The highlight of the week was clearly Raazi. This was one of the more rare occurrences in Bollywood when the full soundtrack of a film was released in one go, without going through the charade of one-single-per-week. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy prove yet again that they are the adult music makers, adult as in mature and evolved! The trio was completely absent in 2017 (after an incredible soundtrack they put together for the failed, and musically severely underrated Mirzya in 2016), but they make it up with a rich and thematic soundtrack in Raazi. The patriotic Ae watan, the beautiful father-daughter bond in Dilbaro (don't miss Shankar Mahadevan's fantastic entry in the antara!) and Arijit Singh's deeply involving vocals in the title song are a solid showcase of what the trio is capable of. Listen to the songs from Raazi in the YouTube playlist.
The other Hindi song worth listening to this week is composed by none other than Amitabh Bachchan! The song Badumbaaa, from 102 Not Out, seems like a literal showcase of Big B's character in the film! The upbeat Western sound gradually moves to tapori dance mid-way in a clever nod to the Bachchan-style music. While his own singing is great, as always, Rishi Kapoor makes up in terms of enthusiasm what he lacks in terms of singing.
Heading South, the first song in the biographical film based on the life of South Indian actress Savitri, Mahanati, was released this week. The song is a spectacular showcase of the kind of sweeping sound composer Mickey J Meyer has in mind for the film. Powered by a superb horns section, the music is expansive and wonderfully immersive. Shreya Ghoshal and Anurag Kulkarni are absolutely fantastic with the singing!
From Kerala, composer Gopi Sundar delights with his delightful ghazal Aaro Varunnathai from the film Mazhayathu. Sung by Divya S Menon, the music is beautifully simple, featuring Dilshad Khan on sarangi and P K Anand on the tabla and dholak. The second interlude, featuring strings is so very typical Gopi, incidentally.
To close this week's round-up, we have indie musician Dhruv 'Guitar Spanker' Visvanath! His sophomore album The Lost Cause is just out and the 2 songs I loved from it include Wild, featuring Ajay Jayanthi on strings, with its intimate and poignant sound, and Botswana, with its infectiously fun sound!
I'll be back with more new music next week!