Tamasha (soundtrack)

Prior to his 2014 release Highway, A. R. Rahman agreed to work with Imtiaz Ali to compose for Tamasha.[2] 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.[3] According to the lyricist Irshad Kamil, the lyrical work present human emotions in such different flavours.[4] 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.[5] 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.[5]

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.[3] 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.[6] This track was written in the same melodic meter compared to its original, titled "Heer".[3] The track required least time to record.[4] 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".[7] The song "Chali Kahani" is operatic[4] and the lyrical work depicts mythological character Ravana's cry.[8] It took six months for Rahman to mix the track.[8] The track "Safarnama" is a spiritual journey song with minimal music arrangements. Initially, "Safarnama" was composed using more instruments, however, they were removed.[7] On the same lines, the track "Tu Koi Aur Hai" is also a journey song but incorporates few musical instruments.[7] To add another layer and texture to the song, Rahman made singer Arjun Chandy sing a bit of opera.[9] The song combines various musical elements.[9] 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".[6]

The record label T-Series had acquired the music rights in September 2014.[10] In mid-September 2015, the soundtrack was mixed.[11]

All lyrics written by Irshad Kamil.

Notes

• "Tum Saath Ho" (track 4) is also referred as "Agar Tum Saath Ho" on the back of CD edition.[31]
• The track "J'aime La Vie" written in French by Viviane Chaix and performed by Arpita Gandhi was used only in the film score.[32]

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."[33] 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."[34] 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.[35] 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."[35] 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".[36] Similarly, Bryan Durham of DNA India said: "Alka Yagnik returned to hit territory with Tamasha’s "Tum Saath Ho"."[37] 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.[38]

The soundtrack marks the first ever album by the record label T-Series[51] to have an online streaming on Spotify.[52]

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

Credits adapted from A. R. Rahman's official website.[74]

• Madras Musical Association Choir conducted by Arjun Chandy.
• Chennai Strings Orchestra Conducted By V. J. Srinivasamurthy

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

• Drums, bongos and congas – Mohammed Noor
• Uilleann pipe – Naveen Kumar (on the track "Parade De La Bastille")
• Darbuka – Kumar
• Tabla – Sai Shravanam, Neelakantan
• Dilruba – Saroja
• Guitar – Keba Jeremiah, Sunil Milner
• Charango – Keba Jeremiah
• Mandolin – Tapas Roy (on the track "Parade De La Bastille"), Cheenu, Prakash Hariharan
• Flute – Kamalakar (on the track "Parade De La Bastille"), Naveen Kumar, Kiran
• Bass – Keith Peters
• Tumbi – Ishaan Chhabra
• Accordion – Ishaan Chhabra (on the track "Parade De La Bastille")
• Violin – Prabhakar
• Shehnai – S. Ballesh
• Sitar – Kishore

Production

• Music producer – A. R. Rahman
• Engineers:
  • Suresh Permal, T. R. Krishna Chetan, Jerry Vincent, Karthik Sekaran, Vinay Sridhar Hariharan (at Panchathan Record Inn)
  • S. Sivakumar, Kannan Ganpat, Pradeep, Krishnan Subramanian (at A.M. Studios)
  • Srinidhi Venkatesh, R. Nitish Kumar, Ishaan Chhabra (at A. R. Studios, Mumbai)
  • Riyazdeen Riyan (at K.M.M.C. Studios, Chennai)
• Mastering – R. Nitish Kumar (at A.M. Studios)
• Additional mixing – Pravin Mani, Hari Dafusia (for the track "Wat Wat (Vengeance Mix)")
• Music production assistant – Ishaan Chhabra
• Vocal supervision – Nakash Aziz, Srinidhi Venkatesh
• Mixing – R Nitish Kumar,
• Music supervisor – Srinidhi Venkatesh
• Additional programming – Hentry Kuruvilla, Marcmuse
• Music co-ordinator – Noell James, Vijay Iyer
• Musicians' fixer – R. Samidurai

• Tamasha (film)
• A. R. Rahman discography
• Matargashti
• List of songs recorded by Mohit Chauhan

• Tamasha (soundtrack) Internet Movie Database