Music Review: Shor In The City

EXPECTATIONS To begin with, one didn’t expect Shor In The City to really boast of a soundtrack for itself. Since the film isn’t one of those quintessential Bollywood flicks and promises a zany treatment for itself, conventional music perhaps didn’t quite fit into the mood of this Tusshar Kapoor starrer. However the makers have surprised by releasing an album comprising of four original songs (with some bonus tracks added as well). Not just that, the composers gracing the album credits are Sachin-Jigar who just delivered a chartbuster album in F.A.L.T.U. With Sameer as the lyricist, you do want to check out what is in the offering here.

MUSIC The album begins with ‘Saibo’ which is pretty much the flagship number of Shor In The City as it is the one which is being promoted full throttle across all music channels. Well, it deserves such treatment as well due to its melodic feel that really does hooks on the listener in the first listening itself. Shreya Ghoshal and Tochi Raina come together to create a good enough romantic mood by singing it in varied pitch that adds surprises to the flow of the track. Set in a style similar to that of Sachin-Jigar’s own ‘Leja Leja’ from their debut film Tere Sang, ‘Saibo’ is a winner and adds further weight to the album with its ‘remix’. Next to come is the kind of number that you were expecting in Shor In The City in the very first place. Interestingly titled ‘Karma Is A Bitch’, the song is fast pitched, racy, urban, contemporary, naughty as well as it carries a lot of attitude that makes it stand apart from the crowd. With an interesting set of singers behind the mike – Suraj Jagan, Priya Panchal and Swati Mukund – the song can be expected to play at numerous junctures right through the film’s narrative. Though it is not a conventional track that one is used to listening in Bollywood, it’s unique sound does make for a good hear. Agnee goes solo with the title track ‘Shor’ and lends a semi-classical beginning to it which soon takes a fusion format with Western instruments coming on the scene as well. Boasting of the kind of sound that has been quite popular amongst Pakistani bands, ‘Shor’ is yet another situational track that may just about appear in the film’s background score. The song has it’s moments for sure but isn’t the kind that goes and finds a place in the charts. Complimenting the noisy feel of the city and a fast paced life, ‘Deem Deem’ too moves ahead at a frantic pace and turns out to be a song that stays on to be a fusion mix number right through it’s near three minutes duration. A track by guest composer Harpreet and singer Shriram Ayyar, its shelf life is restricted to the film’s running length and that’s about it. To conclude the album, there are three bonus non-film songs – Roop Kumar Rathod’s ‘Teri Justajoo’, Agnee’s ‘Ujale Baaz’ and Kailash Kher’s ‘Bam Lahiri’ – added as well.

OVERALL After listening to the album, one can sense that the soundtrack here isn’t the kind that has been put together for an out and out commercial appeal. With as many as three tracks being strictly for the background score to compliment the situations in the film, the only track that has a far wider mass reach is ‘Saibo’. In that sense it scores as well and hence helps find some visibility for the album on the stands. OUR PICK(S) Saibo, Karma Is A Bitch