Shanghai

Music director: Vishal-Shekhar

Director: Dibakar Banerjee
Producer: Ajay Bijli

Lyrics: Dibakar Banerjee, Vishal Dadlani, Anvita Dutt Guptan, Neelesh Misra, Kumaar
Singers: Shekhar Ravijani, Vishal Dadlani, Arun Ingle, Mandar Apte, Dibakar, Bhupesh, R.N. Iyer, Raja Hassan, Kirti Sagathia, Richa Sharma, Nandini Srikar

Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Abhay Deol, Farooq Sheikh, Kalki Koechlin, Pitobash Tripathy, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Supriya Pathak, Anant Jog

Shanghai is director Dibakar Banerjee’s latest political thriller scheduled to hit theatres June 8th.  His earlier films Khosla Ka Ghosla and Oye Lucky Lucky Oye have been huge successes winning National awards and had pretty sharp and catchy music and background scores!  Vishal-Shekar, riding on the wave of success of Kahani have composed the music for the film and also lent their vocals to some of the songs –both are equally talented vocalists as well as composers!

Duaa – my pick of the album – sung by Nandini Srikar and Arijit Singh and Shekhar – is an utterly gorgeous song that just captivates and enthralls.  Nandini’s amazing vocals are a sheer cascade of auditory delight which simply drench the listener with pleasure!  Her nuances especially at the song’s conclusion are nothing short of startlingly beautiful! Both singers are perfectly in complement and deliver with such ease and finesse this superb song bordering on semi-classical and soft rock!

Khudaaya by Shekhar and Raja Hasan–an emotional and high-strung song seems to be one that may run with the storyline rather than be a listener’s delight - it is well sung, written and orchestrated.

Vishnu Sahasranamam Mantra is soothing and Srivatsa Krishna’s chanting is crisp and clear – it is a repetition of a few popular Vishnu shlokas including the most popular from the Bhagavad-Gita - Parithranay sadhunaam….given the political theme of the film, I am guessing this chant would be like a leitmotif in the film, pressing home the belief that be it any yuga, there is a always a force that will emerge to vanquish evil.

Imported Kamaraiya sung by the very talented Richa Sharma is sarcastic and honest and could be the item number of the film. It is peppy, catchy and amusingly raunchy in tone, lyrics and picturisation!

Morcha is meant to motivate and once again may be a song that listeners might not cotton on to but just accept as part of the film’s plot and narration.  It is written and sung by Vishal, accompanied by Raja Hasan.  The tune is average and very stereotypical of movie ‘inspirational’ numbers!

Bharat Mata ki jai sung by Vishal and Keerthi Sagathia is a tongue in cheek allusion to the pathetic state of the country and caricatures the politicians, their empty promises and corruption! A contingent of voices joins in this number to deliver a punchy and off beat street-dance type of number which might turn out be a hit.

An off-beat album for an off-beat movie.  I would buy it just to hear Nandini Srikar’s rendition of Duaa!!

Sudha (Lakshmi) Rao is a home-maker and singer – free lances (with live and track based accompaniment) and is part of the music groups Saptaswar, a New England based group and Friends’ Orchestra in Chennai.  She is an overseas advisory member of TANKER FOUNDATION (www.tankerfoundation.org) which helps the poor and needy with kidney ailments.  Sudha’s music website:  www.youtube.com/user/sudsless

Sudha is honoured to share the stage with some very talented local singers at a concert Melodies and Memories, a geetmala of the best Hindi songs from 1950 to 1975.  (http://www.lokvani.com/lokvani/cal.php?stage=1&event_id=9211)

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