Fresh ditties!. Review on Queen Songs

Vikas Bahl's movie "Queen" starring kangana Renaut and Rajkumar Rao seems like a movie carved out for a niche audience, but what elicits interest in the product is the music handled by Amit Trivedi, who has made his own place in mainstream bollywood. With the backing of big names like Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane as producers, there are quite good expectations from the music of this movie. Though it is quite surprising to see 8 tracks in the album, the hope is to see that the quality matches the quantity.

Labh Janjua, Sonu Kakkar and Neha Kakkar get behind the mike to croon the first track London Thumakda, penned by Anvita Dutt. The arrangements of the song bear a strong stamp of Trivedi and the mood of the song is upbeat right through. The rustic voice of Janjua suits the song to the tee and the female singers lend him very able support to make it a bright beginning to the album. More than the tune, it is the enlivening and upbeat arrangements which stays on in one's mind after the song ends.

My Rating:3/5

Amit Trivedi sings the next track Badra Bahaar and here the tune and the arrangements are highly reminiscent of Trivedi's works in Ghanchakkar and Coke Studio. In a way, his casual and carefree rendition spoils the song here and the lack of novelty only adds to the mediocrity. Trivedi is known for innovating and it is one rare instance when he just makes a rehash of his old tunes and the end result is a middling song.

My Rating:2/5

Seeing the name of Shefali Alvares and Nikhil D Souza, one expects a dance number and that is what one gets in the next song O Gujariya. Boasting of some high bass and wacky beats, Trivedi puts on his innovative hat here and experiments with the arrangements and delivers a firecracker of a song. Play the song in a high volume and just sway with the high octane energy! As far as the singing is concerned, both the singers do complete justice and make it a groovy outing indeed. Sure shot chartbuster.

My Rating:4/5

Taake Jhanke sees the vocals of Arijit Singh and it is a song which will find instant appeal among the younger generation. Trivedi's easy going composition and  Anvita Dutt's lyrics combine to create a feel good song. Arijit's vocals are just about perfect for such a song and he shines all through. It is a song which subtly changes its layers quite often and the freshness of the tune will linger on in one's mind for quite some time.

My Rating:3.5/5

Jugni(Queen) sees the return of Amit Trivedi as a singer and one hopes for a markedly better outing than his previous attempt. Thankfully he is in much better form as a composer-singer here. He infuses a lot of freshness again and creates a multi layered tune, which is likable. He sounds especially good in the higher octaves and does justice to his well crafted tune, and in the end creates yet another good song for the album!

My rating:3.5/5

Guitar riffs begin the next track Harjaiyaan rendered by Nandini Srikar. By the time she delivers the lines Harjaiyaan, one can intuitively feel that it is yet another winner from the album. Trivedi shows his brilliance again as he creates a song which has elements of folk and soft rock and he effortlessly merges different genres to deliver a fine song. Nandini Srikar is a good find with a lovely voice texture and she handles the complex structuring of the song with adeptness.

My Rating:4/5

Mohan Kannan handles the next song Kinaare. It is a soft number with impressive lyrics by Anvita Dutt. Mohit Kannan does a very capable job, though not in the same league as Yaariyan of Cocktail. To be fair, that song had a wonderful tune and though Trivedi infuses a lot of life in the tune and keeps changing tracks midway like in the rest of the songs, this one does not quite live up to the expectations. It has a short duration too and one would have liked to see a slightly better song here.

My Rating:3/5

Ranjha is the last track and it is Rupesh Kumar Ram who is the singer and also the composer here. There is absolutely very little instrumentation and he lets the vocals express the feel of the whole song. At 2.19 minutes, it is a very short song, but does leave a good impression nonetheless. Rupesh Kumar is quite impressive in his rendition and this song ends the album on a good note.

My Rating:3/5

With as many as 8 tracks, the concern at the beginning was whether the quality can match the quantity and the answer is a resounding YES. Amit Trivedi dabbles in varied genres and though one or two songs do have a'heard before' feel, they do not take anything away from the standard of the songs. The listener seldom feels bored in the entire soundtrack and that in itself is commendable. There are various voices out there who proclaim that Trivedi is the next Rahman, but it is too early to predict anything of that sort. He sure has the talent and high potential, but he needs to bring in more variety in his stable to challenge the range and versatility of Rahman. But, he surely has brought a new sound in bollywood! Coming back to the movie, The soundtrack has enough firepower to boost the prospects of the film in its target market if promoted well. Give it a try!

Overall Rating:3.5/5