Dhurandhar music review: Few movies get such a big countdown to release day, with all the pomp and circumstance, as Aditya Dhar’s directorial Dhurandhar has received. Ever since the first look was revealed, which had Ranveer Singh smoking like Thomas Shelby of Birmingham, Dhurandhar is all anyone has talked about. The first look also gave the fans a chance to eavesdrop on the music for the film, as it featured the title track. Furthermore, everyone was beyond excited that composer Shashwat Sachdev had revisited the classic qawwali ‘Yeh Ishq Ishq Hai’ from the film Barsaat Ki Raat (1960). But once you listen to the whole soundtrack, nostalgia starts feeling more like the easy way out rather than innovation.
Bollywood composers are nefariously known for picking up entire tracks and their compositions for their own songs, as inspiration, of course. But some composers have proved that it can be done with some kind of subtlety and grace, like Shantanu Moitra displayed with the song ‘Kaisi Paheli Zindagani’ from Parineeta. The track was sampled from Louis Armstrong’s ‘A Kiss to Build A Dream On’, but Moitra’s version had its own identity. That is exactly what the title track for Dhurandhar sounds like. Based on the legendary song ‘Na De Dil Pardesi Nu’, which was performed by Muhammad Sadiq and Ranjit Kaur.
Sachdev approaches the track with humility and respect. He has used the original track as sort of a foundation, upon which he has built a song belonging to a completely different genre. Hip-hop and old Hindi/Punjabi instrumentals, anyway, have a long history, so much so that rappers like MF DOOM have had entire tracks on their albums just filled with Indian samples. Equipped with Hanumankind and Jasmine Sandlas, the title track is entertaining, effective and will be presumably successful in its most important pursuit, convincing people to get out in this lovely weather (coughs) to go and watch the film.
From there we move on to the second track, ‘Ishq Jalakar-Karvaan’, which we have briefly mentioned at the beginning of this conversation. The foundational track, ‘Yeh Ishq Ishq Hai’, was originally a qawwali by the name of ‘Na Toh Butkade Ki Talab Mujhe’, which literally means that the writer doesn’t feel the need to go to any mosque or temple, basically the house of god. Composer Roshan tweaked the original composition and came up with the famous by-product. The new name given to the song for Dhurandhar is based on the most recognisable line from the original, which said, “Na toh karvaan ki talaash hai, na toh humsafar ki talash hai. (I’m not looking for a group of people or a partner.)”
Shashwat truly surprises you when ‘Ishq Jalakar’ starts. A very 1960s soul-funk-style bass guitar starts playing in the background, as the rest of the instruments rush into their places to keep up. Irshad Kamil has added to the already beautiful and complete lyrics written by Sahir Ludhianvi. The tone of the percussion changes midway into the song, and it works. Sachdev chooses to switch the drums from a basic rock and roll groove into a slightly more ‘somebody is chasing me, but I need to look stunning while running for my life’ kind of a beat, you know, one of those.
‘Gehra Hua’ is the third track in the EP, and Sachdev hasn’t tried to go off the rails on this one. It’s probably because he realised that if he delivers a half-decent backing track to Arijit Singh, he will elevate it beyond its potential. That is exactly what has happened, as Sachdev kept it simple with strings and synthesiser doing all the heavy lifting. However, the one point of contention which I have with the song is that, like so many songs of this day and age, it sounds too much like an audio export from a digital audio workspace. I am sure the previous two tracks were also created using a computer, but they sounded a bit more alive. ‘Gehra Hua’ sounds like a file on your desktop, an impressive file, but a file nonetheless.
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Sachdev has another attempt at using nostalgia as his weapon, when uses the track ‘Piya Tu Ab Toh Aja’ from the film Caravan (1971). Originally performed by R D Burman and Asha Bhosle, the track is more famous for Burman’s adlibs, where he shouts, “Monica, oh my darling.” Using those adlibs and Asha ji’s voice, Sachdev falls back into the same pattern as he did with Ba***ds of Bollywood. ‘Run Down The City-Monica’ is another trap song, which relies too heavily on the quality of the original track and leaches onto it like a toxic symbiotic relationship. The song has every chance of working well during a high-octane action scene or the scene where the protagonist discovers the villain’s secret underground club. But for now, it’s a song which could have done so much more with what it had.
We then land on ‘Shararat’, which makes you feel like Jasmine Sandlas should sing more soulful and classically rooted songs, until it turns into another club song. Punjabi lyrics paired with bearable electronic music make for a track that really doesn’t give you much to talk about. The last song of the soundtrack is ‘Ez Ez’, performed by Diljit Dosanjh and Hanumankind. As a fan of both artists, I was extremely excited to see their names together on a song; what followed, however, was a song which doesn’t really make an impact on you.
For an action sequence, this weird love child of Karan Aujla’s ‘Take it Easy’ and what sounds like bagpipes will work wonders. Diljit builds up to the chorus with the proper pace, and the moment he switches gears into a higher note, you know that this song will outlast most of its friends. Hanumankind is a professional with his flow and cadence, but the two artists don’t deliver the kind of performance you would expect from the first song together. The positives are that the track is a proper war cry (probably from Braveheart) and will do quite well for the moments building up to a big fight in the film.
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So taking into consideration Sachdev’s apparent dream of headlining the Sunburn festival and his immaculate taste in Punjabi and Sufi music, Dhurandhar’s music works, but it’s right on the edge. More original songs with some more variety in genres offered would have helped this soundtrack. It’s a pretty short project, and I am sure that a few more songs could have been managed for the longest Hindi movie of the past 17 years. The music is the right partner for Ranveer Singh; it’s just that Ranveer is an undercover field agent, and the music is a hard-working desk agent – both important, but one’s afraid of taking risks.
