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Gangs of Wasseypur – Part 1 (soundtrack)

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Gangs of Wasseypur – Part 1 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Soundtrack album by
Released1 June 2012 (2012-06-01)
Recorded2010–2012
GenreFeature film soundtrack
Length56:12
LanguageHindi
LabelT-Series
Sneha Khanwalkar chronology
Bheja Fry 2
(2011)
Gangs of Wasseypur – Part 1 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
(2012)
Gangs of Wasseypur – Part 2
(2012)
Piyush Mishra chronology
Lahore
(2010)
Gangs of Wasseypur – Part 1
(2012)
Gangs of Wasseypur – Part 2
(2012)

Gangs of Wasseypur – Part 1 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack album to the 2012 film of the same name, which is the first of a two-part film directed by Anurag Kashyap. The album featured 14 songs composed by Sneha Khanwalkar and Piyush Mishra, with lyrics written by Mishra and Varun Grover.

When first planned as a single film, they composed around 27 songs, before the film being split into two parts. The composition and recording of the film's soundtrack took nearly two years. The album featured heavy influences of Bihar folk and chutney music with Khanwalkar composing and curating the tunes in Bihar to extensively research on the local music. G. V. Prakash Kumar scored the background music, in his Hindi film debut.

The soundtrack was released under the T-Series label on 1 June 2012 at a unique road procession event in place of a traditional music launch. The album received positive reviews from critics, appreciating the instrumentation, soundscape and variety of vocals, and also being unconventional from mainstream Hindi film soundtracks. Khanwalkar received nominations from various ceremonies at Filmfare, IIFA, Screen and Producers Guild for her work in the film and its sequel.

Background

[edit]

The soundtrack to Gangs of Wasseypur featured 27 songs.[1] Khanwalkar added that she had composed 35–40 songs but had purposefully set aside 6–7 songs as she refrained to forcefully fit them in the film. In an interview to Rediff.com, she added "I can do thousands of songs for a film like GOW (laughs). I will exhaust myself but I don't think my bank of songs will ever get exhausted. I have a lot of ideas [...] A lot of musicians that I have worked with will agree that Wasseypur is not an album; it is a project for all of us."[2] However, the album was split up according to the film's release, which resulted in Part 1 featuring 14 songs.[3]

Production and composition

[edit]

Khanwalkar was approached by Kashyap when she finished composing for Love Sex Aur Dhokha (2010).[4] Kashyap recalled that he liked her compositions for Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! (2008) due to its unique voices, which led to her involvement in the film.[5] As he heard numerous Bihari songs, Kashyap provided her the research material and instructed her that he wanted the music to be like Bihar folk, a genre unheard in mainstream Hindi films, and which Khanwalkar had no idea of.[2]

She travelled to All India Radio station in Patna as "it is the safest place to be if you want to get the taste of local music." Throughout the extensive research of the film's music, she spent four months in and around Bihar—Patna, Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur, Gaya—while also travelling to Ranchi and Dhanbad in Jharkhand and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. Khanwalkar would record the instrumentation and vocals and return to Mumbai, where she would mix and master those samples. For the song "Hunter", she requested Kashyap to travel to Trinidad and Tobago, to which he permitted.[2] She recorded the song in 45 days.[6] Describing the recording process, Khanwalkar revealed that she was fascinated on chutney music, adding "You won't believe it but I thought of going to Trinidad and making a career doing chutney (music) for some time. I was very attracted to these songs, and I wanted to use it in one of my movies."[2]

Throughout the composition process, Kashyap gave her creative freedom while also providing some inputs and minor tweaking to some songs to make them better. During her visit to Bihar and Jharkhand, she met several locals which "got a sense of the sounds around [her]" and randomly met singers and recorded the sounds before fine-tuning them and discussed with the lyricists and musicians to play for Kashyap.[2] Piyush Mishra composed the soundtrack and wrote lyrics for few songs, including some for his compositions.

Gangs of Wasseypur marked the Hindi debut of Tamil film composer G. V. Prakash Kumar, who composed the background score. Being fascinated on the way Kashyap shot the film, Prakash wanted to treat the score similar to The Godfather (1972) by representing the 1980s and 1990s time period through music.[7] During the timeline change, Prakash utilized trumpets and live rock guitars that blends with the era. Kashyap further travelled to Chennai to help Prakash in the music corrections and spent a day at his studio. Speaking to Baradwaj Rangan of Film Companion South, Prakash added "One thing I love about him is how much he believed in me and trusted in my music; he flew down only because he respected my work and wanted to tell me in person."[7]

Release

[edit]

The soundtrack to Part 1 was first made available for Airtel India customers for ten days since 21 May 2012.[8] The soundtrack was released exclusively through iTunes on 31 May 2012 and other digital platforms and CDs on 1 June 2012.[8] Instead of a traditional music launch event in five-star hotels, the team came up with an idea of a road show event named Wasseypur Music Express;[9][10] this procession was held at the streets of Mumbai, where Manoj Bajpayee, Huma Qureshi and Anurag Kashyap, had driven a jeep around the suburbs and the team danced on the streets wearing red gamuchas and has been making public appearances in them ever since.[11]

Reception

[edit]

Raja Sen of Rediff.com gave a 5-star rating to the soundtrack calling it a "a strikingly flavourful and headily authentic collection of quirky music [...] clearly Kashyap and Khanwalkar have prioritised authenticity and flavour above all else, and for this—and the very scale of the album's ambition—they must be commended."[12] Purva Desai of The Times of India said "The music is brilliant and this album deserves all the praises. the music is brilliant and this album deserves all the praises. Anurag Kashyap’s love for music is apparent in this album and it never once disappoints. The album has so many beautiful songs that it makes it hard to choose. However, O Womaniya, Jiya Tu and Manmauji certainly stand out. The music is unconventional and will linger for a long time to come."[13]

Joginder Tuteja of Bollywood Hungama rated 2 out of 5, stating that "Despite it being song-heavy, it doesn't quite boast of tracks that have a long lasting appeal."[14] Rohit Vats of News18 rated 3.5 out of 5 and wrote "Gangs of Wasseypur is a successful album when it comes to catching the popular imagination. This may not appeal much to the lovers of underground music, but it has got some addictive tunes. Probably the music fails to cater to all sections of the society but the fearless experimentations by Sneha Khanwalkar makes it better than most of the contemporary music albums. Gangs of Wasseypur is a fine purchase by any standard."[15] Vipin Nair of Music Aloud rated 8.5 out of 10 and wrote "Yet another proof of Sneha Khanwalkar’s penchant for out-of-the-ordinary sounds that are not always hummable, but effective nevertheless."[16] Karthik Srinivasan of Milliblog called "Gangs of Wasseypur is one of the most original and imaginative soundtracks in recent times."[17]

Track listing

[edit]
Gangs of Wasseypur – Part 1 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) track listing
No.TitleLyricsMusicSinger(s)Length
1."Jiya Tu"Varun GroverSneha KhanwalkarManoj Tiwari5:19
2."Ik Bagal"Piyush MishraPiyush MishraPiyush Mishra5:28
3."Bhoos"Varun GroverSneha KhanwalkarManish Tipu, Bhupesh Singh5:09
4."Keh Ke Lunga"Piyush MishraSneha KhanwalkarAmit Trivedi, Sneha Khanwalkar4:47
5."O Womaniya Live"Varun GroverSneha KhanwalkarKhusboo Raaj, Rekha Jha4:49
6."Hunter"Varun GroverSneha KhanwalkarVedesh Sokoo, Rajneesh, Munna, Shyamoo4:17
7."Humni Ke Chhodi Ke"Varun GroverSneha KhanwalkarDeepak Thakur4:17
8."Loonga Loonga"Piyush MishraPiyush MishraRanjeet Kumar Baal Party, Akshay Verma2:52
9."Manmauji"Piyush MishraPiyush MishraUsri Banerjee2:53
10."Womaniya"Varun GroverSneha KhanwalkarKhusboo Raaj, Rekha Jha5:22
11."Aey Jawano"Varun GroverSneha KhanwalkarRanjeet Kumar Baal Party1:54
12."Soona Kar Ke Gharwa"Varun GroverSneha KhanwalkarSujeet2:01
13."Tain Tain To To"Varun GroverSneha KhanwalkarSneha Khanwalkar3:59
14."Bhaiyaa"Varun GroverSneha KhanwalkarThe Mushahar of Sundarpur3:06
Total length:56:12

Awards and nominations

[edit]
Accolades for Gangs of Wasseypur – Part 1 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Award Date of ceremony[a] Category Recipients Result Ref.
Apsara Film & Television Producers Guild Awards[b] 16 February 2013 Best Music Director Sneha Khanwalkar[c] Nominated [20]
[21]
Filmfare Awards 20 January 2013 Best Music Director Nominated [22]
[23]
International Indian Film Academy Awards 6 July 2013 Best Music Director Nominated [24]
[25]
[26]
Screen Awards 12 January 2013 Best Music Director Nominated [27]
[28]
[29]

Notes

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  1. ^ Each date is linked to the article about the awards held that year, wherever possible.
  2. ^ Also known as Star Guild Awards.[18][19]
  3. ^ Also for the Gangs of Wasseypur – Part 2.

References

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  1. ^ "News18.com: Gangs of Wasseypur has whooping 27 songs". News18. Archived from the original on 8 May 2012. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e Dedhia, Sonil (24 July 2012). "I can make thousands of songs for a film like Wasseypur". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 28 September 2012. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
  3. ^ "Gangs of Wasseypur (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)". Apple Music. 1 June 2012. Archived from the original on 31 March 2023. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
  4. ^ Ghosh, Devarsi (18 September 2018). "Everything is musical for composer Sneha Khanwalkar (as long as it's 'interesting')". Scroll.in. Archived from the original on 14 February 2019. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
  5. ^ "'Similar to how K-pop grabbed global attention, India has the potential to introduce a fresh, unique sound to the world': Sneha Khanwalkar". The Indian Express. 28 December 2023. Archived from the original on 12 July 2024. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
  6. ^ Ghosh, Sankhayan (17 September 2018). "Sneha Khanwalkar's Quest To Find Her Groove". Film Companion. Archived from the original on 3 August 2024. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
  7. ^ a b Rangan, Baradwaj (15 June 2020). "GV Prakash Kumar And His Musical Collaborations With Directors". Film Companion South. Archived from the original on 23 March 2023. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
  8. ^ a b "Gangs of Wasseypur: What to expect?". India Today. 22 June 2012. Archived from the original on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
  9. ^ "Music launch: Gangs of Wasseypur". India Today. 1 June 2012. Archived from the original on 6 December 2024. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
  10. ^ "Manoj Bajpai during 'Gangs of Wasseypur' music launch held in Mumbai". The Times of India. 1 June 2012. Archived from the original on 6 December 2024. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
  11. ^ "Music launch of Gangs of Wasseypur in Roadshow". in.com. 1 June 2012. Archived from the original on 16 May 2023. Retrieved 23 January 2020.[dead link]
  12. ^ Sen, Raja (1 June 2012). "Review: Gangs of Wasseypur is a brilliant soundtrack". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  13. ^ Desai, Purva (5 June 2012). "Gangs of Wasseypur: Music Review". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  14. ^ Tuteja, Joginder (22 June 2012). "Music review: Gangs of Wasseypur". Bollywood Hungama. Archived from the original on 7 May 2021. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
  15. ^ Vats, Rohit (1 June 2012). "Music Review: 'Gangs of Wasseypur' is excellent". News18. Archived from the original on 7 September 2017. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
  16. ^ Nair, Vipin (1 June 2012). "Gangs of Wasseypur – Music Review". Music Aloud. Archived from the original on 10 June 2012. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
  17. ^ Srinivasan, Karthik (1 June 2012). "Gangs of Wasseypur (Music review), Hindi – Sneha Khanwalkar & Piyush Mishra". Milliblog. Archived from the original on 27 September 2020. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
  18. ^ "Watch: Was Salman Khan joking or just being rude?". CNN-IBN. 29 March 2013. Archived from the original on 5 August 2015. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
  19. ^ "Tata Elxsi Bags Awards". Box Office India. 2 April 2013. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 15 June 2015.
  20. ^ "8th Apsara Awards Nominations". Apsara Film & Television Producers Guild Award. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
  21. ^ "8th Apsara Awards Winners". Apsara Film & Television Producers Guild Award. Archived from the original on 30 September 2015. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  22. ^ "58th Idea Filmfare Awards nominations are here!". Filmfare. 13 January 2013. Archived from the original on 27 December 2014. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
  23. ^ "Winners of 58th Idea Filmfare Awards 2012". Bollywood Hungama. 20 January 2013. Archived from the original on 23 January 2013. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
  24. ^ "IIFA 2013 Technical Awards Winners". Bollywood Hungama. 21 May 2013. Archived from the original on 26 August 2013. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
  25. ^ "Winners of IIFA Awards 2013". Bollywood Hungama. 7 July 2013. Archived from the original on 10 June 2015. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
  26. ^ "IIFA 2013 Technical Awards Winners". Bollywood Hungama. Archived from the original on 26 August 2013. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
  27. ^ "Nominations: 19th Annual Colors Screen Awards". Bollywood Hungama. 2 January 2013. Archived from the original on 5 January 2013. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
  28. ^ "Winner's of 19th Annual Colors Screen Awards". Bollywood Hungama. 12 January 2013. Archived from the original on 25 September 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
  29. ^ "Screen Awards 2013: Hall of Fame". The Indian Express. 18 January 2013. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 10 June 2015.