Girish Wankhede | mumbai@bollywoodtown.in
It’s quite hilarious to learn that ‘Bad Newz’ is the sequel of’ Good Newwz ‘which was successful at the box office in 2019. How intelligent it could be to think Bad’ as the sequel of Good’ and super intelligent with entailing one less w’ in the sequel’s title. I wonder if the third installment will go with Ugly’ in the lupshot of the legendary western, ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’, or will it be worse. Anway, the Box Office News of Bad Newz is not good with an intentional pun. It dropped considerably on the first weekday and the film with a title of Bad Newz is proving literally the bad news for its makers.
While the film struggles with numbers, the music grows with leaps and bounds; thanks to reels and huge popularity of the main star cast of Vicky Kaushal, Tripti Dimri and Ammy Virk. Vicky Kaushal is quite a revelation in his new avatar and supercool dancing moves and ably supported by vivacious new girl on the block, Tripty Dimri and Punjabi Super star Ammy Virk.
The narrative is an ultra-modern take on the process of the twins which are born to the same mother but different fathers. Very elite positioning to the urbane crowd and newfangled theme, it resonated only to Tier 1 cities and is unable to click with regular mass-centres. However, the music is doing exceptionally well which is fashionably composed by independent muis directors.
The first song ‘Tauba Tauba’ is a rage on the internet with several dance challenges, reels and memes. This is written and sung by Canada based Indian singer and rapper ,Karan Aujila who is a big name in digital space. This catchy number is composed by Balwinder Singh Sandhu who is also known as Yeah Proof. The tempo and dynamics is young and the sound arrangement is quite fresh to go well with the new generation. It was launched on 2nd July and till then, it’s on the top charts.
Another romantic and soul rendition by Jubin Nautiyal is Rabb Warga’ which is quite customary but reaches one notch up because of Jubin’s infectious energy and emotional pitch. Penned by Shayra Apoorva and composed by Abhijeet Srivastava , this song is the debut composition of Abhijeet who has been a profound singer with hits like Chashni’ and Aap se Milkar’.It is in tandem with Neeti Mohan who sang it in her unique rendering meter and appeal. Both are traditionally safe bait for a composer and singers with established music grammar.
The fourth song is Jaanam’ by Visal Mishra who wrote, composed and sung it in his first-rate romantic offering to an altogether another level. It has a certain eroticism in the voice which makes us remember Kunal Ganjawala in his Murder’ days of 2004. Even the Picturisation brings justice to certain embedded sensuality in the song. Then there is sad romantic Haule Haule’ by Jubin Nautiyal and upbeat romantic version of the same song by Ammy Virk.
Jubin’s rendering reaches us with a defined hurt and suffering in his delivery which is brilliantly captured by Music Director, Rochak Kohli who is stalwart in this space with the likes of Pani Da’ and Tera Yaar Hu Mai’. His Ammy Virk’s version is another masterly stroke of his versatility. Seventh song is Raula Raula’ which is composed by Prem-Hardeep and written by Davvy Singh.This Prem-Hardeep rendering with Romy is a mix of rap, pop and western fusion of indian traditional beats. These Kala Chashma’ creators sing and compose with the same zest and have been able to bring in foot tapping sound with an impactful rap mix.
Then is the last and eighth number of this album which is a remix of Mere Mehboob Mere Sanam’ of 1998 Shahrukh khan starrer Duplicate’. This original song written by Javed Akhtar and sung by Alka Yagnik and Udit Narayan still has that endearing charm and melody which is quite palpable in this new version by Lijo George and DJ Chetas. Keeping the same voices and changing the sound with new arrangements works with this foot tapping song which is slated to be another dancing anthem in recent times.
Bad Newz’ as a film can be debated for its narrative and Box Office collections,but Music is undoubtedly the winner with its blend of melody, fast track and traditional numbers. The composers and singers interpret the right rhythm and flow of songs which is noteworthy. It’s indeed good news again, pun intended.