Rangoon is the soundtrack album to the 2017 Hindi-language film of the same name directed, co-produced and composed by Vishal Bhardwaj, starring Saif Ali Khan, Shahid Kapoor and Kangana Ranaut in the lead roles. The album featured 12 tracks composed by Bhardwaj with lyrics written by his recurrent songwriter Gulzar and Lekha Washington, who also contributed two tracks. The album was released on 18 January 2017 through the T-Series label.
Contents
Background
Vishal Bhardwaj composed the film soundtrack and score, with lyrics written by his norm lyricist Gulzar. To make the film realistic, Bhardwaj used a live orchestra in recording the songs instead of using junior artists playing musicians. The film score was recorded at the Abbey Road Studios in London performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. Actress Lekha Washington had written lyrics for two English songs, "Be Still" and "Shimmy Shake", in her maiden songwriting stint.
Release
The album was preceded by the song "Bloody Hell", which was released in a music video format on 11 January 2017. The soundtrack was released through T-Series on 18 January.
Reception
Vipin Nair of The Hindu noted that Bhardwaj and Gulzar's collaboration had "always reserved its best for [the latter] own movies" and felt Rangoon to be "another such work of brilliance". Manish Gaekwad of Scroll.in noted that the soundtrack "bear[s] Bhardwaj's indelible stamp" with him experimenting with several musical styles and genres as well as Gulzar aiding him through the lyrics which are "equally dazzling and overwhelming at times". He concluded that the album "requires repeat listening to catch up with the composer-lyricist duo who stridently march to their own beats."
Karthik Srinivasan of Milliblog reviewed, "Vishal at his usual, unorthodox best in Rangoon." Ashwin Vinayan of Deccan Chronicle wrote "Vishal has reiterated once again, why he's amongst the best musicians the industry has hosted" calling the album "worth savouring". Joginder Tuteja of Bollywood Hungama noted that though it takes time to get used to the period-era soundscape, it becomes immersive when listened on loop further adding that "this one is set to find greater appreciation after it has been seen and heard in the film."
Swetha Ramakrishnan of Firstpost added that the soundtrack "has something for every kind of listener" and would work for avid listeners of Bhardwaj's music. However, Suanshu Khurana of The Indian Express felt that the music "lack[ed] the gloriousness the past records by this lyricist-composer duo has had" which led to the album being "acceptable, just not edgy enough". Uday Bhatia of Mint wrote "The music, by Bhardwaj, with lyrics by Gulzar, has old-timey touches but makes no real effort to sound as if it's from that era".
Personnel
Credits adapted from T-Series: