MUSIC REVIEW : BARFI

Anurag basu’s films have always been associated with good music, be it with the balaji telefilms (Kucch toh hai), or the Bhatts (murder, tumsa nahin dekha, gangster, saaya) or the roshans (Kites) or with UTV (Life in a metro). Even his teleserial “Love story” boasted of some brilliant songs which are a rage on the internet even today.

This trio of UTV – Basu – Pritam is back again after “Life in a metro” which according to me is pritam’s best work so far. Read HERE why the movie is named BARFI.

With a phenomenal year so far with some great music in jannat 2, Ferrari ki sawaari and cocktail, there are a lot of expectations from pritam. Does he deliver? HANDS DOWN.

“ALA BARFI” – a unique track, it is difficult to categorize this track under any one genre. With a beautiful whistle beginning as well as ending the song, this song is mohit chauhan and swanand kirkire’s show all the way. Mohit chauhan who is now touted as the voice of ranbir kapoor is superb as he does a kishore kumar, singing swanand’s delightful lyrics. He is perfect for the song. It is the second antara where swanand steals the show. The entire “Radio Ceylon – munna mute hi aansu bahaaye” portion is ULTIMATE. Add to that some brilliant music arrangement by pritam, and you have a winner track.

The song has another version in Mr swanand’s voice. Contrary to the former, this version is louder. With swanand’s “padchhand” and “buland” aawaaz, this song is good in its own way.  

“MAIN KYA KAROON” – Pritam borrows heavily from his own romantic song “I love you” from the movie Bodyguard. Instead of ash king, pritam ropes in Nikhil Paul George this time. With his slightly flawed and cracked voice, nikhil carries off this song wonderfully well. Initially I had felt that ash king would have suited better for this song. I even felt the vocals a minus point in an otherwise very nice song. But after two weeks of viewing it on TV clubbed with ranbir kapoor’s antics, I feel this singer is perfect for the song. Lyrics by aashish pandit are apt and flow well. This romantic genre always works with pritam. Two out of two.

“KYON” – After Dum maaro dum, Angaarag Mahanta “Papon” sings again for pritam. The song begins with a wonderful beat and then papon takes over. The song is superb in every way, be it the lyrics or the papon’s vocals. Sunidhi chauhan joins him in the antara and as usual, she is spot on. She really does this genre well. Her previous one of this genre “Yaariyan” from cocktail was also very good. With a very retro-ish feel to the song, this one is highly recommended. A special mention to guest lyricist Neelesh Misra for some fabulous lyrics.

“PHIR LE AAYA DIL” – Woah! What do we have here? A GHAZAL?  Now that’s something new from pritam. This one has three versions – one by Arijit singh, the other by Rekha bhardwaj and a redux version by Shafqat amanat ali.

Rekha bhardwaj is superb in her rendition. Singing in her usual style, she effortlessly sings this complex song and produces a gem. Having had the chance to listen to her LIVE, I wish I would get to watch her sing this one in person too.

The reprise version is sung by Arijit singh who is becoming pritam’s favorite these days. And he totally OWNS the song. His vocals are awesome. Add to that some fantastic use of tabla and super hindi plus urdu lyrics by Saeed Qaadri, it is at par with rekha ji’s version. The icing on the cake is the last one minute which sees some really good tabla and arijit’s wonderful aalaap. He actually sounds like hariharan in few places.

Shafqat's version, added later in the OST is sheer brilliance. He is excellent in every note of the song. I loved a song of his after a very long time. (The last time I liked a song of his was Chhayee hai tanhai from Love Breakups Zindagi.)

My personal favorite song from the entire album, thanks to pritam for producing such a superb tune. Even after repeated hearings of all 3 versions, I still cannot make up my mind which one of the 3 is the best.

“AASHIYAN” – The song begins with some delightful harmonica. With a very familiar retro loop in the background, shreya ghoshal sings this dreamy fairytale tune perfectly. She is assisted by nikhil paul george who is again superb. Infact here his voice sounds much better, especially the way he sings “Chupke chupke” – too good. A very feel good song with sweet simple lyrics by swanand kirkire, I loved this one. I am counting on a nice video for this song.

Things get even better with another version of the song where Nikhil goes solo. Here he steals the show from the previous version. He is amazing in his rendition. This version is definitely better than the duet. This song is growing on me and HOW. 

“SAAWALI SI RAAT” – Again we have Arijit singh who sings this one in a totally different unrecognizable voice. With a very haunting beginning, this one is a full fledged lullaby. Swanand’s lyrics are simple awesome. What makes the song an enthralling experience is ARIJIT SINGH. The way he sings the song in whispers is something very soothing. I mean, it is a lullaby. It is meant to be sung softly. And yet, when was the last time you heard a lullaby being sung this way in a Hindi movie? Whereas this one actually numbs your senses. Even my eyes drooped once while listening to it. (Not because it is boring, but because it actually does what a lullaby should do.)

OVERALL, this is pritam’s best work this year. In fact this ranks among his best works ever. Every song is totally un-pritam, sans any disco songs or remixes. And I definitely like this version of pritam more. Totally unconventional, delightful, highly melodious, soulful to the core – SAVOUR THIS BARFI. IT IS AS SWEET AS IT CAN GET !!!

MY RATINGS – 9.25 / 10