The Great Indian Butterfly 2010 Music Review

When a film arrives with a title like The Great Indian Butterfly, expectations are of an abstract soundtrack. However, with a name like Sanjay Gupta attached to it as a producer, one wonders what exactly would be in offing here. More intrigue sets in when names like Shibani Kashyap, Gourav Das Gupta and Vivek Philip are seen on the credits along with newcomer Deepak Pandit.

MUSIC
The Great Indian Butterfly is a loaded album with as many as 12 tracks in it. First to come is ' Thodi Thodi Saanjh' which has a beginning that reminds one of ' Yaara Seeli Seeli' [Lekin]. Boasting of a folk flavour to it, this Shibani Kashyap sung and composed has poetic lyrics by Jaideep Sahani who also incorporates English lyrics intermittently. A lounge track that has a haunting appeal to it, ' Thodi Thodi Saanjh' gives a good classy beginning to the album.

Similar mood continues with ' Kangana', this time with Hindustani classical replacing 'desi' folk. Ghulam Ali lends his vocals for this Manoj 'Muntashir' written track that has Deepak Pandit making his entry into the album as a composer. The same track is also repeated in the vocals of Shreya Ghoshal later in the album. While one wonders whether the songs here would eventually make it to the film and if so, then how exactly, the song that follows next ' Keh Leh Dil Se' makes a good first impression.

An Indi-pop track written by Vipul Saini which has Shibani Kashyap remerging on the scene, ' Keh Leh... ' is a good song which follows the Sanjay Gupta sense of music to the T. This time around the mood of far more sombre than the techno flavour which is prevalent in his films. However, there is a certain intrinsic quality to ' Keh Leh' which makes it the best bet of the album so far and deservingly finds a 'remix version' for itself.

Gourav Das Gupta had made a good impression with his songs in Dus Kahaniyaan. He continues his association with Sanjay Gupta by writing and composing ' Alone' which is crooned by Shweta Vijay. An English track that moves at a leisurely pace and has its focus on lyrics and rendition rather than heavy duty music in the background, ' Alone' helps in keeping the classy mood of the album intact. This is followed by yet another English track ' Mad About You', which is written, composed and sung by Chrystal Farrel. Not the kind of song which one associates with a core Bollywood flick, ' Mad About You' has a Western look, feel and treatment and comes across as a nice soft track which goes perfectly well with the flow of the album.

The team of ' Alone' returns with ' Pretty Butterfly' which stays almost silent for its first 30 seconds. However, once Shweta Vijay's vocals are heard again, one knows that it is the similar territory (as ' Alone') being explored. By this time around The Great Indian Butterfly has pretty much taken an English route and the song to follow is no different with Caralisa Monteiro coming behind the mike for ' You Have To Love Me'. Composed by Vivek Philip who also ropes in Sapna Thomas as the co-lyricist, ' You Have To Love Me' is a woman's cry for the love that she wants in her life.

A Hindi track resurfaces after a while with Deepak Pandit taking over the proceedings. He composes ' Meera' which has a haunting beginning to it and while one searches for a traditional number to make an appearance, the subtle Western influences for an entire first minute makes one wonder the kind of direction that ' Meera' is taking. However, the moment Shreya Ghoshal comes on scene; it is the much known territory that a listener finds himself in.

Next to follow is ' The Jesus Song' which is a choir track put to tune by Deepak Pandit. A three and a half minutes music piece, this appears to have been created for a dramatic situation in the film. Finally the album concludes with ' Come To My Rescue', which just like ' Mad About You' has Chrystal Farrel coming up with an all around act. The mood is similar to that of ' You Have To Love Me' though the 'desire' factor is far less forceful this time around.

OVERALL
The Great Indian Butterfly was never expected to be one of those quintessential Bollywood albums and that's something which is prevalent from the first till the last song. Having said that, while most of the soundtrack here is made of English numbers, there are Shibani Kashyap's tracks like ' Keh Leh Dil Se' and 'Thodi Thodi Saanjh' that stay with you even after the album is through. However, since there has been no promotion whatsoever of the album, chances are quite bleak that this soundtrack would see much visibility coming its way.