Tamasha Music Review: Will Take Time To Grow On You

Director Imtiaz Ali gets back with his Rockstar star Ranbir Kapoor along with his Love Aaj Kal lady, Deepika Padukone in his latest offering Tamasha which is expected to recreate the sizzling on-screen chemistry of the ex-lovers. The director also repeats his music composer A R Rahman for the third time in this film (after Rockstar and Highway) and one expects this Director-Composer duo to come up with all guns blazing this time around too. This slice-of life film is being looked forward to both because of the director’s track record as well as the lead pair’s onscreen chemistry. Naturally, the expectations from the album is also pretty high considering ARR’s track record and Imtiaz’s strong sense of music. So let’s see whether the team has lived up to the humongous expectations of the listeners.

The album opener Matargashti is a fun filled number with some peppy beats. Rahman fuses the best of East and West in this free spirited track with some European sounds in the opening lines followed by some retro Hindi sounds as the track progresses and the result is indeed a listener’s delight. If there is one thing that could have been better, it is the singerMohit Chauhan (surprise, surprise!). Mohit’s vocals seem to be at odds with the mood of the number and one gets the feeling that the singer is best suited for romantic melodies than lively, fun numbers like these.

Heer Toh Badi Sad Hai sees Mika singing for A R Rahman and has the composer playing up the Punjabi (qawalli) bit (which incidentally suits Mika’s vocals to a T) and at the same time interspersing the same with some enjoyable Hindustani sounds. Lyricist Irshad Kamil too comes up with some delightful words that add up to the casual feel of the song. Mika does full justice to this track which should earn its own share of followers indeed!

Next to come is my favorite track of this album Tum Saath Ho. Though ARR is synonymous with Electronic music and is considered to be biased towards EDM than melody, the fact is that the ace musician has given us quite a few world class melodies in his illustrious career (sample, Roja, Bombay, Taal or even Saathiya!). Tum Saath Ho falls exactly in this category with ARR coming up with a simple yet delectable melody with minimalistic instrumentation. The icing on the cake is of course the choice of singers – the evergreen Alka Yagnik who has of late become quite selective in her singing career and Arijit Singh (who seems quite content playing second fiddle to his more illustrious co-singer). Together they create magic and one cannot help but fall in love with this melody!

Wat Wat Wat sees Arijit moving out of his comfort zone (romantic numbers) and literally letting his hair down in this Punjabi styled (with Bhojpuri sounding lyrics!) number. Though the hardcore Punjabi portions are taken care of by Arijit’s partner-in-crime, Shaswat Singh, Arijit too does his bit well and with the addictive ‘wat wat wat’ getting repeated multiple times, this one turns out to be quite an enjoyable number. The Vengeance Mix incorporates more funky sounds (dubstep?) and should satisfy the party crowd.

Chali Kahaani is more theatrical and is an attempt at story telling. Consequently, the composition moves in and out of genres making it sound a bit disjointed. While the dramatic portions are voiced by Sukhwinder Singh, the mellow portions are handled by Haricharan and Haripriya. Rahman has done a wonderful job by coming up with a delectable Hindustani and Western instrumental cocktail which is appealing in parts but should have a better impact on screen since the song sounds to be a situational number.

Irshad Kamil’s lyrics stand out in the road trip song Safarnama. Crooned by the rarely heardLucky Ali, Safarnama is light, breezy and melodious. Rahman’s composition has a fun feel and Ali’s singing only serves to enhance the feeling.

Parade De La Bastille is vintage ARR. The fabulous use of European sounds (Bagpipes, Violins) give a Celtic ambience to this instrumental number which manages to incorporate a bit ofMatargashti too. There is a celebratory feel to this instrumental number which should hopefully be visually more appealing.

There is an opera feel to the soundtrack’s last track Tu Koi Aur Hai which has been sung by the composer himself. The orchestration is grand, the backing vocals (Alma Ferovic and Arjun Chandy) are totally in sync with the mood and nature of the song and the lyrics are poignant. ARR is the soul of the track and it is no wonder that the song turns out to be one of the better tracks of this album.

In Tamasha, the listener gets to see that ARR who goes out of his way to experiment with new sounds and new styles, thus bringing in a superior listener experience. Whether this turns out to be a successful experiment is something only time will tell. But, one hopes that just like his other offerings, even this one will be lapped up by the listeners.

Our Picks: Tum Saath Ho, Matargashti and Tu Koi Aur Hai