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Star Rating: 3/5 (Three Stars)
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I haven’t chanced upon an album so well synced with the film’s plot in ages. Bombay Talkies brilliantly does the unimaginable! No, it’s not about fantabulous music. It delivers relevant music which is quite a rarity these days. There’s immense energy and spirit in the most simplistically conceived notes of the song! The film also introduces you to the most pertinent flaw of Amit Trivedi. His melody, undoubtedly brilliant, tends to repeat itself in tracks sometimes, which kills its inherent beauty.
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The film is a able compilation of four short films which amply pays respect to 100 glorious years of Indian cinema. Talented and brilliant film makers, Dibakar Banerjee, Anurag Kashyap, Zoya Akhtar and Karan Johar, join hands to make the memorabilia for Bollywood’s centenary years with their anthology that unveils the zest of Indian cinema!
A combination of four tracks, the film has good music, which may never be chartbusters perhaps, but will occasionally jolt memory bags for its theme!
The title track of the film is remarkably different from the rest of the songs. It is loud and colorful, and uses heavy instruments to back the song’s feel. Sung by Kailash Kher and Richa Sharma, the song is more extravagant than smooth! Very ornate and eloquent, but all for the good.
This song gives you a strong feeling that you have heard it before. Not really, but you definitely have heard similar tracks from Amit Trivedi. There is not an ounce of freshness in the song, but you’ll quite like Kavita Seth’s praiseworthy, calm voice blended at right places with correct instruments. There’s an indefinite use of guitar as well as violin, but none overpowers the other thankfully. Had it not been Amit Trivedi, one could have expected a carcass of it all.
Mohit Chauhan has attacked the arena of mainstream commercial music with A.R Rahman’s Rockstar first. The man has finally mastered this field, which is evident from this song. A blend song encapsulating all stories, the music in this one itself is a mystical blend of ethnic and modern. Using shehnai and guitars in the same music strip, has worked well to make this track stand out. I personally admired this one for Mohit Chauhan’s lofty treatment of it!
A tribute to Bollywood’s Shehanshah Amitabh Bachchan can never be taken lightly. Music wise, the song is limited. In terms of music, Sukhwinder Singh’s peppy voice and Big B’s heavy name is all there’s to look for in it. This one will work for its catchy lyrics. This one is the anthem for Big B followers, but doesn’t heavily contribute to the album’s music.
To conclude, Bombay Talkies is a stable and appealing album. Reeking of Amit Trivedi’s musical taste, the songs are distinctly separated from each other and individually good. Still, our expectations from the man are higher, which aren’t really met this time. There’s no Manja here, which is a disappointment. But it is his honesty which scores. I am going with a benevolent 3/5 for the album. It is a lack of must hear songs that fails the music despite being considerably above average in standard.
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