No one killed Jessica

Director: Rajkumar Gupta
Producer: UTV (Ronnie Screwvala)
Music: Amit Trivedi
Lyrics: Amitabh Bhattacharya
Starring:  Rani Mukherjee and Vidya Balan
Music on: SaReGaMa - HMV


No one killed Jessica is based on the murder of Jessica Lal in a New Delhi restaurant in 1999 by the son of a Haryana politician and  was recently released worldwide.  The music of the film is by Amit Trivedi who has been responsible for the scores of Dev D and Udaan both musically of high quality and very well received.  It is of special significance to our Lokvani readers that one of the singers Shriram Iyer is the brother of one of New England's most talented Carnatic musicians, Geetha Murali.  Shriram Iyer who shot to fame with his music for Iqbal is an extremely talented musician and lead vocalist of the Om the fusion band - of which Amit Trivedi is also part of.  Amit who debuted with the music for Aamir also composed the music for Dev D, Striker (one number), Aishaa and Udaan and has swept a number of awards (Filmfare and National) for his music scores.  

Dilli - a fast paced flamboyant song that is a testament to the attachment and fondness one has for Dilli.  Sung with verve and dynamism by Tochi Raina, Shriram Iyer & Aditi Singh Sharma is a fusion of western and Indian - the tune is very Indian especially in the alaaps and some of the orchestral interludes -  there is some good guitar work giving it the Indi-rock feel.   The song serves as an intro to the film.

Aali Re - starts off with Indian style scatting - like a kabadi game. The song is fast paced and has lyrics to describe the character of Rani Mukherjee in the film - haughty, arrogant, hard-hitting, strident and obnoxious  - Sung by a host of singers including Aditi Singh Sharma, Shriram Iyer amongst others, the song has the organ and drums dominating throughout.  The lyrics are mostly naughtily humorous and also mildly offensive having some cuss words here and there.

Aitbaar is sung by Vishal Dadlani, Robert Ormula and Mame Khan with lyrics that deal with breach of trust and inner realization - it is again a fusion of Indian (vocal arrangements) and Western (the orchestral score).  Drums and electric guitar dominate in this song.

Ye pal sung by Shilpa Rao (who sang Khuda Jaane from Bachna Ae Haseeno and Mudi Mudi from Paa) in her clear and rich voice brings to mind the music of Guzaarish - Aditi traverses the lows and highs effortlessly and puts in the right amount of passion and the end result is a very pleasant number that is based on raag Yaman- essentially Indian with a very rich string section that leads the song into an instrumental portion which then morphs into heavily western beats and sounds - the blend and transition being smooth and very well done.

Dua - the tinkling piano intro brings to mind Paul Mauriat and Paul Anka - soft rock genre - the female singer (Meenal Jain) is very good - the song is not extraordinary but still worth listening to more than once and grows on the listener after a couple of listens. Meenal is joined by Joi Barua, Raman & Amitabh Bhattacharya.

An album that is both creative and interesting and vibrant - well suited to the situation and theme of the film - but may not have a lasting impact on the listeners because most songs are composed to suit the narrative and are mostly situational.  Whether this album will follow in Udaan's and Dev D's footsteps in terms of popularity and awards remains to be seen.

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