Indeed, (Moh)it was (Ghosh)alovely song

Taare Ginn was released as the second single from Dil Bechara on July 15, 2020, and was viewed a whopping 17 million-plus times on the second day itself.

(Moh)It was rendered by Mr Chauhan and Shreya Ghoshal, and there’s no two ways about the fact that it was a relatable song – it depicts the thrill experienced by two youngsters when they realise they have fallen in love with each other.

The track was four minutes and 17 seconds long.

It was penned by Amitabh Bhattacharya, and composed by the one and only A R Rahman.

Poorvi rendered AN ‘introductory’ number

If the songs on a film’s soundtrack are arranged in the alphabetical order, the penultimate song can’t be called an introductory track, but as I have already mentioned in one of my previous posts, the working title of Dil Bechara at one point was Kizzie Aur Manny.

Hence, a song titled Mera Naam Kizzie does make a great deal of sense.

It was rendered by Aditya Narayan and Poorvi Koutish (a finalist in the sixth season of Indian Idol, which aired in 2012).

Amitabh Bhattacharya penned the track, which was composed by A R Rahman.

Hriday did bag (Chauh)another track

If the soundtrack of Delhi-6 (2009) had a track titled Masakali, that of the 2015 film Tamasha had a song titled Matargashti.

And, in Dil Bechara, composer A R Rahman tried to take what seemed to have become a fixation with the letter M to the next level with Maskhari.

Unfortunately, it was not catchy.

The track, which was three minutes and 15 seconds long, was penned by Amitabh Bhattacharya.

It was Hriday Gattani’s second song in the film, and on this occasion, he was joined behind the microphone by none other than Sunidhi Chauhan.  

Undoubtedly, Ms Gandhi sanGa(tta)niftily-arranged number

Although Main Tumhara was one of the weakest tracks on the soundtrack of Dil Bechara, there’s no two ways about the fact that its arrangement was outstanding.

Composed by A R Rahman, it was the longest of the eight tracks in the film – it was four minutes and 18 seconds long.

The male vocalist was Hriday Gattani, who – like Shashwat Singh, who bagged the lion’s share of the songs in the composer’s previous outing, 99 Songs – is a K M Music Conservatory alumnus.

Jonita Gandhi shared singing credits with him.

Amitabh Bhattacharya penned the track.

(Arij)It was rendered by Shashaa

On one hand, the decision of Sushant Singh Rajput to take his own life – cutting short a promising career – is deeply baffling, and on the other, it is a post about a song that inspires people to live life to the fullest (Khulke Jeene Ka).

The track, from Dil Bechara, was composed by A R Rahman, and was four minutes and half-a-dozen seconds long.

(Arij)It was rendered by Mr Singh, who was joined behind the microphome by Shashaa Tirupati.

By no means would it be incorrect to state that Amitabh Bhattacharya penned an apt swan‘song’.

It was A Relatable track

Almost everyone, everywhere, has been friendzoned at some point.

But trust A R Rahman to compose a song about it. And if that weren’t enough, render it too.

Interestingly, the relatable track in question was titled Friendzone.

It was actually a slightly longer version of the title track of Dil Bechara – it was three minutes and half-a-dozen seconds long.

The one and only Amitabh Bhattacharya penned it.

When Rahman crooned the line that went, “Tu mujhe miss bhi na kare”, I could almost hear Sushant Singh Rajput’s fans sigh, “Bahut miss karte hain hum aapko”.

Rahman didn’t just compose it

Dil Bechara was originally titled Kizzie Aur Manny (after the respective names of the characters essayed by the film’s lead pair, Sanjana Sanghi and Sushant Singh Rajput).

But the rechristening of the film was inspired by this track, which was penned by Amitabh Bhattacharya. People expecting it to have colloquial lyrics – his trademark – certainly weren’t disappointed.

A R Rahman’s involvement in the song wasn’t restricted to composing it, but he penned it too.

It was the shortest of the eight songs in the film – it was just a couple of minutes and 43 seconds long.

This tRacK waS(ana)a tad disappointing

Quite literally, ladies first seemed to be the mantra, because if the eight tracks of Dil Bechara (2020) were arranged in the alphabetical order, Afreeda – which was rendered by Sanaa Moussa and Raja Kumari – was the first.

By no means was the song – which was three minutes and 21 seconds long – every Hindi film music buff’s cup of tea, because it was a run-of-the-mill song with Arabic strains.

And as far as those were concerned, authenticity was the buzzword – Moussa is a Palestinian singer. 

The A R Rahman composition was penned by Amitabh Bhattacharya.

Sarthak didn’t overstay the Swagat

Veere Kadh De – the last of the 13 tracks from 99 Songs on this blog – was an amalgamation of three genres that have captured the imagination of young music buffs in India of late – rap, Punjabi folk and electronic sounds.

Penned by Navneet Virk and Shiv (who wrote the rap portion), the A R Rahman composition was rendered by Sarthak Kalyani and Swagat Rathod. The duo participated in the legendary music director’s YouTube contests.

The track was just three minutes and 38 seconds long, but was a tad disappointing vis-à-vis the mind-blowing numbers preceding it.    

Poorvi’s whispering was the highlight

The penultimate track from 99 Songs on this blog was The Voice Without Words.

As the name suggests, it was primarily an instrumental piece, and had no words, barring the ones whispered by Poorvi Koutish.

And no words would suffice to describe the genius named A R Rahman, who composed the track. There’s no two ways about the fact that the highlights of the track – which was four minutes and 13 seconds long – were its orchestration and arrangements.

Speaking of words, would it be necessary to state that the track was penned by Navneet Virk?

Shashwat sang this short song

The fifth – and final – contribution of Shashwat as a Sing(h)er to the soundtrack of 99 Songs was Teri Nazar.

It was the shortest of the five tracks rendered by him in the film – it was four minutes and three seconds long.

The track, which was penned by Navneet Virk and Dilshad Shabbir Shaikh, was composed by A R Rahman (for whom Shaikh works as a music supervisor).

Released as the fifth single of the album on March 13, 2020, the track is based on Indian classical music (Raga Charukesi, to be precise) and Sufi music.    

Ms Tirupati sang thiS(o)jazz number

While the soundtrack of 99 Songs may have featured a song titled Soja Soja, the manner in which it was rendered made Hindi film music buffs wake up and be blown by Shashaa Tirupati’s vocals and the fact that jazz was finally on the big screen in India.

And no prizes for guessing that the credit for that goes to A R Rahman, who composed the track, which was penned by Navneet Virk and was five minutes and 25 seconds long.

It featured a piano piece by American keyboardist Randy Kerber and a brass ensemble.  

Singh sang this superb ballad

Sofia – which has nothing to do with the capital of Bulgaria – was a ballad on the soundtrack of 99 Songs.

And no prizes for guessing the name of the lyricist (Navneet Virk), the music director (A R Rahman) and, of course, the Sing(h)er – Shashwat.

It was four minutes and 35 seconds long.

It was backed by guitarist and music producer Keba Jeremiah’s strums, and arranged by Arjun Chandy.

And the man who supplied the backing vocals was Goan singer Leon D’Souza, who sang Hosanna, the Rahman composition from Ekk Deewana Tha (which released in 2012).

 

Shende’s second solo was devotional

Sai Shirdi Sai was a devotional Sufi number.

It was rendered by Bela Shende, and was the longest of the 13 tracks from 99 Songs on this blog – it was half-a-dozen minutes and three seconds long.

Munna Shaukat teamed up with Navneet Virk to pen the song, which was composed by A R Rahman, who released it as a single in three languages (viz., Hindi, Tamil and Telugu*) on April 5, 2019.

However, only the Hindi version, which was the original, featured on the soundtrack album of the film.

(*Note: The film was a trilingual.)

Ms Shende rendered this lullaby

Bela Shende rendered a couple of tracks from 99 Songs.

If they were to be arranged in the alphabetical order, as well as in the ascending order of their durations, O Mera Chand would be the first – the track was four minutes and 16 seconds long.

Just when Hindi film music buffs had ascertained that lullabies – which featured on many a soundtrack in the Golden Era – were no longer likely to be a part of any film, A R Rahman composed this song.

And, of course, the man credited with penning it was Navneet Virk.   

Mr Singh stole the show

O Aashiqa – the track from 99 Songs that was guaranteed to give the listeners goosebumps – was five minutes and 24 seconds long.

The man who penned it was Navneet Virk, and the composer, of course, was A R Rahman.

By no means would be incorrect to state that all ears were on the Sing(h)er – Shashwat, who happens to be an alumnus of Chennai’s K M Music Conservatory, the higher education institution which was founded by the A R Rahman Foundation, and offers full-time and part-time courses in Hindustani and Western classical music and music technology.    

Raftaar wasn’t just the Sing(h)er

Although it would be appropriate to categorise Nayi Nayi, from 99 Songs, as a hard rock song (for the want of a genre), it also featured a rap portion by Raftaar, who was one of the two men who penned it.

No prizes for guessing that Navneet Virk was the other.

The man who sang the remainder of the A R Rahman composition, which was four minutes and 52 seconds long, was Shashwat Singh.

Ranjit Barot, Warren Mendonsa and Ardeshir Mistry were the back-up vocalists.

The song’s highlight was the tabla cameo in the middle.

The popular Singh sang (Arij)it

I had refrained from writing a post on the male version of Jwalamukhi from 99 Songs so far, because I wanted to start the new decade with tracks by new voices.

But I’ve done so now, because there’s no two ways about the fact that the track – which was penned by Navneet Virk and composed by A R Rahman – was outstanding.

(Arij)It was rendered by the more popular Mr Singh, and released on February 20, 2020.

This version of the track was shorter than the female version – it was four minutes and eight seconds long.  

Poorvi sang it with Shashwat

The soundtrack of 99 Songs featured two versions of Jwalamukhi.

The female version of the track was rendered by Poorvi Koutish.

The Sing(h)er who joined her behind the microphone was Shashwat.

It was the longer of the two versions of the track – it was five minutes and seven seconds long.

No prizes for guessing it was penned by Navneet Virk and composed by A R Rahman.

The song, which was mastered in Dolby Atmos (a surround sound technology), was the more recent of its two versions to be released – it released on February 26, 2020.

It wASn’t penned by Virk

Humnawaa was the shortest of the 13 tracks from 99 Songs on this blog – it was three minutes and 21 seconds long*.

It was the only song in the film that wasn’t penned by Navneet Virk. The lyrics were credited to Dilshad Shabbir Shaikh and Abhay Jodhpurkar (who was a discovery of none other than A R Rahman, who composed the track.)

The duo who shared singing credits was Armaan Malik and Shashaa Tirupati.

(*Note: Only the film’s instrumental piece – titled The Oracle – was shorter. It was three minutes and a couple of seconds long.)

It was a cl‘AAS’ apart

If the 13 tracks from 99 Songs (2020) on this blog were arranged in the alphabetical order, Gori Godh Bhari would be the first.

The track, which Navneet Virk penned, was four minutes and 49 seconds long.

It was composed by A R Rahman, and was based on Raga Bageshri.

Alka Yagnik was the most famous of the trio who rendered it.

The others were Anuradha Sriram and Shweta Mohan.

The highlights of the song’s orchestration were the sarod (by Sarang Kulkarni), the sitar (by Asad Khan), the shehnai (by Omkar Dhumal) and the tabla.