BizAsia Music Review: ‘Kapoor & Sons’
Director Shakun Batra made Alia Bhatt an internet sensation by creating the ��Alia Bhatt – Genius of the Year�۪ documentary back in 2014 collaborating with AIB that gave her the edge and the cool factor amongst the younger audiences. His directorial debut with ��Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu�۪ (2012) wasn�۪t too good but surely delivered some innovatively good music thanks to Amit Trivedi. Now for the latest forthcoming release ��Kapoor & Sons�۪ starring 3 hotties Bhatt, Sidharth Malhotra and Fawad Khan, Batra has roped in a string of music directors and lyricists creating a range of collaborations here. This mix and match strategy seems to be working for most films so why not here for the soundtrack of ��Kapoor & Sons�۪.
The first track is an easy hit on the album as this song was already a hit when it released back in 2014. A Haryanvi urban pop song produced by superstar rapper Badshah and Fazilpuria, Chull was a rage in the club scene. Amaal Mallik recreates this hit for the film collaborating with Badshah to deliver Kar Gayi Chull. Retaining the original super cool beat structure and the vocals and raps of Fazilpuria & Badshah which is the biggest asset of the song as that is the best part of the song. Furthermore, Mallik brings in Kumaar to write a brand new verse that is sung and delivered to precision and with tons of oomph by the brilliant Neha Kakkar. This is what make this song unique in its own way and gives it a Bollywood quality to become a chart topper across the globe. Neha�۪s vocals are very stylish with lots of attitude and she quite clearly ��kar gayi chull�۪. This is some good work recreating a niche pop hit.
The romantic song of the album, Bolna is the composition of newcomer Tanishk Bagchi to the lyrics of Dr. Devender Kafir. The melody is very pure and has the ambience of gorgeous mountains to it. The use of instruments like Ghattam but set to a rock n roll drum is quite a cool move that gives a mashed up contemporary touch to the music. On top the classical instrument sounds there is the voice of Arijit Singh supported by Asees Kaur making her singing debut on this song. Their voices blend in beautifully with the ambient music and they both deliver great Hindustani classical tone to their parts. Kaur has a deep voice and it works really well in complementing Arijit well. The lyrics by Kafir are very well written as well with simple Punjabi in parts. The only problem with this song it sounds like a lullaby in parts which can get a bit annoying in repeat listens. Overall, however, this is a beautiful romantic ballad.
Buddhu Sa Mann is the composition of Amaal Mallik in the voice of Armaan Malik. The electronic party beats make it a total celebration song for the young at hear. Abhiruchi Chand�۪s lyrics take the idea of Buddhu Sa Mann and carries it through the song quite well in different verses and celebrates the madness and masti of the heart. Armaan�۪s vocals have the excitement and fun along with a touch of subtlety to it which is very endearing. The song works well for a club track or a summer party track for a jump around in the park.
Bengali singer and composer Arko Pravo Mukherjee delivers Saathi Rey to the album. This is very beautiful song that is acoustic in most ways for the initial parts with a hauntingly good high pitched vocals by Arko, until a massive orchestra comes in with violins and piano. The arrangement is groomed all around Arko�۪s vocals and goes high to low to high and low constantly. The instrumentation on the song is gorgeous as one can literally feel and hear each piece of instrument on the song. Arko delivers one of his best vocals heard in Bollywood yet. Manoj Muntashir�۪s lyrics are very engaging and deeply poetic. The romantic element is super high in this song so much so that one might prefer this song to Bolna as the romantic song of the album. But the complexities and unconventional style of the song makes it a non-commercial song in a way and perhaps a background situational song in the film.
Let�۪s Nacho is yet another party song on the album that like Lungi Dance combines the musical influences of the South of India with the North to deliver a what sounds like a super cheesy number. The involvement of some of the biggest party tune makers including DJ Nucleya with the amazing Benny Dayal gives this song the beats it needs to become a hit in the clubs. Further raps by Badshah add more zing to the song. Lyrics by Kumaar and Christopher Pradeep are quite average and totally for the club masses fitting perfectly in the cheesy category. The quality of the song as a club party song is quite low but who really cares once you are a few glasses down and thus this might just work.
FINAL WORD
The ��Kapoor & Sons�۪ soundtrack is a short and sweet one with just five songs on the album that have been carefully selected from the production houses of various producers and lyricists to deliver on two main genres relevant to the young theme of the film viz. love and party. The romantic songs are clearly the best ones of the album with Bolna and Saathi Rey being deep and meaningful and classy to say the least. But the party angle is not bad either although it lacks some innovation with Amaal Mallik recreating Kar Gayi Chull and then delivering a decent electronic tune with Buddhu Sa Mann. Let�۪s Nacho tries to tread on the South meets North India in its composition but sounds way too cheesy in its composition. Arko, Asees Kaur, Neha Kakkar and Arijit deliver some really good vocal performances while Manoj Muntashir and Dr. Devendra Kair have written some great pieces of poetry on Bolna & Saathi Rey that is worth a listen. The soundtrack does not waste time at and deliver only good and above average songs and true to the nature of the film making it a good album to listen to.
BizAsia Showbiz Rating ��� 7.5/10
