Rough cut/ Music and lyrics

Now with all the excitement of the 20th Annual Life OK Screen Awards behind us (look out for the details in the next issue), it is time to partake of the new films on the block. Among the initial offerings of 2014 was debutant director Divya Khosla’s Yaariyan, which has turned out to be the surprise hit of the season with Yo Yo Honey Singh’s Sunny, sunny having something to do with it. This, in addition to the hummable, foot-tapping album which caught GenNext’s fancy, could be quite the tipping point for Hindi film music, as it were. Let’s face it, with the advent of new-age cinema that imitates real-life more than ever, music had begun to recede into the background. However, given that almost all blockbusters in 2013 had more than one chartbuster to their credit, says something about the box-office prowess of good music.
Back to the present, Abhishek Chaubey’s Dedh Ishqiya is running in theatres and though I have yet to look up its box-office collections, I’d dare say that it bodes a heartening start to the year. Abhishek Chaubey, who stunned us with Ishqiya, has delivered yet another gem in this cinematic follow-up. It helps that in this one, Arshad Warsi’s Babban and Naseeruddin Shah’s Khalujaan more than meet their match in the delightful Begum Para (Madhuri Dixit Nene) and Muniya (Huma Qureshi). The women though far more nuanced and subtle, ably match wits with the two male protagonists.
Once again the film’s music deserves a special mention because the thumri and poetry is so well put to music that it breathes life into a story that moves at a pace that is dangerously languorous. Old classical renditions by Rekha Bhardwaj and Rahet Fateh Ali Khan are a treat to listen to, evoking in our minds the distant memories of long forgotten classical ragas.
Sure this one lacks the easy flow of Dil to bachcha hai ji or Ibn-e-batuta, but it supports the film perhaps as much as the dialogues and the actors in creating a world of mushairas where men duel for fair begums and suchlike. Given that it’s a Vishal Bhardwaj film, good music is no surprise — he, almost, always has something unique to offer. But hopefully, in days to come his tribe may increase exponentially and we will be looking out for more films with some lilting, foot-tapping, thumping music to pick and choose from. After all there is nothing quite like a true-blue Bollywood track to bridge that gap between reality and fantasy.