Phir Se - music review by Anish Mohanty

Phir Se

Producer: Shiv Sharma
Director: Ajay Bhuyan and Kunal Kohli
Starring: Kunal Kohli, Jennifer Winget and Sumona Chakravarthi
Music: Jeet Gannguli
Lyrics: Rashmi Virag
Singers: Nikhil DÃ¢â‚¬â„¢Souza, Shreya Ghoshal, Mohit Chauhan, Monali Thakur and Arijit Singh
Number of Songs: 6

Reviewed by: Anish Mohanty - Rating: 7.0 / 10

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Kunal Kohli is a filmmaker who is known to have ago dear for music. Apart from the films he has directed ('Mujhse Dosti Karoge', 'Hum Tum', 'Fanaa', 'Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic' and 'Teri Meri Kahaani'), the one film that he produced ('Break Ke Baad'), too, had good music. 'Phir Se', a film co-directed by him and featuring as the male lead, was supposed to release three years back but got stuck due to various reasons. One has good expectations from the music of the film as the trailer had snippets of a couple of tracks from the track which sounded really good. Jeet Gannguli has composed all the tracks and Rashmi Virag has written the lyrics.

"Phir Se", the title track which was released by T-Series as a standalone single and music video last year, features two singers with extremely contrasting voices. The difference in the vocal texture of Shreya Ghoshal and Nikhil D'Souza works very well for the song and the two of them pair up very nicely to render this mushy romantic number that sounds extremely pleasing to the ears. The saxophone piece adds a lot of value to the track. There is a remixed and a sad version as well, both of them are nicely done.

An acoustic guitar piece that arrives at 1:10 minutes in to "Rozana" is strikingly similar to the one use in 'Ladki Kyon' ('Hum Tum'). This seems to be an intentional move by Kunal Kohli and apart from evoking nostalgia, it blends in well with the mood of the song. The song has romantic undertones to it but is not as intense as the title track. The playful tune gets stuck in your head instantly and you find yourself humming it in no time. Mohit Chauhan and Tulsi Kumar do complete justice to the song as vocalists.

"Maine Socha Ke Chura Loon" is the only track one had not heard in the trailer. Arijit Singh and Shreya Ghoshal come behind the mic for this song and it comes across as a better, improvised version of Jeet Gannguli's own "Lo Maan Liya Humne" ('Raaz Reboot'). While the title track and "Rozana" did not sound like anything that Jeet had composed in Hindi films so far, this track has Jeet's stamp all over it. Though it sounds similar to the aforementioned track and a few other numbers composed by him, it manages to impress.

The opening bars of "Yeh Dil Jo Hai Badmaash Hai" remind one of the kind of vibes such songs composed by Jatin-Lalit, whom Kunal had worked with on two films. As you continue listening to the track, you realise there are few more similarities to the way Jatin-Lalit approached their songs. It has a fun and lively vibe similar to that of "Rozana" but the tune is distinctively different from that one. Mohit Chauhan and Shreya Ghoshal are repeated while Monali Thakur joins in to sing for Sumona Chakravarthi.

For the umpteenth time, Kunal Kohli proves that he has an impeccable sense of good music. Each and every track in the album leaves an impression with its high melodic content. Jeet Gannguli has been doing well in the Hindi film industry and has been delivering hits in last five years since he made his comeback but he has got very few opportunities to compose solo albums. He gets an opportunity here and he makes the most of it. This is clearly his best Hindi film album till date.