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Not much was written about Hunterrr when it was being made but its fun trailer seems to have done the trick and this Phantom Films production has seen some good attention coming its way on social media platforms. The film stars Gulshan Devaiah as a sex addict who lusts after Radhika Apte and Sai Tamhankar, the two leading ladies. The music has been composed by newcomer Khamosh Shah and the lyrics have been written by Swanand Kirkire, Vijay Maurya and Azazul Haque.
“Hunterrr 303”, a 80s styled disco number, makes one fairly familiar with the theme of the film. Vijay Maurya writes some fun lyrics which are flirtatious in nature and help in establishing the character of Mandar Ponkshe (Gulshan Devaiah). Bappi Lahiri seems to be the first choice for such songs these days. He sings with a lot of energy. Khamosh Shah’s tune is sufficiently catchy and with the help of the arrangers (Hitesh Sonik and Sameer Nichani), he recreates the 80s disco sound quite successfully.
After a thumping dance number, comes a romantic number called “Chori Chori”. Khamosh Shah’s music is very good and has an old world charm to it. The song reminds one of the love songs in Basu Chatterji and Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s films in the 80s. The lyrics, with some English words and unusual but lovely metaphors, are inspired by Gulzar’s style of writing. Arijit Singh and Sona Mohapatra make a wonderful pair together as they complement each others’ voices beautifully.
“Thaali Hai Khaali”, sung by Nakash Aziz, has a fun vibe to it. The song, which comes across a situational piece, is reasonably engaging. The percussions have been very well arranged. The lyrics, though suggestive in parts, are smartly written. After singing a playful song like ‘Issak Taari’ (I) recently, Nakash gets into a similar zone with this song and does well.
“Naina”, with its lovely tune and a pleasant late 90’s pop sound, is bound to touch your heart. The arrangements consist of western instruments with the exception of a sarangi portion (03:29 – 03:52). Composer Khamosh Shah gets behind the mike to sing the song and sounds dangerously close to Anupam Amod (‘Tu Har Lamha (Reprise)’ – Khamoshiyan, ‘Rab Ka Shukrana (Reprise) – Jannat 2). Having said that, he sings the song really well and his voice has a certain warmth which blends perfectly with this charming number.
In “Bachpan”, the protagonist reminisces about his childhood and looks back at it with fondness. The song has a haunting and melancholic feel to it. The composition is very good with some terrific use of piano, drums and guitar. Watch out a lovely piece of music (02:53 – 03:22) played on a continuum fingerboard. Amit Trivedi sings in his usual laidback style. Interestingly, the song is similar to the sound that Amit created for Udaan.
“Ye Naa Gade” starts off with some soft piano notes but soon takes an unpredictable twist as it turns into a lavani inspired number. The song is very energetic but is let down by an incoherent tune which does not really engage. It sounds like a mish-mash of several songs of similar genres. Even if one keeps this factor aside, it just turns out be a passable song. Anand Shinde and Vaishali Made sing the song enthusiastically and lend some good energy to it.
In recent times, Altaf Raja’s voice has been heard sporadically in films like ‘Victory’ (2009) and ‘Ghanchakkar’. It’s always joy to hear his voice and “Dil Lagaana”, a song with influences of Qawalli, is exactly the kind of song one likes to see him sing. The song has a catchy tune coupled with a distinct 90s touch. The lyrics are simple and hummable.
One had expected situational songs that one enjoys better while watching the film but what the album delivers here are songs that could be heard on a loop. Khamosh shows a lot of promise as a composer and would like to hear his music a lot more often in films. With most of the songs turning out to be good, Hunterrr is easily one of the better albums one has heard this year.
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