Singers: Antara Mitra, Mohit Chauhan, Shankar Mahadevan, Sonu Niigaam, Pronob Biswas, Hamsika Iyer, Swanand Kirkire, Aadesh Shrivastava, Shashi, Rosalie Nicholson and Kavita Seth
Music Director: Wayne Sharp
Lyricists: Gulzar, Sameer and Swanand Kirkire
Rating:***
American composer Wayne Sharp is not new to Bollywood. After composing for Prakash Jha's "Gangaajal" and "Apharan", the music director collaborates with Jha once again for "Raajneeti". The music is impressive, especially the semi-classical track "Mora piya".
The film that stars actors like Ajay Devgn, Katrina Kaif, Ranbir Kapoor and Arjun Rampal among others has five originals and three remixes.
The album opens with "Bheegi si bhaagi si", which has a pleasing, melodious prelude. Crooned by Antara Mitra and Mohit Chauhan, the love song is foot-tapping and engages the listener. Mohit's voice is apt for a song of this genre.
Next in line is the semi-classical "Mora piya", which is undoubtedly the best song of the soundtrack. It is nice to hear a song like this, particularly when numbers with a classical touch have become a rare sight in Bollywood films nowadays. The track has been effectively sung by Aadesh Shrivastava, Shashi and Rosalie Nicholson.
"Mora piya" has two more versions - the "Twilight Mix" and the "Trance Mix", the latter sung by Kavita Seth.
Then there is "Ishq barse" with Pronob Biswas, Hamsika Iyer and Swanand Kirkire behind the mike. This song has a folk and rustic touch with influences of classical music too in some parts. After a few minutes, the song picks up pace and becomes lively. While itsn't a bad track, it isn't brilliant either.
The song also has a remix version, which is average.
Finally there are two versions of a song called "Dhan dhan dharti" - one sung by Shankar Mahadevan and the other by Sonu Niigaam. The patriotic song has musical influences of Vande Mataram and both the versions are quite similar except for the diverse singing styles of the two singers. The song with Indo-Western touches is likley to make a mark too.
On the whole, the soundtrack of "Raajneeti" is a mixed bag with some brilliant compositions and some average numbers.
