Life in a Metro Music Review: The sound of life itself

The theme of Anurag Basu's film Metro is played out in all its songs. Each of the film's songs has a visual quality to it. Of course, a lot of credit for that goes to the lyric writers?Syed Quadri, Sandeep Srivastava and Amitabh Verma. But that doesn't detract from the music composed by Pritam, ably supported by his 'Band Metro.' This is one of those albums where the music is absolutely appropriate to the film and its myriad moods and shades. A film like Metro, which is off the beaten track in its treatment, could not have had the conventional Hindi music that we are so used to hearing. No saccharine sweet sounds here, but music soaked in the pool of human experience, some pleasant and some not so. So much like life itself. And Pritam has excelled in providing that 'different' sound. The album's opening track, In dino dil mera, sung by Soham has a gentle coaxing quality to it. The song is a blend of raga with very modern sounds. It shifts from one to the other very effortlessly and has been very well rendered by Soham. The second track, Alvida has been sung by the inimitable KK in his typical style. It has a version by James, the Bangladeshi sensation as well. James, somehow, gives the song more raw power and feeling. But it is O meri jaan which is KK's song in this album. He comes into his own with this song. And he is bound to have you singing along. There is an effervescent quality to his voice here and he is ably supported by the Chorus. Together they carry the song to an exulting high. The song has a version by Suhail, ably supported by the band. It is very difficult to choose between the two versions of Baatein kuch ankahee si sung by Suhail and Adnan Sami. While Suhail's vocals capture the lightness of tone and mood excellently, there is a certain softness which is captured in Adnan's rendition of the same. He gives it that something extra. There is more celebratory note to this one. The harmonica effects in the song are worth waiting for. This is probably the most melodious of the songs in this album. That goes for both the versions. Kar salaam, sung by Pritam, Suhail and Soham, is on the face of it, a very 'on the road' song. Something, which in any other film, would have been rendered by the streetsmart tapori. But given the Pritam effect, it is quite transformed. This one of those albums, which has the ability to stand alone by itself, independent of the film. Seen in the context of the film, it is difficult to isolate it from the narrative. The music seems to arise from the very soil of the film itself and one has to laud the musical genius of Pritam for that. Full marks to the director too, for the manner in which he has visualized and used the songs in Metro.