the overall mood of the album.