‘The Girl On The Train’, a film headlined by Parineeti Chopra, is an official remake of the American film of the same name which had released in 2016. The original film was an adaptation of the book ‘The Girl On The Train’ authored by Paula Hawkins. Given the genre (psychological thriller) and the overall treatment of the film, one expects the album to have a few songs which would play out in the form of montages in the film and help in propelling the story forward. The album has three original songs and an alternate version of one of the tracks. Sunny-Inder and Vipin Patwa are the composers and Kumaar has worded all the songs.
When a grief-stricken woman walks into a high-end pub in London with the hope of getting over her pain momentarily with alcohol, you expect trance/EDM music playing in the background. While Sunny-Inder do package “Chhal Gaya Chhalla” as a club song, they also give it an Indian touch by incorporating the sound of dholak in the background. The sound of the Indian percussion instrument blends in well with the electronically produced sounds in the track. Sunny-Inder and Kumaar deserve brownie points for ensuring that the emotions that Mira Kapoor (the character played by Parineeti Chopra in the film) come to the fore prominently with the song. Sukhwinder Singh does a very good job behind the mic as always.
Just like “Chhal Gaya Chhalla”, “Matlabi Yaariyan” offers a glimpse into the extreme emotions Mira Kapoor is going through at a certain juncture in the narrative. This Vipin Patwa composed number is easy on the ears and has a sing-along quality to it. At the same time, it reminds one of many of the songs one has heard in this space in the last 7-8 years. The tune does not offer much of a novelty and the arrangements are functional. Kumaar, who wrote some memorable lines for the first track on the album, comes up with oft-repeated lines for this one. It is rare to see Neha Kakkar lending her voice to sombre numbers. She gives a good account of herself here. Parineeti Chopra sings the unplugged version in a lower pitch and does a very good job of bringing out the emotions in the song. When compared to the original, the unplugged version fares better because of Parineeti’s rendition and the arrangements.
“Nahi Mera Ranjha” is a complete departure from the kind of sombre and intense sound that runs throughout the rest of the soundtrack. A celebration song, “Nahi Mera Ranjha” has a well-composed tune by Sunny-Inder that has also been orchestrated well. Kumaar writes well, though the style in which the song is written is largely reminiscent of the way he writes such songs. “Tu meri rani main tera king oye laike main aaya japani ring oye…” you hear these lines and without checking the credits, you know it is Kumaar who has penned them. Jonita Gandhi and Navraj Hans’ spirited rendition helps the song considerably.
For a film that offers little space for music, the songs on the ‘The Girl On The Train’ album are largely satisfactory. After giving a good account of themselves in films like ‘Rocky Handsome’ and ‘Madaari’, they show a lot of promise and range in this album too. Vipin Patwa’s “Matlabi Yaariyan” is tuneful enough and the unplugged version