Gehraiyaan Album Is Soulful, Meaningful And Modern Until Its Nothing Really

Gehraiyaan album review: Another song from the upcoming movie Gehraiyaan, titled Beqaboo, was released on February 9, 2022, adding to an already hip sounding album. Following the tradition of film promotion in Bollywood, the makers of Gehraiyaan are also drip-feeding the audience with their songs releasing at calculated intervals in order to maintain the buzz ahead of the release.

What really does Beqaboo add to the album in terms of variety? Barely enough and that is Shalmali Kholgade's voice with a fresh range considering the earlier two songs sung by the same singer Lothika Jha. One would almost get into the feel of the song but then realise the monotony in the tracks. To be honest, the songs of Gehraiyaan are not very different from the kind of music 20 somethings enjoy these days. It's modern with a pleasant groove that young people would love to play at house parties, talking about how the song is amazing and peaceful.

The soundtrack is also the kind that would fit in pre-wedding videos' background score and reel videos about lovey-dovey couples. But does the album sit well with the narrative promised by the trailer of the film? It is almost like Shakun Batra tried to make a film about real people and then could not help with becoming part of the pretentious internet age which sways to whatever goes viral, even if it is mediocre.

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A review I read of the film's album lauded how the Gehraiyaan songs are just as good as Shershaah songs because of the common music production company. That might be arguable as Shershaah album aims for desi Bollywood, while ">Gehraiyaan album is targeted towards the urban milieu. The character played by Deepika Padukone in the film is not about a struggling middle class young female professional struggling to find acceptance for her love at home, or mourning the loss of a man with whom she had planned her entire life. Padukone instead plays the role of a young independent woman haunted by the thought of turning into her mother and living a life less affluent than her cousin. Both characters are organic and relatable to the audience but they are not the same.

Only the film release will tell if the grand promotions and exhaustive marketing was worth it. Maybe the album becomes the least thought-provoking aspect of the movie or one of its highlights with viewers being able to connect with it more after watching the film. If we look at the greatest films ever made in Bollywood and compare their performances with their song albums, we will see that many of them did not have great albums. Some very lousy movies of the past have the best albums ever.

What cannot be ignored however is that the album of a film titled Gehraiyaan (depth) has a significant lack of it.

Views expressed by the author are their own.