‘Kaalidhar Laapata’, featuring Abhishek A Bachchan and Daivik Baghela in the lead roles, is an official remake of the 2019 Tamil comedy drama ‘KD Engira Karuppudurai’ or ‘KD’. The film traces the journey of a middle-aged man who has been abandoned by his family and finds purpose in life through his connection with an eight-year-old child. Madhumita, who had helmed the original film, also directs this one.
While the film is an adaptation of the Tamil film, several changes have been made. The protagonist here, for instance, is a 45-year-old man. The original film featured Mu Ramaswamy playing an 80-year-old man. Just like the original film, ‘Kaalidhar Laapata’ has three original tracks. While Karthikeya Murthy had written and composed all the songs for ‘KD’, the three-song album for ‘Kaalidhar Laapata’ has been put together by composer Amit Trivedi and lyricist Geet Sagar. In the past, Trivedi and Sagar have collaborated on several non-film songs including ‘Puttha Paasa’, ‘Maahroo’, ‘Vallo Vallo’, ‘Jumme Raat’ and ‘Bairi Birhaa’.
“Dil Banjaara”, the opening track on the album, can be described as a song of exploration. Just when Kaalidhar (Abhishek A Bachchan) starts feeling his life is of no worth, Ballu (Daivik Baghela) offers him the encouragement to tick off his bucket list and live his life the way he wishes to. “Honthon par muskaane hain bhoole-bisre gaane hain, Har lamhe ka tevar hai naya, aise hi bas rehna hai saath mein tere behna hai, jaise behte baadal aur hawa”, the lines written by Geet Sagar offer one a glimpse into the kind of adventures Kaalidhar and Ballu go on. While the tune has a heard-before feel to it and reminds one of several songs composed by Amit Trivedi in the past, it still manages to hold your attention. Raghav Chaitanya, the lead vocalist here, sounds so much like Amit that you are tempted to check the credits.
There is a philosophical bent in “Hans Ke Jaane De”, the second song on the album. Through nicely etched out lines like “Hai tujhe jo bhi mila wo safar ka tha, jise kho ke tu roye tha wo kab tera, jaane de”, Geet Sagar talks about the importance of letting go. Amit composes a tune that manages to evoke emotions. Chirag Kotwal does very well as the lead vocalist. Amit is also credited as a vocalist here. One, however, finds him singing only the hook line “hans ke jaane de”. One appreciates the fact that the “hans” is written as “hans” and not “hass”.
Jubin Nautiyal, Shahid Mallya and Deepali Sathe come together to sing “Haseen Pareshaniyaan”. Deepti sings the opening lines with a lot of tenderness and sets the tone for the song. “Haseen Pareshaniyaan” arrives at a juncture in the film when Kaalidhar meets the lady he has been in love with after several years. Amit composes a free-flowing tune that gets registered in your mind in no time. Geet, on his part, writes the kind of lines that bring to the fore the emotions the two characters are going through.
Amit Trivedi and Geet Sagar put together a good album for ‘Kaalidhar Laapata’. While the songs stay true to the theme and situations in the film, they are also hummable and work well as standalone audio properties.