Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari’s debut film ‘Nil Battey Sannata’ had a couple of situational songs/music pieces that gelled well with the film. The fact that her second film ‘Bareilly Ki Barfi’ is a romantic comedy, features three young actors, has music by well-established names like Tanishk Bagchi and Arko Pravo Mukherjee, among others and seems to be colourful and vibrant enough to accommodate a few songs, one definitely expects a better musical score in the offering.
One gets a good idea of the world or the milieu (Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh) the film is set in after listening to “Sweety Tera Drama”, the first track in the album. Composer Tanishk Bagchi adds a few modern elements and lyricist Shabbir Ahmed too pitches in with some fun-filled verses that make the song an enjoyable affair. The song does bear a slight resemblance to the title track of ‘Badrinath Ki Dulhania’ which was put together by the same composer-lyricist duo but the composition is different enough for one to distinguish between the two songs. Dev Negi gives a good account of himself, though he sounds a lot like Arijit Singh in parts. Shraddha Pandit and Pawni Pandey, the female vocalists, match the spunkiness of Bitti, the character played by Kriti Sanon in the film.
“Nazm Nazm”, a sweet and simple love song that encapsulates the feelings Chirag (Ayushmann Khurrana) has for Bitti (Kriti Sanon), might not remain in your memory for a long time but the inherent mellifluous quality of the tune does make it a pleasurable listen. Arko does well as a singer what with his dulcet voice adding to mellisonance to the song. But, in the other two alternate versions, Ayushmann Khurrana and Sumedha Karmahe serve the composition better as vocalists. Arko should collaborate more frequently with lyricists like Manoj Muntashir who, in the past, have adorned his tunes with better verses than the kind he writes. Why would a person based in Uttar Pradesh use a term like ‘jaaniya’?. And, it should have been ‘teri qurbat ka’ and not ‘tere qurbat ka’.
“Twist Kamariya” has a similar flavour as “Sweety Tera Drama” but sounds considerably different. The way Harshdeep Kaur says ‘twist’ when Bitti (Kriti Sanon) does a Michael Jackson step is quite interesting. The track is not as quirky or fun as the duo’s “Banno” (‘Tanu Weds Manu Returns’) but the singing, arrangements and the overall mood of the song. Though Harshdeep Kaur has lent her voice to fun songs like “Katiya Karun” (‘Rockstar’) and “Uff” (‘Bang Bang!’) in the past, her voice is mostly associated with more intense numbers. However, she gets to let her hair down and experiment with her vocal abilities in this song. That is also one of the reasons why the song sounds a little fresh. A couple of verses sung by the male singers (Yasser Desai, Tanishk and Altamash Faridi) help in breaking the monotony of the tune.
The soundtrack’s best track arrives in the form of “Bairaagi”, composed by Samira Kopikkar who is making her presence felt in the industry by doing less but quality work (“Maati Ka Palang” – ‘NH10’, “Ab Raat” – ‘Dobaara See The Evil’). A soft rock romantic number where Arijit Singh gets to do some mazing improvisations during the course of the song, “Bairaagi” is that song on the album which one would not mind playing on a loop. The lyrics (Puneet Sharma) are also better than the kind one came across in the other tracks on the album. The song has a very happy and uplifting feel which gives one an idea about the feelings of a person who has just realised that he has fallen in love. There is another version sung by Samira. The arrangements are quite different with a dholak/tabla piece added and Samira does fairly well as a vocalist.
The soundtrack finishes up with a hip-hop track with some quirky lines written by Akshay Verma called “Badass Babua”. Going by the length and the mood of the song, one thinks it is something Sameer Uddin (who has also done the background score for the film) composed as a part of the background score but it found its way into the album. It is a short and fairly engaging track that would make a better impression with the visuals than a standalone audio track.
‘Bareilly Ki Barfi’ is a good album and a couple of songs are already quite popular. Though the best track (“Bairaagi”) has not been promoted as yet, once the film releases it should make a good impression as well. Though most of the songs in the album are the kind that might be forgotten by the end of the year, they are easy on the ears and warrant a couple of hearings.
Rating: 3/5
