Ungli Music Review - “And the winner is Gulraj Singh”

 Anup Pandey 

Music:  Gulraj Singh/ Salim-Sulaiman/ Sachin-Jigar/ Aslam Keyi

Lyrics:  Manoj Yadav/ Amitabh Bhattacharya/ Kumaar

1. Pakeezah

Step aside all the duos/trios who continue to rehash their own stale tunes in the name of fresh romantic songs. Here’s Gulraj Singh, the man who single-handed (he’s the composer as well as the singer of this track) owns the album with this one. Most refreshing tune heard in long time.  The acappella-like vocals lends the zeal of a peppy club number, the flute layered with the soulful singing adds the emotional depth to the song. And Manoj Yadav’s lyrics, that may sound too heavy in its individuality, seamlessly flows into this breezy track: the chorus going “Ibtedaa/Javedaa” tells that! This one’s a winner!

2. Dance Basanti

The musical arrangement of this dance number is very standard Punjabi template-based. But it gets catchier when the actual song begins. Composed by Sachin-Jigar, Vishal Dadlani sounds very ordinary in this one and Anushka Manchanda though being on the name slate here had nothing much to do.

3. Adarniya Ungli

Vishal Dadlani continues in Gulraj Singh’s second and final song for the album- a racy track centered on film’s theme. Singh employs innovative sounds, well fused sitar and diverse use of chorus. But the best part of the track comes with the very Amit Trivedi-ish transition towards the end and Neeti Mohan like never heard before.

4. Auliya

Auliya sounds very much like Ayushmann Khurrana kind of songs. It gets better when it enters the antra as the arrangement dominantly shifts to jazzy piano from the strings. Composed by Salim-Sulaiman, the singing by Armaan Malik is very laidback and at-ease.

5. Ungli Pe Nachalein

Another Punjabi pop dance number, composed by Aslam Keyi, for which Dev Negi is an interesting choice as the male singer. More interesting bits come from Shipra Goyal.

Bottomline

4 sets of composers for a 5-track album, but, thankfully, too many cooks did not spoil the brought here. However, clearly, one of them shines out- Gulraj Singh. Bollywood, give him more work, please!

Ratings: 3/5 stars