Music Review

Lyricists: Swanand Kirkire,Amitabh Bhattacharya

Bombay Talkies is an anthology of four short films to celebrate the centennial of Indian cinema. The music album is pretty mindful of the big milestone and starts with an ode to Amitabh Bachchan in a song titled Bachchan. A zany potpourri of masala and musical cleverness — the catchphrase is set to an infectious staccato rhythm,and the song takes adventurous routes into hip-hop and Arabic music. It benefits immensely from Amitabh Bhattacharya’s lyrics that borders on playfulness (sample this: Bachcha bachcha gaaye from bachpan bachpan..) and pure,adulatory throwback to the Bachchan legend. Singer Sukhwinder Singh is superbly in control,lending a flavour that seems to have risen from India’s small towns.

Akkad Bakkad celebrates the child-like joy of the movies. It also sees Amit Trivedi’s first collaboration with Mohit Chauhan,whose velvety vocals work wonders for the song. The song’s heart is in its simplicity and delightful lyrics by Swanand Kirkire who seems to be building a fine collaboration with Trivedi (Kai Po Che,English Vinglish).

If there’s one song that gets into the “Amit Trivedi territory” — the melodious juxtaposition of synth-pop sounds with the likes of violins and guitars — that is Murabba,sung by Kavita Seth. With a melody and rhythm fashioned around Arabic music,it’s as if belongs to the 70’s Bombay cinema. Sung with vigour by the able vocals of Javed Bashir (front-man of Pakistani band Mekaal Haasan Band),it however may take time to take off.

The Bombay Talkies title song,sounds somewhat insipid. The set of three excellent songs are weighed down by a couple of ordinary ones,but on the whole,Bombay Talkies stands above an average Bollywood album.