Tamasha (soundtrack)


Tamasha is the soundtrack album, composed by A. R. Rahman with song lyrics by Irshad Kamil, to the 2015 Hindi film of the same name, directed by Imtiaz Ali and produced by Sajid Nadiadwala. The film stars Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone in lead roles. The album features nine tracks, and was released on 16 October 2015 by T-Series. The music in the film is narrative, in the form of impresarios, depicting emotions of the characters. The songs cover genres like European dance, bhangra, opera, Hindustani classical and dubstep apart from experimental fusion of genres.
Upon release, music critics not only praised the trio–director, composer and lyricist for coming up with classy, catchy and commercial numbers but also censured the soundtrack album, calling the treatment to the album as irreverent and hangover of previous works Highway and Rockstar. The track "Matargashti" was released as the first single prior to the soundtrack album release. The tracks "Matargashti" and "Tum Saath Ho" were the chart toppers on the Indian Music Charts.
The soundtrack was adjudged as one of the best albums of 2015, wherein A. R. Rahman and Alka Yagnik were nominated under Filmfare Award for Best Music Director and Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer, respectively. However, lyricist Irshad Kamil won the Filmfare Award for Best Lyricist.

Development

Prior to his 2014 release Highway, A. R. Rahman agreed to work with Imtiaz Ali to compose for Tamasha. In an interview with Business Standard, Imtiaz Ali said that the music in the film has been used as a narrative to enhance the inherent drama of the situation without dialogue. Songs in the film were almost in the form of impresarios. According to the lyricist Irshad Kamil, the lyrical work present human emotions in such different flavours. It is the title of the film that was the first brief given to compose the music. Imtiaz Ali was inspired by Shakespeare's words full of sound and fury and All the World's A Stage. The film has performance oriented music and with the traditional, old-fashioned traditional Indian, contemporary form in the city that is westernized and so is the music.
The sounds in the song "Matargashti" and the instrumental track "Parade De La Bastille" are inspired by European Dance Music genre when the music parade is travelling to Corsica. For the track "Matargashti", Rahman wanted Mohit Chauhan to sing at a higher pitch when compared to his singing for the former's Rockstar. The song "Heer Toh Badi Sad Hain" belongs to the bhangra genre. This track was written in the same melodic meter compared to its original, titled "Heer". The track required least time to record. On opting for Alka Yagnik, Rahman spoke that she had recorded previously the score of The Hundred-Foot Journey and her voice would be suitable for the track "Tum Saath Ho". The song "Chali Kahani" is operatic and the lyrical work depicts mythological character Ravana's cry. It took six months for Rahman to mix the track. The track "Safarnama" is a spiritual journey song with minimal music arrangements. Initially, "Safarnama" was composed using more instruments, however, they were removed. On the same lines, the track "Tu Koi Aur Hai" is also a journey song but incorporates few musical instruments. To add another layer and texture to the song, Rahman made singer Arjun Chandy sing a bit of opera. The song combines various musical elements. A couple of songs in the film are narrative in nature that do not depict the actual moods of the characters, one such track is "Heer Toh Badi Sad Hai".
The record label T-Series had acquired the music rights in September 2014. In mid-September 2015, the soundtrack was mixed.

Critical response

Songs

Critical review board at Behindwoods gave a verdict, "Tamasha is an emotional roller coaster ride from the fantastic combination of A. R. Rahman- Imtiaz Ali yet again! It takes the listener in a pathway to musical bliss!" They awarded the soundtrack album a score of 3.5 out of 5. Joginder Tuteja who penned the critical review for Bollywood Hungama summarized, "The soundtrack of Tamasha delivers more than what on expected from it and is a good mix of classy and massy score. There are a few instantly catchy numbers as well which ensure that commercially too." He assigned a score of 4 out of 5 to the album. However, critic Kasmin Fernandes in her review for The Times of India, called the album 'purely experimental' The soundtrack album was awarded 4 stars. In his critical review for The New Indian Express, Vipin Nair awards the album a score of 8.5 out of 10. He called the album a "winner", concluding, "The occasional hiccups aside, that’s three winners in a row for A. R. Rahman – Irshad Kamil – Imtiaz Ali." Critic Aelina Kapoor of Rediff, writes, "It has been a while since AR Rahman had delivered a popular score for a Hindi film. She gave 3.5 stars out of 5 to the album. Suanshu Khurana of The Indian Express gave the album 3.5 stars out of 5. The critic summarised, "Tamasha comes with some exhilarating layers. It falters sometimes, picks itself up to hit some high points, stays in the middle of the pack, and then suddenly wows you with its catchy hooks." For BBC India, critic Rohit Mehrotra writes, "Tamasha is filled with situational songs. The presentation of the album is grand, however, melodies were deprived." However, he assigned three stars out of five to the album.
Contrary to the positive reviews, writing for India West, critical review of R. M. Vijayakar noted, "A.R. Rahman’s scores for Imtiaz Ali show a clear irreverence to conventional meters and melodies — ditto Irshad Kamil’s lyrics. This results in substance here and there, but, in most cases, it is about being stylized, contemporary and thus irreverent, and not necessarily quality- or even appeal-oriented." In his review for The Hindu, critic Sankhayan Ghosh stated: "Tamasha is not as big an album as Rockstar and Highway. Tamasha comes with the gargantuan baggage of the early two films."

Original score

Critic based at Bollywood Hungama stated, "Despite A.R. Rahman at the helm of things, the music does not help in lifting the proceedings. At the same time, one cannot ignore the melodious track in the film in the form of 'Matargashti' that stays fresh in the minds of the viewers." Surabhi Redkar of Koimoi pointed out, "A. R Rahman’s music compliments extremely well for the film and of course the song placement is quite apt." In her review for The Hindu, critic Namrata Joshi said: "The music doesn’t rise to the occasion." Rachit Gupta of Filmfare mentioned, "The Mohit Chauhan and AR Rahman combination of music seems like a leftover from Rockstar" Satya Kandala of The Economic Times stated: "One of the two heroes of the film is the music composed by A R Rahman." Critic Mehul of Deccan Chronicle stated, "A.R. Rahman’s music again stands out and all the songs are melodious and fit the situation. The songs play a crucial role in the film, which takes the story ahead, never once interfering with the storyline. " Ananya Bhattacharya of India Today wrote, "AR Rahman's music gets better the more you listen to it. Matargashti and Tum Saath Ho stand out from among this musical treat." For The Times of India, critic Priya Gupta said, ""Matargashti" and "Heer Toh Badi Sad Hai", two of Rahman's songs, are magical even as standalone numbers." Pallavi Patra of Zee News claimed, "Music by AR Rahman was soulful and touchy. The song "Tum Sath Ho" and "Tu Koi Aur Hai" are beautiful and moving."

Track listing

All lyrics written by Irshad Kamil.
;Notes
A year end compilation by publications, The Indian Express, in its top ten singles compilation list ranked "Matargashti" on number two. They stated, "Mohit Chauhan, A. R. Rahman and Imtiaz Ali form an enviable combination right from Rockstar days. "Matargashti" was more peppy and had a mischievous ring to it. The kind of song one would love to sing while playing Antakshari." The album ranked at number three spot on the list of "Best Album of 2015" by The Hindu. Critic Kartik Srinivasan stated, "Rounding off the top three is Rahman’s Tamasha, a thematic soundtrack that so beautifully weaves through Imtiaz’s narrative." Critic Sankhayan Ghosh, also based at The Hindu specially noted the nuances of playback in the song "Matargashti", claiming: "Mohit Chauhan role-played Dev Anand mouthing a Kishore Kumar song in the last act of ‘Matargashti’ from Tamasha. He added, "Tamasha album was a rich audiovisual treat, the lyric, music and images deeply connected and realised with imagination and a madness that we now associate with Imtiaz Ali." In her view of Bollywood music in 2015, Juhi Chaturvedi of Hindustan Times called Alka Yagnik's voice "refreshing" and "yearning" in the song "Tum Saath Ho". Similarly, Bryan Durham of DNA India said: "Alka Yagnik returned to hit territory with Tamasha’s "Tum Saath Ho"." According to Scroll.in, the album was tied to the soundtrack of Bajirao Mastani on the first position, hailing both as: "The Best Bollywood Soundtrack of 2015.

Album

Singles

Release history

The soundtrack marks the first ever album by the record label T-Series to have an online streaming on Spotify.
RegionDateFormatReference
India16 October 2015Digital download
India1 November 2015CD
Australia16 October 2015Digital download
Brasil16 October 2015Digital download
Canada16 October 2015Digital download
Denmark16 October 2015Digital download
France16 October 2015Digital download
Japan16 October 2015Digital download
New Zealand16 October 2015Digital download
United Kingdom16 October 2015Digital download
United States16 October 2015Digital download

Accolades

Note – The lists are ordered by the date of announcement, not by the date of ceremony/telecast.

AwardDateCategoryRecipient and nomineeResult
Stardust Awards15 December 2015Best Playback Singer Mika Singh
Stardust Awards15 December 2015Best Playback Singer Alka Yagnik
Guild Awards21 December 2015Best MusicA. R. Rahman
Guild Awards21 December 2015Best Male SingerMohit Chauhan
Guild Awards21 December 2015Best Female SingerAlka Yagnik
Filmfare Awards11 January 2016Best MusicA. R. Rahman
Filmfare Awards11 January 2016Best LyricsIrshad Kamil
Filmfare Awards11 January 2016Best Playback Singer Alka Yagnik
Zee Cine Awards18 February 2016Best Music DirectorA. R. Rahman
Zee Cine Awards18 February 2016Best LyricsIrshad Kamil
Zee Cine Awards18 February 2016Best Playback Singer – MaleMohit Chauhan
Mirchi Music Awards1 March 2016Listener's Choice Song of the Year"Agar Tum Saath Ho"
Mirchi Music Awards1 March 2016Female Vocalist of the YearAlka Yagnik
Mirchi Music Awards1 March 2016Lyricist of the YearIrshad Kamil

Album Credits

Credits adapted from A. R. Rahman's official website.
;Backing vocals
Suzanne D'Mello, Samantha Edwards, Arjun Chandy, Nikhita Gandhi, Abhay Jodhpurkar, Bhavya, Nakul Abhyankar, Sashwat Singh, Parag Chhabra, Atikant Verma, Navdeep Dhatra, Pranav Joseph, Niranjana Ramanan, Sowmya M., Deepthi Suresh, Parvathy, Sharanya S., Madhumita R., Madhumita Srinivasan, S. Maalavika
;Personnel
;Production