MUSIC REVIEW : VAYUPUTRAS

I am a big fan of both of Amish Tripathi’s novels. And as the day nears when he will unveil the concluding part of his trilogy, my excitement is only growing. And at such a time, the makers come up with an ingenious idea of releasing a soundtrack for the Shiva trilogy. One look at the cd cover and you know that there are big names attached to the songs. So I wait with bated breath and play the songs. Here’s my music review.

The “SHIVA TRILOGY THEME NEELKANTH” as the name suggests is a four minute musical piece. The piece starts with an excellent flute rendition followed by a beautiful tune continued on the flute. Very haunting and rousing, this piece is the perfect beginning to the album. Taufiq Qureshi sets the atmosphere right from the first track. A piece which will be loved by those who love background music.

“SHE ENTERS HIS LIFE” starts off with a brilliant Sanskrit shlok rendition. Those who have read the books will know that this song depicts the first meeting between Shiva and Sati. And the song is perfect for the situation. Romantic in places and haunting in places, this is a perfect mix of devotion and romance. The sounds of swords only further enhances our memory of how Shiva met Sati for the first time. Beautiful tabla adorns Durgesh Khot and Aditya Jain’s singing. All in all, a lovely track.

“NATARAJ – LORD OF DANCE” is the best track of the album undoubtedly. Saying anything about this song would be unjust. Just plug in your headphones and get ready to be mesmerized by Bikram Ghosh’s ultimate creation as he fuses pakhawaj, tabla (gorgeous) and sitar brilliantly accompanied by his own rendition of Sanskrit shloks and some tabla pieces. Superlative stuff this.

“HAR HAR MAHADEV” is a narration rather than a song. And this time Amish Tripathi himself steps into the studio as we hear a flawless rendition of Shiva’s pre war address in Amish’s voice. Amish’s voice sounds nice and he emotes well. His diction is perfect. Somehow I would have liked it more if he would have said the entire address in Hindi. Maybe the impact would have been more. Nothing like our mother tongue! However I can understand that wasn’t possible since the novel was primarily in English.

“BHADRA BAM BOLE” is another theme song and this works too. With superb vocals by Arijit Datta (of AIRPORT fame) and Prasant A Samadhar, this song is beautiful and mesmerizing. With duration of three and a half minutes, it is a good listen, mainly due to the lead singers’ rendition.

“JAWAAB DO PRABHU” is a bhajan and a good one this. It has the typical tabla beat heard in most bhajans. Along with this, there is the brilliant use of the flute (played in two different scales) and the tabla. As for the singing, Jataveda and Aghor do a fine job though the vocals could have been slightly better. And yet the track is a lovely one. For all those who love bhajans, this one will be loved by them.

“KASHI TO PANCHVATI” is another instrumental track and the best one of all three. Again we are treated to a delicious mix of piano, violin, flute, tabla and sitar. However this one has a more modern feel to it, more like a trance song but with slightly heavier beats. With a running time of six minutes, this one totally holds your attention for all six minutes.

“SHIVA SANWARE” is my other favorite song from the album. Sung by Paroma Dasgupta and composed by Raghav Sachar, this one is HEAVENLY. As it is Raghav’s song, you know that the instrumentation in the song will be fabulous. And that is exactly what we experience. The tabla is amazing. And most importantly, the gorgeous tune and Paroma Dasgupta’s outstanding singing make this track a superb one. This one is going to be heard by me many many times. High repeat value.

“BADRI RE PRABHU RAM” features India’s premiere electronica musician TaTva Kundalini (Aditya Anand) and Dr Palaash Sen. Right from the start of the song, there is a typical feeling that this song sounds like one from the band “Euphoria”. And surely we have the band’s lead singer Dr Palaash Sen lending his vocals for this one. As a song, this is less of devotional and more of innovation. But the USP of the song is Palaash’s singing. The singer sings in diverse scales going low and extremely high and manages it quite comfortably. Not the best song of the album, but a fairly decent one.

“JO VAYUPUTRA HO” is the title song of the album. With a promotional video released for this song, this is the most energetic song of the album. Composed by Taufiq Qureshi and sung by the ever reliable Sonu Nigam, this devotional rock song is one of its kind and a good one. If there’s any song in the album which will go well with the masses, it is this. So it’s a good thing they are promoting this song with a video. Click HERE to watch the video.

“OM NAMAH SHIVAIY” is basically a chant of the same three words sung by Pandit Rajan Sajan Mishra. For a devotional album, this song is an apt way to end the album.

OVERALL, the soundtrack of the Shiva trilogy is definitely a brilliant one. There is a lot of variety in the 11 songs and each song will find its own audience. Being a devotional album, it will have a limited audience, but Amish Tripathi’s massive fan following plus the release of his concluding book next week should ensure a huge market for the album.

With some big names attached to it, “THE VAYUPUTRAS” is a superb soundtrack. For those who love albums of this genre, this album is an audio treat. And for those who are ardent lovers of the Shiva trilogy, this album will be loved by them.

MY RATINGS – 8.5 / 10

P.S – I still am a bit confused about the composer of this album. Both the Times music site as well as gaana site mention many names in the artists section, but it is not totally clear as to which song has been composed by whom. Do write in the comments section if anyone gets the entire detailed list.