All the films directed by Abhishek Kapoor, right from ‘Aryan – Unbreakable’ to ‘Fitoor’ have carried very good music. He collaborated with Anand Raaj Anand (‘Aryan – Unbreakable’) and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy (‘Rock On!!’) on one film each but he seem to have struck a good rapport with Amit Trivedi as ‘Kedarnath’ is their third collaboration together after ‘Kai Po Che!!’ and ‘Fitoor’. As the film is a romantic drama at the core of it, one expects a wholesome album in the offering.
The album opens with “Namo Namo”, a track which has a devotional touch to it and talks about the glory of Lord Shiva. The song is very soothing and is the kind you would like to listen to on a loop early in the morning. Amitabh Bhattacharya’s lyrics are terrific, to say the least. There is a certain sense of familiarity in the song which comes in, presumably, due to Amit’s voice. Amit does a fairly good job as a vocalist but he gets the pronunciations of a few words wrong. He pronounces ‘dwand’ as dwandhh’ and ‘jataoon’ as ‘jhhataon’.
The film is set in the hills and “Qaafirana” brings in a sense of the atmospheric sound one associates with mountains. Santoor is heard sporadically in the song and that adds to the serene charm of the song. Arijit Singh does a good job behind the mic as always. Nikita Gandhi makes a late entry but her voice and the way the parts she has sung have been composed add a distinctive texture to the track. Two winners in a row!
A celebration number arrives in the form of “Sweetheart”. For some reason, the track sounded similar to the far more boisterous “Butterfly” (‘Jab Harry Met Sejal”). Incidentally, Dev Negi is the man behind both the songs. Keeping comparisons aside, Sweetheart” is a thoroughly enjoyable track that gains considerably from Dev’s spirited rendition and Amitabh Bhattacharya’s fantastic wordplay. After two songs that have a slow pace to them, this one brings a different dimension to the album. The song also has a nice old world charm to it which makes it sound all the more interesting.
“Jaan ‘Nisaar” is in the same mould as “Qaafirana” but it has a much more sombre feel to it. The song, perhaps, makes an appearance in the film when the lead pair is going through a tough time in their relationship owing to parental opposition and other reasons. The song might take some time to grow upon you because of the languid pace at which it moves forward. There are two versions of the song. Though Asees Kaur gives a good account of herself in the version she sings, the male version sung by Arijit makes a more lasting impression.
Abhishek Kapoor continues to demonstrate the fact that he has a good ear for music. Though not every song in the album is of chartbuster variety, quality-wise there is not much to complain about here.