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Music Review: ‘Veere Di Wedding’

Shashanka Ghosh is back with her next directorial project with ‘Veere Di Wedding’. The film faced a delay due to Kareena Kapoor Khan ‘s pregnancy, giving her time to fulfill her maternal duties. Sonam Kapoor is back with Ghosh after the success of ‘Khoobsurat’ (2014) adding further marketing for this movie thanks to all the hype around her glamorous wedding. The story has her as one of the friends in this four best friends at a wedding film. Kapoor Khan, Swara Bhasker and Shikha Talsania complete the girl-gang in the frank and what seems to be openly crude comedy. The trailers are sharp and interesting with a song already creating waves on radio and TV airplays. The music album is a compilation of works of many different artists with new talent Shashwat Sachdev leading the album. His last work ‘Phillauri’ (2017) did prove his musical range and capabilities but failed to create a lasting impression. Perhaps this would be his big break with a grade-A director and cast.

Sunidhi Chauhan opens the album with Pappi Le Loon to the music of Sachdev and lyrics of Shellee. The song instantly reminds one of some of the music of Ghosh’s last project ‘Khoobsurat’. She really has something for desi fusion Drum’n’Bass and innovative sounds which is what Pappi Le Loon is all about. Chauhan’s vocals are brilliant and well suited for the nature of this song. The arrangement and mash-up of Punjabi beats with deep elctro beats & synths is worth a listen and quite unique. It’s still catchy which is what will work best in favor of this song. The drunk wedding situation painted by Shellee on lyrics that too for a female lead is quite cool but its music is a little too out-there and unconventional that will perhaps not help get this song into the wedding parties playlist.

Already a big hit Tareefan is the work of Qaran and Badshah on all fronts with some additional lyrical work from Rupin Pahwa. Badshah does a killer job with the vocals throughout rather than just doing the rap for a change and that really works. They are smooth and uber cool in personality. The arrangement is very sexy and typical glam RnB which is perfectly in trend with the international music scene. Kudos to Qaran for composing this with a great beat structure that is addictive as hell! The drum pads and keyboard work is really good making it easy of this song to get in the top airplays this summer. Lyrics are very well structured that make it easy to sing along too with some really good rhymes and raps typical to the Badshah style. Overall this is a brilliant club tune that is very international in its appeal and perhaps the best Badshah tune to hit Bollywood since Kar Gayi Chull.

Bhangra Ta Sajda (No One Gives A Damn!) reminds one of the soundtrack of ‘Phillauri’ as Sachdev uses similar composition and instrumentation techniques in some of the songs there. The strong Punjabi influence also brings it closer to Sachdev’s comfort zone where he brings the traditional folk music while making it current. His musical programming is strong on this song as he merges them with live instrumentation like dhols and sarangi. The addition of psychedelic synths gives a song a different edge and very danceable in weddings and clubs as well. Gaurav Solanki’s lyrics use the traditional wedding songs hook but the stanza’s are a completely modern take on this classic. The lyrics are wild and revolting and very 2018 with English lyrics thrown in as well. Vocals by Neha Kakkar are standout here while Romy and Sachdev do a good job too. Overall this is a pure wedding song that should hopefully work will in the forthcoming season as long as one is willing to listen to the non-conventional lyrics.

Laaj Sharam feature the lyrics and music of producer white noise with vocals of Divya Kumar and Jasleen Royal. The song is yet another urban beat song that transitions into DnB with some Bhangra influence to it as well. The arrangement is very carefully balanced which is credit to the music team of the song. The groove is quite strong with a good overall melody thanks to the powerful vocals of Kumar & somber vocal texture of Jasleen Royal. Lyrics are quite average though and of the similar go wild attitude that the film boasts of overall. Rap by Enbee is average as well. Although this song is dynamic with good progression & good melody it doesn’t stand out as a lead commercial song… but more like a background song.

Vishal Mishra has composed and voiced what is the title song of the album – Veere. His vocals lack depth but considering the nature of the song it doesn’t have much of a negative effect. Plus he has Aditi Singh Sharma, Dhvani Bhanushali, Nikita Ahuja, Payal Dev, Lulia Vantur and Sharvi Yadav on supporting vocals. The music is loud and upbeat that puts it in a happy and celebratory setting. The composition jumps from a soft low start to high upbeat chorus rather very quickly but effortlessly elevating the mood altogether as the music is very well arranged with many minor sound nuances. Lyrics by Anvita Dutt Guptan are the best part of the song with deep meaning and personality as it talks about deep friendship with different lives but connected with a single thread of life. Overall this is a good song and works well in a club setting for friends to come together and bounce till the end.

Sachdev takes over completely on all aspects of Bass Gira De Raja next. His vocals are fun and interesting but he goes a little too wild with the music. An alternative underground EDM music vibe dominates the speakers here and it is difficult to put this under a single genre. Dominated by heavy bass & synth sounds, his influence can be heard clearly coming from the likes of retro electronic German band Kraftwerk at the start of the song that grows into something else altogether as the song progresses. The lyrics are liberating and wild yet again fitting perfectly for a total girl party film. The Haryanvi lyrics put the Delhi setting quite strongly and the deep electronic music puts the drunk party setting strongly as well. The song can carve a niche for itself but perhaps not with the mass audience.

Aa Jao Na gets Arijit Singh together with Sachdev to the lyrics of Raj Shekhar to deliver a good romantic song. Going away from the heavy electronic sounds this song has a subtle melody but still supported by a deep but somber bassline that gives this song a very unique vibe not heard in Bollywood before. Singh’s voice itself delivers a lot of calming characteristics of the song. There is not much range to deliver for Singh but his vocal control is captivating. Apart from the unique instrumentation the real hero of the song are Shekhar’s lyrics that are just amazing. The emotion and rhythmic flow of the song is really worth a listen on repeat. The song grows on one and keeps building with every listen and that is not something many romantic songs in today’s era can deliver.

Mishra gets on the mic again for Dagmag Dagmag with Payal Dev for a little more fun before signing off the album. Mishra is in a much better place here with his full range vocals and put together with Dev they both deliver a stunning vocal here with a lot of oomph and character. Mishra keeps the music rather simply but groovy with some strong keyboard and synth work that is worth a listen. Guptan’s lyrics are the highlight of the song with strong Punjabi influence. The way she mixes Hindi & English words with ease it puts a different spin to the song altogether. Overall this song is easy listening and quite exciting to hear but perhaps not meant for major commercial success.

FINAL WORD
The soundtrack of ‘Veere Di Wedding’ is quite exciting and well delivered. Its right up in the league of previous Shashanka Ghosh project and so one can be rest assured of what to get here. If fusion desi DnB, desi-urban and EDM is not one’s taste then one really needs to skip through this album. Otherwise this is one multi-genre album with a full house of 8 good to decent songs with no bad ones in there. Shashwat Sachdev and Vishal Mishra rule the album with some good numbers in there. Bhangra Ta Sajda, Veere, Aa Jao Na and Dagmag Dagmag are songs to check out with Raj Shekhar, Gaurav Solanki and Anvita Dutt Guptan delivering some good lyrics to go with. Badshah & QARAN top it all with their superhit Tareefan that kills it on the dancefloor with its unique beats. There is some great vocal talent across with Arijit Singh, Badshah, Divya Kumar, Neha Kakkar, Vishal Mishra, Jasleen Royal & Sunidhi Chauhan all delivering good renditions. Overall there is something for everyone in here and even though the soundtrack takes a musical leap to a little over the top at times, it is unique and exciting to hear as it flows from one song to the other. Perhaps one of the good soundtracks of 2018 so far that comes well recommended.

BizAsiaLive.com  Rating – 4.5/5

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.