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If there is one score which has literally been rocking the Bolly-circuits, it is Johnny Gaddaar.

It is the stuff that dream OST’s are made of – flawless compositions, enormous visual quality, repeat factor, that little extra bit in every track that makes it special for you and creates associations in your head. Add a truckload of nostalgia to all this, and you get the OST of Johnny Gaddaar.

These are good times for the film OST scene in India. I remember long back, I had written about it in the context of the Hindi film industry, and how the future is looking pale looking(then) at an onslaught of remixes and uninspiring item numbers. Well, that was last year and thankfully for that, all my fears didn’t come true.

Film makers are giving respect to background scores now and are kind enough to give them their due space in the OST’s available commercially. And full marks to scores like Bluffmaster and Johnny Gaddaar which bring the two ends together in a fantastic concoction – the full-on Bollywood song and the BGM. As a result what you get is a delightful assortment of dance numbers, distinctively appealing stand-alone instrumental pieces, and the occasional theme song.

Coming back to Johnny, the film released yesterday to great reviews all around. I couldn’t be happier. The promise made by the music is being kept for sure. I still have to see the film to see how much of the images in my head concur with the ones on screen, but Johnny is here and will stay for sure. The reasons are aplenty, the film or its look takes us back to the flamboyant 70’s, when the Hero never shied away from shaking a leg or mouthing a ‘filmy’ line while confronting the stereotypical villain, when the Heroine took no bones to confessing her love in the form of a party/stage song. And the revisit has its soul very much in place; it smells of a tribute of a loyalist, an aficionado of those pulpy times, and not merely a gimmicky fad.

Johnny’s music is a welcome break from the 7-8 song format film music structure. Shankar Ehsaan Loy are having a blast here, sharing the pedestal with Daniel B. George, who composes the instrumental and the retro tracks with the stroke of a master.

Let the music take over now….

Johnny Gaddaar
Hindi Vocals: Suraj Jagan & Akriti Kakkar
Hindi Lyrics: Jaideep Sahni
Drums: Darshan Doshi

Tamil Lyrics: P.A. Vijay
Tamil Vocals: Raman Mahadevan, Nandini Srikar

Telugu Lyrics: Bhuvana Chandra

Chhoti si zindagi, gehri si jeb hai
Baaki to jaaneman, baato ke seb hain…

Bhala kar to tera bhala ho?
Aisa kaun jo saala jalaa ho?
Jaadu hai tere mein, kaabu hai tere mein ke nahin?

The lyrics are street-smart and done in a pucca bindaas flavor by Jaideep Sahni. They might sound too brash to the purist, but on repeat hearings one realizes their aptness to the context. Jo aaye so pel yaar, anybody?

Infectious opening riff (could be a contender to the MI series, or heck! A tribute to it!), essentially grey and noire in the aftertaste.

Jo aaye tu pel yaar
Ever felt things were fucked up in life? But not too fucked up to turn around? So close yet so far, out there but ran out of gas a little early. You are so Johnny yet not Johnny…

This is THE song if you ever considered smoking in front of the mirror to be cool. Turn on that smoked, tinted light, grab a bottle of cheap wine, pick up a reason to sulk, look proudly at that stubble and revel in the noire abandon of Hey Johnny.

Doob jaa mere pyaar mein/Move your Body
Vocals: Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani, Loy Mendonsa
Rap Lyrics & feat: Hard Kaur
Hindi Lyrics: Des – C
Tamil Lyrics: P.A. Vijay
Tamil Vocals: Raman Mahadevan, Nandini Srikar, Shankar Mahadevan, Mani Mahadevan
Telugu Lyrics: Bhuvana Chandra

Just what the doctor ordered!

Abhi baap bada na bhaiyya
Abhi sabse bada rupaiyya
Tu bhi paisa phek, tamasha dekh,
Kismet ka hai khel…

There is no need for any explanation for this song. Simply, doob jaa in its jaadooo…

Dhokha
Vocals: Anousha Mani, Shankar Mahadevan, Loy Mendonsa, Tarannum
Lyrics: Neelesh Mishra

The quintessential Shabnam/Julie/Tina-dancing-in a cage song. The shiny disco ball stuff that Don attempted is in full bloom here. You even have an ‘ola-ola’ for topping.
Put it on in your car on a rainy night, and live a Johnny-on-the-run. You can’t help grooving to the disco beat and the sultry vocals. You even have a climactic putting-everything-in-a-perspective-flashback element to it evoking the betrayal aasteen-mein-saanp undercurrent.

Johnny in the house
Mix by: DJ Shane
House, basslines, synths, club, obsession with the lyrics. A headier version of the title track put to a dancing house beat. A sure shot winner at dance-floors and clubs. The good and commendable part is that the vocals remain the least suppressed even with the bassy beat. And that’s the beauty of the mix. And don’t reach for the volume button in between the song, its all maya bole to isspecial effects!

Move your body(Phatt Mix)
Mix by: DJ Shane
The beat is more pronounced here, amplified electric effects move to a techno-trance terrain towards the move-your female interludes.
The doob jaa bits are done with just the required level of obsession.

Johnny breakbeat mera naam
Mix by: Gulraj Singh

Bol kya naam hai tera?!!
Johnny mera naam hai.

Need I say anything else? The piece is one mad-trip down memory lane. It has to be heard to be experienced, employing a breakbeat, dialogue samples and progressive synth.

Revenge of the 70’s
Music: Daniel B. George

Ye kaam jitni aasaani se maine tum logo ko samjhaya hai, utna aasaan hai nahi…
Don’t take it easy…..

Now would you really need anything else in the world to inspire you? These lines in Dharam Paaji’s all-paawarfool voice fills you up with a rush of adrenaline.
What follows is ‘saxy-trumpety’ celebration of sorts.

The caper begins
Music: Daniel B. George

Femme fatale, faces with a mask on, a stranger waiting in the shadows…

As Vijay Bhai says,
The Caper Begins is awesome. It draws a lot from Henry Mancini scores of the 60s, which is especially evident in use of the flute, and then slowly moulds itself into hindi filmi style, and returns to Mancini. It’s exquisite.

Toss
Music: Daniel B. George
This is more of a synth version of the theme track interspersed with haunting hollows.

Confidence
Music: Daniel B. George
This is THE polka dot shirt, disco lights, polyester pants, .45 lighters song.
It starts off with a sugary 50’s female vocal over a haunting orchestra of the 70’s, very maturely done.

Bhule bisre geet
Music: Daniel B. George
Vocals: Sabia Khan, Geetanjali, Swanand
Lyrics: Swanand Kirkire
This song actually follows a tripartite structure, spanning three decades in the three versions, from OP Naiyyar to quintessential RD Burman of Naseer Hussain era to the Rajesh Khanna freewheeling songs from films like Mere Jeevan Saathi and Kati Patang. A special mention for the lyricist Swanand Kirkire who does full justice to the big challenge of recreating an era of song and dance.

The ultracool factor is that these are original songs yet sound like classics, from the very decades in film music that they represent.

Ghadi ki suiyaan tik tik chalti jaayein re
Palat palat taqdeer badalti jaayeein re
Jeetey wahi jo khele daaon lagaaye re
Aaja babu ab kaahe ghabraye re…

Balkhaato zulfon ke saaye hain,
Pyari pyari quatil nigaahein hain
Hoth hain ya mai ke pyaalein hai
Palko ke peechhe ujaaley hain
Yuhi jalna machalna, yuhi girnaa sambhalna
Yuhi manzil se milna
Yeh zindagi ke raaste hain haseen…
Jeete hain subah shaam, lete hain tera hi naam…

If you have any doubts about what music to choose for that all-nighter(heck! Any all-nighter), let Johnny take over and enjoy your wine. And ya, don’t forget to carry that stubble and those deadly leather jackets, matching blown-up shades and…..itna bahut hai yaar!

And this one is for KK-

DOOB JAA MERE PYAAAR MEEEIIN…….!!!!!