Director Shree Narayan Singh’s last film ‘Toilet Ek Prem Katha’ had fairly good music. This time around, he joins hands with T-Series and thus, one has good expectations from the music of ‘Batti Gul Meter Chalu’. While two songs have been composed by Sachet-Parampara, who also did a couple of songs for ‘Toilet Ek Prem Katha’, Anu Malik and Rochak Kohli have composed a track each. Siddharth-Garima, the writers of the film, have written all but one (“Dekhte Dekhte”) song.
The album opens with veteran Anu Malik’s “Gold Tamba”. One saw glimpses of the track in the trailer and it was also the first song to be launched from the film. The song has an unmistakable 90s stamp over it and perhaps, that is the reason why Anu Malik was roped in to compose this one. The song is peppy and fun to listen. Some of the lines written by Siddharth-Garima (“when you getting shorts, why go for lehenga”) sound quite amateurish though. Nakash Aziz does a very good job with the vocals. Interestingly, he sounds like yesteryear singer Anwar in parts.
Rochak Kohli does a splendid job at recreating Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s immortal qawalli “Dekhte Dekhte” for the film. Though the original was an out-and-out qawalli, the qawalli bit comes across prominently only intermittently (“who hawa ho gaye…”) in this new version. Rochak gives a nice filmy touch to the song and makes it very accessible for those who may not be very fond of listening to qawallis. There are two versions of the song – one sung by Atif Aslam and the other rendered by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. Both the tracks make for a great hear.
“Hard Hard”, Sachet-Parampara’s first contribution to the album is a dance number which has the lead pair Shahid Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor light up the dance floor with their moves. Mika Singh and Praakriti Kakar bring in a lot of energy to this engaging number with their spirited voices. The lyrics (Siddharth-Garima) are far from being memorable but the tune holds the song pretty well and you do not mind giving it few hearings at one go.
After a dance number, Sachet-Parampara present a devotional track in the form of “Har Har Gange”. The three minute long track is simple and soothing and benefits hugely from Arijit Singh’s serene rendition. The arrangements are very nice too; you get to hear bells and percussions which manage to create just the right sonic ambience for a devotional song. The track arrives at a very crucial juncture in the film and should manage to arouse emotions among the viewers when they hear it along with the visuals.
‘Batti Gul Meter Chalu’ is a good album which does not offer a single dull moment. The five-track soundtrack is consistently entertaining and there is some good variety which Anu Malik, Rochak Kohli and Sachet-Parampara bring to the fore here.