Music Review: ‘Saina’
2021 is going to be another year of sports inspired movies with some big titles lined up to release soon. Leading the way with a release this March is Parineeti Chopra in ‘Saina’ playing the role of India’s most famous female sportsperson Saina Nehwal. Writer and Director Amole Gupte is leading this biopic of the world No. 1 female Badminton player and perhaps one of the most iconic faces in the sports realms of India. The trailer looks amazing with Chopra going all out to get the look, body language and speaking style correct of represent the amazing journey of Nehwal well on screen. This could be a big one for Chopra with a string of flops to her credit and a big one for Bollywood overall trying to get back to the big screens after the lockdowns. Gupte is not one with a big focus on music in his movies and the sports genre is one where the big commercial dance and romantic songs rarely have much of a role so the expectations are rather average from this movie for a commercially big soundtrack. But considering Amaal Mallik is leading the album with lyrics by Manoj Muntashir and Kunaal Vermaa one can expect some good material in the inspirational and situational genres.
The album opens with what is Saina’s theme song that talks about soaring with no boundaries. Parinda is an inspirational song that is well written by Muntashir as he lays open the attitude of Nehwal for the world to listen to. The song has a great hook of why should one be a bird if you can really be the sky. The flow of words is very good and it has the aggression that is perfect for a motivational song. Some aspects of the song sound familiar but the music is very dominating with a hard-core rock metal instrumentation. The drums and electric guitar work is exquisite and can easily get anyone’s blood pumping. The arrangement is intricate and strong for this to be the leading theme song of the album. Mallik is great with his rock vocals and commands attention throughout the song. There is a strong emotion to achieve in the delivery which is what makes the song effective. There are limitations though, this is not a brilliant song for the masses but it is a good number to start the album off with being effective in the genre. 3.5/5
Gupte manages to slide in a romantic number in the album with Main Hoon Na Tere Saath with the lyrics of Vermaa. A soft sombre number in its musicality, this is something Mallik is good at. The music has tons of ambience to it and soft piano, violin and flutes to give it a good vibe. What doesn’t sound great is the arrangement here. Quite a common clichéd style of romantic melodies arranged in an order that has been heard many a times in other songs making it very predictable. Another predictable aspect is Armaan Malik on the vocals. He is predictable on how good he sounds but his vocal delivery is one heard on his other songs. He doesn’t reinvent his vocal in anyway although he has a good range to it and delivers what is expected of him. The lyrics are good and very emotive with a nice chorus. It tells the story of first love and always keeping that feeling alive wherever the lover is. A decent romantic number that can work on the airplays but it doesn’t have the mettle to be a big commercial hit. 3/5
Sherya Ghoshal renders her magic on the next track called Chal Wahin Chalein. A slow situational song about finding happiness and heading to a happier life, this song is more of a background number for the movie. Ghoshal’s vocals are deep and have a massive range to it as the song grows to a high end on the chorus. She blends her vocals nicely with the character with a very humble girl next door style of delivery. The lyrics by Muntashir are decent with some good bits but it doesn’t have the flow of a lead song. The arrangement of the song is a bit of a let-down as it sounds rather dull in many parts. The music doesn’t grow on one and sounds rather mediocre. The high parts of the music depict the sound of victory but it doesn’t deliver victory for this track. This is an average background song that would look better in the movie than sound on the album on its own. 2.5/5
More singles from ‘Saina’ will be reviewed on this page when they become available.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
