Black and White Soundtrack

Sukhwinder Singh is one of those singers who goes beyond the basic tune material given by the composers and improvises it, giving it a distinct Sukhwinder flavour. There is a little bit of Sukhwinder in every song he sings. And this quality makes him a totally eligible composer himself. I have very high regards for Sukhwinder as a singer. Though 2007 had so many good songs sung well by many good singers, my award for best rendition by any singer in a song would easily go to Sukhwinder for his deeply moving rendition in Vishal Bharadwaj’s brilliantly composed ‘Barfan’ from Blue Umbrella. But I still have not completely formed my opinion about Sukhwinder Singh as a composer, simply for the fact that I haven’t heard many of his compositions, not even the recent ‘Halla Bol’. So, when I heard his compositions for Subash Ghai’s ‘Black and White’, I was hooked and deeply satisfied.

Sukhwinder brings in a secular sound in an Allah song ‘Haq Allah’ by introducing a saccharine flute playing beautiful stream of notes around the main melody and as with any other Allah song, this has got an instantly pulling rhythm. ‘Haq Ali - 2’ is an exciting extension of ‘Haq Allah’ with Sukhwinder’s alaaps, chorus and rhythms tightly racing with one another.

It is surprising to hear that Sukhwinder, who is famous for improvisation, has allowed some other singer to go far beyond the basic tune material in a song he has composed, while his version is strictly rendered. May be it is because the situation in the movie demands such a restrained rendition of male vocal and an extroverted rendition for the female version. I am talking about the two versions of same melody in ‘Main chala’ (sung by Sukhwinder) and ‘Main chali’ (Sung by Shreya Ghosal). Shreya Ghosal as always makes us awestruck by her serene rendition of the song. With a catchy running train rhythm, a punchy motif and with a melody unexpectedly swinging between extreme ranges, the song totally blew my mind and has been on my lips for more than a week.

Sadhana Sargam’s deep vocal further deepens the soul stirring melody in ‘Jogi Aaya’. Everything is just perfect in the song. The melody, rhythm, the Veena ludes, catchy bass lines and carefully layered orchestration all come together to create another gem that will remain eternal. The remix of ‘jogi aaya’ is only sour point of this soundtrack. ‘Peer Manavan’ is light and easy on melody and heavy on rhythm and with all essential ingredients coming in right proportions makes is entertainingly folksy. ‘Yeh Hindustani’ is jingoistic in true Bollywood fashion. The Jagjit Singh’s slower version with mild guitar strains is more expressive and impressive than Udit’s.

‘Black and White’ score is full of soulful semi-classical tunes, beautiful alaaps, fitting rhythms, sensible rearrangements, minimal yet apt orchestration and exquisite singing.