"Yaaram" - Ek Thi Daayan

The first song from "Ek Thi Daayan": I found the English lyrics a little off-putting, but perhaps it'll take time to get used to. Also got a "O Mamma" ("Saat Khoon Maaf") vibe from the song - Vishal has had a few songs featuring a person on a guitar.

Matru... music is out (at least online)

One place to listen to it is here at Gaana.com.

Reactions? Leave them in the comments box.

"Matru..." tracklist

The track list according to Flipkart:

1. Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola - Sukhwinder Singh, Ranjit Barot
2. Khamakha - Vishal Bhardwaj, Prem Dehati
3. Oye Boy Charlie - Rekha Bhardwaj, Shankar Mahadevan, Mohit Chauhan
4. Lootnewale - Sukhwinder Singh, Master Saleem
5. Shara-Rara-Ra - Prem Dehati
6. Badal Uthiya - Rekha Bhardwaj
7. Chaar Dina Ki - Pankaj Kapur, Imran Khan and Prem Dehati
8. Chor Police - Pankaj Kapur
9. Nomvula - African Umoja
10. Badal Uthiya Reprise - Prem Dehati
11. Lootnewale Reprise - Sukhwinder Singh

"Oye Boy Charlie", Kartik Vijay, and the Emil Kusturica connection

"Matru ki Bijli ka Mandola" is being described as a absurdist mad-cap movie, and the next song trailer, "Oye Boy Charlie", to be released fits in with that description:

Notes:
1. A couple of in-jokes: "Charlie" and "Dolly"
2. Shankar Mahadevan sings for Vishal for the first time (another example of a music composer singing for Vishal)
3. The brass band named "Kusturi-ca Brass Band", referring to the Serbian director Emil Kusturica (who is also known for his zany comedies and his brass bands, which has inspired songs such as "Emosional Atyachar")
4. The song's mukhDaa has a resemblance to the Mukesh song "Tauba Yeh Matwaali Chaal" from "Patthar Ke Sanam"?

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The Kusturica connection is also hinted at in this Mint interview with the film's cinematographer, Kartik Vijay, who also says: "The story is about a capitalist who turns into a socialist when he starts to drink"

National Awards for Vishal and Rekha Bhardwaj and others (Ishqiya)

The 58th National Film Awards (for 2010) were announced today.

Vishal Bhardwaj won his 2nd National Award for Best Music Direction (Songs) for "Ishqiya". His citation reads: "for blending rustic flavour with the Indian classical tradition. Earlier, Vishal had won this award for "Godmother" in 1999.

"Ishqiya" also won Rekha Bhardwaj her first Best Playback Singer - Female prize, the citation reading "for a sensual and evocative rendering of a heart longing for the beloved." (probably for "Ab Mujhe"). Two "Best Audiography" awards went to the film, to Kaamod Kharade (Location Sound Recordist ) and Debajit Changmai (Re-recordist of the final mixed track).

Unfortunately, Gulzar did not win his third award for Best Lyricist, losing out to Vairamuthu (who now has the most Best Lyricist awards at six). Incidentally, Suresh Wadkar, a long-time associate, won Best Male Playback Singer (for "Mee Sindhutai Sapkal")

(Readers will note that "Ishqiya" was a Vishal production. Previous National Awards won by Vishal and people associated with his films are listed here.)

Vishal's non-film music album in the offing

According to the report in HT, Vishal Bhardwaj is working on a non-film Sufi album.

“We will be ready with it in about a year-and-a-half. It’s still in the planning stage,” Vishal says.

Also, per the update, 2 States, possibly won't be the film that Vishal directs next.

Barse Barse

"Barse Barse" sees Vishal collaborating not only with Gulzar, but also with Suresh Wadkar, whose association with Vishal has been fruitful but somewhat unheralded. (I have been mulling over a post on this topic for a while.) This is a non-film album (we don't seem to have a proper term for anything outside of a Bollywood soundtrack!). Karthik reviews it here.

Abhishek Chaubey: "Inside the Mind of Vishal Bhardwaj" (OPEN Magazine)

Abhishek Chaubey knows a thing or two about what makes Vishal tick, having assisted him and having directed a film under his production. OPEN magazine has an interview with Chaubey on his mentor.

(Link courtesy Ajay Bhat)

The music of "7 Khoon Maaf": track and credit listing

Posting on behalf of George

1. darling*: usha uthup/rekha bhardwaj
2. bekaraan: vishal bhardwaj (violins: ganesh-kumaresh) (a nice flourish that, if i may add)
3. o mama: kk (rap: clinton cerejo) [vishal does a PAANCH for himself :)]
4. awaara: master saleem (sitar: niladri kumar) [saleem does rahat]
5. tere liye: suresh wadkar (mohan veena: pandit vishwa mohan bhatt) [lucky charm wadkar?]
6. dil dil hai: suraj jagan
7. yeshu: rekha bhardwaj
8. doosri darling*: usha uthup, rekha bhardwaj, clinton cerejo, francois castellino
9. o mama (acoustic): kk

*original russian folk song 'kalinka' composed by ivan larionov (1860); additional russian lyrics: aditi singh sharma

7 Khoon Maaf - the trailer

Earlier today, "VBFan" told us about the official poster of "7 Khoon Maaf" and soon after, Punit Jha posted the link to the first trailer on the Gulzarfans Y! Group. On first viewing, this one is as good as Kaminey's trailer (impressive that Indian film-makers too can cut such trailers):



Striking notes:

* Can't figure out the main voice in the song, but there's Usha Uthup in the mix (she's also acting in the film)

* A cross-dressing John Abraham!

* Nice to see Annu Kapoor in a film after a long hiatus

* Great European lilt to the tune

* Oh, and looks like the official title is "7 Khoon Maaf".

Enjoy.

(Poster from Bollywood Hungama)

Update (25 Dec): Fight Club finds the base folk Russian song on which "Darrrling" is based (a Russian song called Kalinka).

Kaam Ka Plot: a made for TV flick with a bit of Vishal

Vishal's friend and Mid-day film critic Minty Tejpal wrote and directed "Kaam Ka Plot" a tepid thriller featuring Ranvir Shorey, Sandhya Mridul, and Vinay Pathak, which appeared on TV a couple of weeks ago. Promoted as having music by Vishal, it had one song, which, truth to be told, was largely uninspired and unnecessary. Lyrics by Munna Dhiman and sung by Vishal himself.

Saath Khoon Maaf's music: Suresh Wadkar

Given the film's January release date, the music of Vishal's next release "Saath Khoon Maaf" should hopefully be in the pipeline. Veteran singer Suresh Wadkar was interviewed for the Marathi TV channel "IBN Lokmat" during the Ganesh festival, where he spoke about how Vishal has probably experimented the most with Wadkar's voice. He also mentioned that he's sung a song for 7KM (if I can take the liberty), which came out well.

Wadkar's last Vishal appearance was in Kaminey where he lights up "Raat ke Dhaai Baje".

Vishal for Meghna Gulzar's movie

Mid-Day reports that Vishal will be doing the music for Meghna Gulzar's next film, an adaptation of the play "Double Act" by Barry Crayton . More here.

Chandan Arora's "Striker" - music

"Striker", a film directed by Chandan Arora and starring Siddharth (probably the first Hindi film to feature carrom as its central theme?), recently released its music album. Among the many music directors to write songs for the album is Vishal.

The song is called Yun Hua, is penned by Gulzar, and is sung by Vishal himself.

(see the Wikipedia article on 'Striker' for more.)

"dil sa koi kamiinaa nahii"

"dil to bachcha hai jii" is the next song from Ishqiya to be seen and heard, from this "Making of..." video on YouTube:



Once again, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan seems to be used wonderfully and the lines & threadlets are quite Gulzar-esque.

(Via Ajay on the Gulzar fans group)

Ishqiya - Ibn Batuta

Intrepid, unceasing traveller. Travel writer. Scholar. And now finally, Ibn Batuta is referenced in a Hindi film song, thanks to the Gul-czar.

The Abhishek Chaubey directed Ishqiya is likely to release in Jan, which could mean a music release this month. A look at the first song to make it out on the airwaves (like Dhan Te Nan, more onomatopoeia & Sukhwinder - couldn't figure out the other voice)



Found via the 'Fight Club' blog

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And even the trailer seems to have hit censorship roadblocks for Arshad Warsi's killer (and rather tragic) line.

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Is the movie's title to be pronounced as "ishqaa.n" (the way it is said in the trailer)

Vishal's Broadway Musical?

The Times of India reports that Vishal will be scoring the Broadway version of "Monsoon Wedding", which is to be made by Mira Nair (the film version had music by the talented Mychael Danna).

The news item here.

The original "Dhan Te Nan" (Gubbare) version

In an earlier interview (also posted on this blog before by Abhishek), Vishal had mentioned that "Dhan Te Nan" was reworked from an episode of the same name dfor "Gubbare" (Zee TV, 90s). The episode was one of the early directorial forays by Vishal and by most accounts was quite badly made :-). The video of the opening has surfaced now (Gaurav & Salil pointed to it), and features some bad choreography, a rocking train, and an even more juvenile Sharman Joshi.

Quoting from the interview:

“Dhan te nan was not designed specially for Kaminey. I had first used it in a telefilm called Dhan Te Nan. I had used that catchphrase and the tune in that telefilm.

Dhan te nan is a phrase that belongs to our film and music culture. For us Indians cinema is the biggest cultural entity. We often borrow illustrations and speech patterns from our films. Dhan te nan is used during bedtime stories for dramatic effect.

Whenever I used to tell mey son Aasman stories I’d go ‘Dhan te nan’ to create drama. This phrase remained with me.”

I have always wondered how Vishal's baby steps in film making would have been. Here's an example. Thankfully, he's become much better :-)

Here's the video (sung by Suresh Wadkar & Roop Kumar Rathod, and humming by Rekha Bhardwaj):

Kaminey's music out

I don't know if it is available in stores yet, but the music can be heard online here.

The music is different from Vishal albums of the past, with an emphasis on electronica and remixes. However, there a couple of ballad-like songs and the social message song is well orchestrated.

The poetry of some of the songs is very good, as you'd expect.

Don't go in looking for an Omkara or No Smoking, though.

Vishal the lyricist?

This article says Vishal has penned lyrics for a song featuring Shahid Kapur & a social message:

The entire song sequence talks about the importance of using condoms, and playing it safe. Our source said, “Sukhwinder Singh lent his voice to this song and the lyrics go: Bhawra aaya aayaa re, gun gun karta aayaa re ... Yeh ishq nahih aasan, AIDS ka khatra hai ... pathwar pehen kar jaana- yeh aag ka dariya hai."

The absence of this song in the listing previously reported may well mean this could just be a little aside in the film. If this is yet another film hat of Vishal's, then he's on his way to opening a hat boutique.