Satyagraha Review  

Satyagraha Review  

Satyagraha Review  

Music: Aadesh Shrivastava, Salim-Sulaiman & Meet Bros. Anjan Ankit Lyrics: Prasoon Joshi Music…  

<b>Music: Aadesh Shrivastava, Salim-Sulaiman & Meet Bros. Anjan Ankit</b><br> <b>Lyrics: Prasoon Joshi</b><br> <b>Music label: T-Series</b><br><br> <b>Expectations: </b><br><br> There are reasonably good expectations from this film, and a big film's music also leads to matching hopes, because popular songs enhance the film's initial prospects. As in <i>Raajneeti</i> and <i>Chakravyuh</i>, Prakash Jha uses multiple composers here, but there is one lyricist only - Prasoon Joshi.<br><br> <b>Music: </b><br><br> The fact that there is only one single lyricist turns out to be a plus point as Prasoon Joshi gets deep into the core of the subject and writes some stirring words. The album opens with the title-track, <b><i>'Satyagraha'</i></b> (Rajiv Sundaresan, Shivam Pathak, Shweta Pandit) which reworks the lyrics of the time-honoured traditional <i>bhajan 'Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram'</i> with a call for a sociopolitical awakening with the words <i>Ab tak dheeraj maanga tha / Prabhu ab dheeraj mat dena / Sehte jaaye, sehte jaaye, sehte jaaye / Aisa bal bhi mat dena</i>. <br><br> The treatment is fusion-based, with <i>alaaps</i>, string-based choruses, a dollop of rock guitars and chorus all amalgamating in a loud but fortunately enticing blend. Rajiv Sundaresan, though competent, seems to mimic Shankar Mahadevan. Shweta Pandit scores in her portions, though. The music is by Salim-Sulaiman. <br><br> A <i>'Didi'</i> (the endemic Middle-Eastern hit of the '90s)-like prelude begins Meet Bros. Anjan Ankit's composition <b><i>'Janta Rocks'</i></b> (Meet Bros Anjan Ankit-Keerthi Sagathia-Papon-Shibani Kashyap-Shalmali Kholgade), a rousing number that could well be the nation's new anthem if promoted well and filmed impressively. A no-holds-barred satire with everything from ads to cricket coming in, this is Prasoon's brilliant <i>tour-de-force</i> in the film, and the music too is very jingle-esque in its simplicity. The sound is kept largely warm and acoustic, thereby enhancing rather than suppressing the words. <br><br> The finest track musically is Aadesh Shrivastava's <b><i>'Ras Ke Bhare Nain'</i></b>, elucidated with superlative clarity by Shafqat Amanat Ali, with Arpita Chakraborti providing a small support. The first line takes its origins from a centuries-old <i>thumri</i> but otherwise the lyrics and music are freshly done. <br><br> A contemporary Western feel blends with the <i>raag-daari</i>, and any points of confluence between it and Aadesh's previous chartbuster for Jha's <i>Raajneeti</i>, <i>'Mora Piya Mose Bolat Naahi'</i> seem to be intentional rather than an indicator of the composer's limitations. The lyrics, as with most classical <i>bandishein</i>, are simple, not really new yet meaningful, and purely in Hindi, which is welcome in these days of an overuse of Urdu and Punjabi. The melody moves smoothly, almost like a river in tranquil flow. <br> We move now to the flipside of this album: the Indian Ocean-composed <b><i>'Hum Bhole The'</i></b> (Rahul Ram-Amit Kilam- Himanshu Joshi) is very noisy and in-your-face rock-heavy. The words (not as strong as in the songs above) are also given less prominence than the high-pitched voices and the heavy instrumentation. The song seems therefore at odds with the rural/small-town setting of the film! <br><br> <b><i>'Aaiyo Ji'</i></b>, the item song, a compulsion in most Jha films since <i>Gangaajal</i> a decade ago, is catchy while listening but tepid on the whole. Though well-written, the Shraddha Pandit-Salim Merchant-rendered song has, once again, an incongruous Western and electronic treatment that is at odds with the basic <i>raag</i>-based melody. Though we liked the way Shraddha rolls the <i>'la'</i> syllable in the words <i>balamji</i>, composers Salim-Sulaiman should have been more confident of their basic tune to carry on with the correct <i>desi</i> treatment rather than resorting to such (con)fusion! <br> While the remix of <i>'Aaiyo Ji'</i> is almost like the song itself, one did not relish the obnoxious way in which the classic <i>'Ras Ke Bhare Tore Nain'</i> (with Aadesh Shrivastava replacing Shafqat) is treated, complete with orgasmic female gasps in the prelude and a very pub-like feel! This is the best (worst?) way to ruin a classic.<br><br> <b>Overall: </b><br><br> The album is a mixed bag of tracks from terrific (<i>'Ras Ke Bhare Naina'</i>) to almost mediocre (<i>'Hum Bhole The'</i>). As a soundtrack, for all its plus points, it also has a hybrid feel because of the multiple music makers that could have been avoided by handing the responsibility of the score to a single composer. <br><br> <b>Our Picks</b><br><br> <i>'Ras Ke Bhare Naina', 'Janta Rocks'</i>