Music Review: ‘Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania’

Karan Johar is back in the producer’s chair with yet another debutant director Shashank Khaitan to put Alia Bhatt and Varun Dhawan together after they almost finished as a couple in the hit ‘Student of the Year’ (2012).�� Their careers shot up since the movie when Johar launched three future faces of Bollywood. A common string and strong aspect of Johar films is the appeal to the teen of the country and he does use music very strongly to build that connect with his main target audience in the forthcoming title ��Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania�۪. Music duo Sachin-Jigar have good experience in delivering hits for this market segment with recent films including ‘Shuddh Desi Romance’ (2013) and ‘Ramaiya Vastavaiya’ (2013). Sharib-Toshi is another duo on the album with a split of three songs each. Mainly successful as a singer, Toshi is yet to deliver a big hit as a music director since his last hit single on ‘Raaz-The Mystery Continues’ (2008).�� Kumaar is working with both music directors on the lyrics of this 6 song album that should hopefully be as much fun as the trailers of the album. Irshad Kamil has done a couple of songs too with one song penned by director Khaitan himself.

The biggest tune to hit the airwaves this summer doing the round in the clubs at the moment is Saturday Saturday in the voices of new comer Indeep Bakshi and rapper Badshah with female vocals by Akruti Kakkar. With all Punjabi lyrics the song works very well for the North Indian crowd and very close to the style of Honey Singh. Sharib-Toshi have surely scored a hit with this song here as this song will easily find high traction with the youth and radio & club DJs all across and especially in International markets. Unfortunately there is not much originality in the arrangement of the song and is inspired in a lot of ways but overall the song works! Bakshi�۪s Punjabi vocal has a folk-ish texture which gives a different vibe which is very fun and fresh. Akruti Kakkar delivers an average performance to some really authentic Punjabil lyricsy by Kumaar who is totally in his comfort zone with the lyrics and thus produces addictive hooks to make this a hit song.

Samjhawan is originally a Rahat Fateh Ali Khan song composed by Javed Ahmed which has been recreated for the film by Sharib-Toshi with Arijit Singh and Shreya Ghoshal voicing the song to create a good version of the song with lyrical alterations brought in by Kumaar. The song is still typically in pure Punjabi with more Indian-ness delivered in the song thanks to the vocal and lyric changes to make this a success on the other side of the border from the origination of the song. The version does work and will surely find success in the romantic radio shows thanks to two current massive singers on the song.

Daingad Daingad composed by Sachin-Jigar duo is the first sign of complete originality on the album. The song is crude but really fun and the lyrics by Irshad Kamil are simply amazing as they bring a story of a young couple to life. What does Daingad Daingad really refer too seems to be different at different points in the song with references to a lot of chaotic dance fun to even sex at a point. With an interesting mix of voices including Deepali Sathe, Aakruti Kakkar and even Divya Kumar who does a really good job with the story telling. Udit Narayan adds further excitement to the song with his playful voice for a few lines only but giving good variation to the song.

Sachin-Jigar use Benny Dayal very effectively to deliver another party tune called Lucky Tu Lucky Me along with Anushka Manchanda delivering the female vocals on the song. Benny does what he does best with his voice to add extra zing to the song to keep it from staying just a mediocre composition. Interestingly the song has a rap delivered by Varun himself who does a decent job with it but nothing extraordinary. Similarly director Khaitan does a decently good job writing the lyrics of this song as well which is flirtatious with a strong character attitude linked to it. The masti aspect of the song is strong and the upbeat instrumentation and composition support it well. Sadly the song seems to lack the oomph and the strong hook to make it a success.

Toshi delivers the vocals and composition of Emotional Fool himself to the lyrics of Kumaar. The song talks about a young guy talking about his emotional fool heart that can�۪t keep away from the ladies and fancies every other girl. The instrumentation is the most interesting in this song and the Toshi�۪s vocals that complement each other really well. With a Punjabi beat along with deep synthetic bass and synths the arrangement kinda clicks on this song. The situational nature of the song might be a limiting factor as it clearly plays a specific roll in the film revolving around Varun Dhawan�۪s character.

D Se Dance is perhaps the most fun song on the album composed by Sachin-Jigar with amazing vocals by Vishal Dadlani in his typical energetic style and Shalmali Kholgade with her soft sweet vocal rendition. Irshad Kamil does a great job on the lyrics giving depth to the fun part Punjabi lyrics giving Sachin-Jigar enough meat to play around with and create a strong dance tune that will work equally well at weddings and at clubs. The song has style, attitude and a lot of energy in its instrumentation with interesting solos with great variations. The ��aahoo�۪ shout outs is quite unique and very powerful making it a strong hook for the song to hold strong on making it no doubt winner in the party circuit.

FINAL WORD

The album delivers what is on its cover. Fun, frolic and party all the way!! As expected in a youthful and current film format with strong international viewership attraction for the title under Karan Johar�۪s banner, the music of ��Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania�۪ ticks the boxes on all aspects to make it relevant to the target audience across the globe. With one dance tune after another, the soundtrack lacks variety but still delivers variety within the party tunes category. From club tunes to Delhi weddings style music contribute to this highly commercial soundtrack designed for high radio and TV music channels play. Disappointingly the only other category song is a copy of a romantic hit but it still does the job of making the song relevant for the Indian audience. Overall both the music duo�۪s of Sachin-Jigar and Sharib-Toshi make a statement with their music talent and changing dynamics of the industry shifting to new talent with new and niche singers. Kumaar and Irshad Kamil do a great job delivering a strong Punjabi touch to the album with Punjabi lyrics on most songs. Generating strong hooks and melodies with both the music directors, the lyricists play an important role in contributing to the overall masti factor of the album. If you are looking for musical innovation and variety then this album is not for you. But if you are after cheesy commercial fun and frolic then this will totally be up your ally.