Pankh 2010 Music Review

In normal circumstances, arrival of a Sanjay Gupta album on stands is a matter of celebration. Your expectation is straight forward - The songs would boast of a Western flavour, would have some unconventional voices and definitely some new lyrics. However, this time around the situation is different as Pankh arrives on stand. No, it's the not the art house flavour of the film which is a worrying factor here. Instead, it the manner in which both the film as well as soundtrack are being released. With more or less zero promotion preceding the release, one can only hope that the songs (composed by Raju Singh and written by Sudipto Chattopadhyaya) would be good enough to hold by themselves.


MUSIC
There are just three songs in the album and the first to arrive is 'Ji Jala' which comes with a cabaret flavour of the 50s/60s. Crooned by Suinidhi Chauhan, this slow moving track has a Western garb to it and as it moves at a leisurely pace, one gets an understanding that this would be picturised on Bipasha Basu in the film. An okay number which won't really have created much ripples even if presented in a mainstream commercial film while being backed by adequate promotion, 'Ji Jala' just about manages to hold on for its 4 minutes duration.

The track that follows is strictly situational with a divine touch to it. Titled 'Mamma...', this English track is rendered by Dibyendu Mukherji where a young man is shown interacting with his mother. Moving at an extremely slow pace, 'Mamma...' is more of a one sided conversation than a song per se.

Finally arrives a three minute 'Pankh Theme' which has Marianne D'Cruz and chorus coming together to create a haunting outing. Bearing an 'enigmatic' touch to it, 'Pankh Theme' can be expected to play in the background during a dramatic situation in the film. In a regular Sanjay Gupta directed film though; this theme track may have proved to be a killer!

OVERALL

As mentioned earlier, the music of Pankh can't be expected to hold on just by itself. Lack of any buzz and promotion has led to zero awareness around the release of both the music as well as the soundtrack which would only prove to be its downfall. Moreover, the songs by themselves are not the kind that leads to music sales. The only hopes are the songs of The Great Indian Butterfly, another Sanjay Gupta production, which accompany Pankh. Since the songs in that film do make for a decent hear, the overall soundtrack may just about manage to find some takers.