Saturday, January 26, 2019

Sukhwinder rendered a RocK(al)yng track

It was in the slog overs (that is, the third and final track of Sachin: A Billion Dreams) that A R Rahman, with the music director’s baton in hand, dispatched one to the boundary.

Well, the track in question – Sachin Sachin – was four minutes and nine seconds long.

It was inspired by the fans' chant at stadia across India, and appeared in the Hindi, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu versions of the film.

It was penned by Irshad Kamil.

The Hindi version of the track was rendered by Sukhwinder Singh, with Kaly as the back-up vocalist.

Rahman's son and Anjali shone

The middle overs – read: the second, and shortest, of the three tracks on the soundtrack of Sachin: A Billion Dreams – introduced listeners to a new pair of singers – A R Ameen (whose father, A R Rahman, composed the film’s music) and Anjali Gaikwad.

The song in question was Mard Maratha. It was three minutes and 34 seconds long.

Irshad Kamil penned all the three songs of the Hindi version* of the docudrama.

(*Note: The film was simultaneously shot in Marathi and English, and dubbed into Tamil and Telugu. It was symbolic of Tendulkar’s pan-India appeal.)

Rahman was truly an A(ll)-R(ounder)

Being a blogger with passions for music and cricket, it was appropriate to include the songs of Sachin: A Billion Dreams (2017).

While most of A R Rahman's Hindi film soundtracks are comparable to Tests, it wouldn’t be incorrect to state that the music of the film based on the life of Tendulkar, the legendary Indian cricketer, was akin to a Twenty20 match.

The longest track in the film (or the soundtrack's Powerplay) was Hind Mere Jind, which was five minutes and 14 seconds long.

Penned by Irshad Kamil, it was rendered by Rahman himself.

Rahman’s rendition was truly (Srini)d(h)isappointing

There’s no doubt that the title track of OK Jaanu was a letdown, despite the fact that it was penned by none other than Gulzar.

The track, which was three minutes and 26 seconds long, was composed by A R Rahman.

But by no means was his contribution to it limited to wielding the music director's baton. He rendered it too.

Ms Venkatesh shared S(rinidh)inging credits with him.

The song may have made it way to the charts, but it wouldn’t be incorrect to say that it didn’t have the qualities to stay on them.

Nobody was En(n)amoured with (Arij)it

OK Jaanu, which released in 2017, was the remake of O Kadhal Kanmani (also known as OK Kanmani). The latter was a Tamil film which released a couple of years before the former.

Mercifully, the soundtrack of the Hindi version was short, and its most popular tracks were, incidentally, the shortest of the lot.

Enna Sona – which borrowed its opening line from Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s classic – was just three minutes and 33 seconds long.

Rendered by Singh, (Arij)it was the longer of the two tracks from the film on this blog.

Gulzar penned it.

Rianjali co-wrote it, besides singinG(andh)it

Raakh Baaki was the longer of the two songs on the soundtrack of Mom that Rianjali co-wrote – it was five minutes and 43 seconds long.

She shared penning credits with Irshad Kamil.

But by no means was her contribution to the track, which was composed by A R Rahman, wasn’t limited to that – she teamed up with Jonita Gandhi to render it.

Since it was the seventh and final song from the film (if they were arranged in alphabetical order), it would not be incorrect to state that the best was literally saved for last.

Rahman and Tirupati S(hasha)alvaged it

By no means would it be incorrect to say that A R Rahman, who didn’t just compose, but also rendered O Sona Tere Liye, salvaged the soundtrack of Mom.

The song was five minutes and 20 seconds long.

Ms Tirupati Sh(asha)ared singing credits with him.

It is not difficult to picture a sales executive mouthing a pitch on the lines of, “O listeners, aap ke liye... Ek soul-stirring song.”

Because, indeed, that is perhaps the best word (if not the only one) to describe the track, which was penned by none other than Irshad Kamil.