Kapoor & Sons Music Review: Entertaining But Not Extraordinary

Writer-Director Shakun Batra takes over the directorial reins for the second time after Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu with Kapoor & Sons starring Rishi Kapoor, Sidharth Malhotra, Fawad Khan and Alia Bhatt. With Batra having shown his excellent musical sense in his debut film, one expects something similar even with Kapoor & Sons. Batra gets quite a few composers (Amaal Mallik, Badshah, Arko Pravo Mukherjee, Benny Dayal, Nucleya, Fazilpuria and Tanishk Bagchi) to do this five song soundtrack while Badshah, Kumaar, Manoj Muntashir, Dr. Devendra Kafir, Christopher Pradeep and Abhiruchi Chand have penned the verses.

The album opens with Badshah and Fazilpuria’s Kar Gayi Chull which has been recreated by Amaal Malik for this film. Extremely catchy beats, superb arrangement, some energetic singing (Badshah, Fazilpuria, Neha Kakkar and Sukriti Kakar) and a party theme equal a super hit number and that’s exactly what we get with Kar Gayi Chull. You hear it once and you are bound to go for the rewind button. Enough said!

Tanishk Bagchi composes Bolna, a soulful, almost unplugged like melody sung beautifully by the ever dependable Arijit Singh (well supported by Asees Kaur). The arrangement is winsome (the use of Ghatam is a nice touch) and the lyrics (Dr. Devendra Kafir) ooze romance making the composition sound more gorgeous but the downside is that there is a bit of a heard-before feeling to the tune. Nevertheless, it is still worth a track listening to. Much recommended!

Amaal Malik’s second contribution to the album is Buddhu Sa Mann which has a very Sooraj Dooba Hai like arrangement but is pleasing nevertheless. Armaan Malik does a fabulous job behind the mike and makes us even overlook the obvious similarities with the winning track from Roy. Abhiruchi Chand provides the lyrics for this fun number which is fun while it lasts.

Arko Pravo Mukherjee has composed and sung the mellow Saathi Rey which is also in the unplugged mode but gains traction over the interlude. The composition is poignant and Arko sings it with much passion and emotion. Written by Manoj Muntashir, Saathi Rey sounds highly situational and should most probably appear at a crucial point in the film but is nevertheless a gorgeous melody and is worth listening to.

If you are a fan of the pulsating Tamil Fever by Nucleya and Benny Dayal, then you are bound to like the recreated version of the same in this album, Let’s Nacho. The film being set in Coonoor, it does not come as a surprise that there is quite a smattering of Tamil words in the verses (Kumaar and Christopher Pradeep) but even if you do not understand the meaning, it honestly does not really make much of a difference, since this one is a full on party number and the makers have only one thing in mind for you as far as this song is concerned – let your hair loose and dance your heart out! That being the case, the objective of the makers is easily achieved since this one has some highly addictive beats and has been sung quite enthusiastically by Badshah (Yes, he makes an appearance here too!) along with Nucleya and Benny Dayal.

Final Word: The soundtrack of Kapoor & Sons is highly listenable but it is indeed a downer that two out of five are recreated versions. Though the rest also fall in the above average category, one does get the feeling that the makers have not really put in their best while coming up with this album. And one did expect the composers to have done a better job than this considering the fact that this is quite a short album and at the end of the day, it is all about managing to make a strong impression in that limited period of time.

Our Picks: Kar Gayi Chull, Bolna and Saathi Rey.