Fitoor Music Review: Classy And Elegant ? A Must Listen!

Charles Dicken's classic novel Great Expectations gets a Bollywood twist with Director Abhishek Kapoor's Fitoor which stars Tabu, Aditya Roy Kapur and Katrina Kaif in lead roles. Just like his earlier film Kai Po Che, Director Abhishek Kapoor turns to Composer Amit Trivedi and lyricist Swanand Kirkire for putting together the film's soundtrack. So we have Trivedi and Kirkire coming together one more time for this film which needless to say, increases our expectations manifold. So will the team which gave us beautiful musical gems in Kai Po Che do an encore and deliver us a memorable album in Fitoor or will it fall short? Let's tune in to find out.

The title track Yeh Fitoor Mera opens the album and is a stunner from Trivedi. The haunting track starts slowly and gradually builds up until it reaches a crescendo towards the end. Arijit does a superb job as usual and together with Trivedi's arrangement, this track just takes your breath away. Fantabulous!

Pashmina is literally a poetry in motion – right from the lyrics to the composition to the arrangement and of course, the singing, this one is totally exquisite. Amit Trivedi aces the dual role of a composer and a singer in this track and Swanand Kirkire matches him in every which way with his poetical verses. With the icing on the cake being the beautiful picturisation of the song on the big screen by Director Abhishek Kapoor, it is indeed a no-brainer that Pashmina is sure to sweep you off your feet.

For a film set in Kashmir, it is but natural that the region's music will find a place in the album. Therefore, we see lyricist Swanand Kirkire taking inspiration from Persian poet Amir Khusrau's couplet, "Agar Firdaus bar roy-e zaminast, haminast-o haminast-o haminast" (If there is a heaven on earth, it is here, it is here)while Composer Trivedi looks up to Kashmiri folk for inspiration for Haminastu. Zeb Bangash nails it with her authentic rendition while the Kashmiri Folk inspired arrangement makes Haminastu all the more delectable.

Zeb Bangash's second outing in this album comes in the conversational Hone Do Battiyan. She partners with Nandini Srikar in this casual duet which has an air of spontaneity with both the singers literally finishing each other's sentences! Trivedi's use of Kashmiri Folk instruments adds legitimacy to the song's setting and this too turns out to be a wonderful outing for the listener!

Sunidhi Chauhan and Jubin Nautiyal come together for the romantic duet, Tere Liye – a yet another charming melody from Trivedi. One might argue that the song is a typical Bollywood romantic number with dreamy lyrics and a likeable but nevertheless, run-of-the-mill composition but then Trivedi makes the orchestration (dominated by Guitars and violins) work. That proves to be the USP of this track and makes this one stand out from the rest of the Bollywood romantic melodies that one has heard over the years. Add to that some heartfelt and passionate singing from Sunidhi and Jubin, what we have is one more winner from Trivedi!

Trivedi introduces a bit of techno pop in the final track of the album Rangaa Re, which incidentally appears in two versions in the album. While the Hindi version features Sunidhi Chauhan in the vocal credits, the English version features Caralisa Monteiro with the Composer joining the ladies in both the versions as the male vocalist. Trivedi's retro styled techno-pop arrangement is a pleasant change of pace and is quite enjoyable whilst both Sunidhi and Caralisa make their presence felt nicely.

In conclusion, one can safely say that Fitoor's soundtrack is the classiest, if not the best, album that one has heard till now in this year. All the songs have an aura of elegance and charm making the listener appreciate not only the understated beauty of the songs but also the genius of the Composer Amit Trivedi. Go for this one, you won't regret it!

Our Picks: Yeh Fitoor Mera, Pashmin , Hone Do Battiyan, Tere Liye and Rangaa Re