Music Review | Qaidi Band | Amit Trivedi

Five years after Ishaqzaade, YRF brings in another movie with newcomers. Amit Trivedi, once again, is given the mantle to win audiences' hearts with the music. What is more interesting is that this movie is about music, which means Amit Trivedi gets to go all in with this one. So without further ado, let us get right into it!

Album Release Date: 25th July 2017

(Click on the song title to listen to it on Saavn)

I Am India
Singers: Arijit Singh, Yashita Sharma
Lyrics: Habib Faisal
There is so much confusion online regarding the singer of this song. The voice does not sound like Arijit Singh at all but more like Amit Trivedi. But at this point in time, all we can do is take the information at it's face value. This is a patriotic song without the in-your-face persuasive lyrics. Talking about lyrics, it touches all the corners and colors of India. For the first time, I enjoyed someone else's singing more than Arijit's. Yashita Sharma totally nailed this song. Both of them are the only singers for the entire album, so it will be interesting to see how rest of the songs are pitched in the album.

Hulchul
Singers: Arijit Singh, Yashita Sharma
Lyrics: Kausar Munir
The initial few seconds of prelude sounds like Boulevard of Broken Dream (Green Day). This song doesn't lose energy even for a single second. The lyrics add to the adrenaline rush. Not Arijit, not Yashita, not Kausar Munir, but the energy and the music are the driving forces of this song.

Phir Nayi
Singers: Yashita Sharma
Lyrics: Kausar Munir
I am surprised Yashita Sharma has just sung for two other movies previously. She was a participant of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa 2009. This song talks about the how during childhood we were free birds and did whatever we wanted to without thinking about consequences. Each song until now has its lyrics on point and something different in the offering, so is the case with this one as well.

Junooni
Singers: Arijit Singh, Yashita Sharma
Lyrics: Kausar Munir, Sidhant Mago
With this song, I have finally managed to crack why Arijit's voice is not recognizable in this album despite him singing all the songs. All his songs we have ever heard, have always had some or the other form of reverb (echo effect). All the vocals in this album are recorded and maintained as is. This song seems to take inspirations from Just Go To Hell Dil (Dear Zindagi) and Junoon (Abhijit Sawant). This is just the fourth song of the album and I am already getting exhausted in keeping up with the high energy levels of these songs.

Udanchoo
Singers: Arijit Singh, Yashita Sharma
Lyrics: Kausar Munir
I really like Arijit Singh's singing in this song. It is fun to listen to when he tries something different, thus adding new feathers to his versatility cap. However, this song failed to impress me in terms of music as well as lyrics. It's a one-time listen.

Jag Mag
Singers: Arijit Singh, Yashita Sharma, Peter Muxka Manuel
Lyrics: Kausar Munir
This song is poetic. If there was no music, the lyrics are such that I can totally imagine it to be in our Hindi school textbooks - minus the English rap of course. It is interesting how the song uses very minimalistic electronic music, thus keeping up with the theme of the movie.

Poshampa
Singers: Arijit Singh, Yashita Sharma
Lyrics: Kausar Munir
This is the grownups version of Hindi nursery rhyme Posham Pa. And this is the same reason I am assuming it needs some level of context to enjoy.

Phir Wohi
Singers: Yashita Sharma
Lyrics: Kausar Munir
This is a sad version to Phir Nayi. All the curiosity and freedom are taken away from the original song and that's left is what describes the emotion of this song. I am not sure what purpose does the marching band beats in the music serves to the mood of this song. I guess I will have to wait for the video for some context.

I Am India (Escape)
Singers: Yashita Sharma, Amit Trivedi
Lyrics: Kausar Munir
Exactly the same song. Arijit Singh is replaced by Amit Trivedi to avoid any further confusion. :P

*phew* I am literally running out of breath. Listening to high octane music album in one go is challenging. This is not one of Amit Trivedi's better albums. But that is not what I was looking for in this album. It is a movie of newcomers. Just like how Ishaqzaade, featuring two newcomers, broke barriers with its unorthodox music, this album too is on the same path. Only time will tell how the movie fairs, but until then here are my favourites from the album:
I Am India
Hulchul
Phir Nayi
Jag Mag

That is all I have for this album now. I hope you found this review useful. If you did then feel free to share it. Let me know you favourite song of the album in the comments below. Until then, Ciao...!!

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