Gully Boy stars A-stars like Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt, is helmed by a brilliant director, but its the music that takes centre stage.
While most of you may have heard the ‘Apna time Aayega’ track by now; you need to watch the movie to truly experience the emotions behind the music, something that you may not experience while hearing on Radio or on YouTube.
The team behind ‘Gully Boy’ had released a series called ‘Voice of The Streets’, which talks about the influences behind the making of the movie. Seven rappers from across India had taken it upon themselves to influence a culture that almost didn’t exist because ‘rap music’ is still very western.
The movie brings to the fore India’s underground music scene in great fashion; and while most reviews (of the movie) say that the rap battle scenes are a bit extended, there is no doubt that the audience will come with a better appreciation for Indian hip-hop (thanks to the hard-hitting lyrics).
For most Indians, Bollywood rap song is something that Badshah or Yo-Yo Honey Singh dishes out. However, ‘Gully Boy’s’ music may mark the beginning of a new era in Bollywood music (the music actually screams change and revolution), and the success of the music proves that you can have great rap/hip-hop music without showing girls in skimpy cloths, fancy cars, without using words like vodka, daaru, party.
I can now actually imagine all the influential Indian Rappers saying “Apna Time Ayega”, and how happy they must be feeling right now with the success of the film’s music.
‘Gully Boy’ boasts of an 18-track album; most of the songs are used during the rap-battles. Youngsters are loving the music, and even middle-aged are liking the foot-tapping numbers (and the hard-hitting lyrics).
Hip hop music or rap music is a music genre that includes rhythmic music commonly accompanied by rapping, a rhythmic/rhyming speech that is chanted.
Language is also no barrier as you see the lyrics move from Hindi to English in various tracks. In fact in the ‘India 91’ track, you hear several Indian languages and the track is a great fusion of western beats with Indian instruments.
The train song has a nice feel to it (you get to hear it towards the end of the movie after Ranveer wins the ultimate Rap battle and the Rs.10-lakh prize), the lyrics has been written by Javed Akhtar (he is one of the lyricists) and you can guess that by the choice of words used in that track.
While I like the entire album, my personal favorites are Goriya (groovy, Punjabi feel, and will appeal to the masses), India 91 (for the fusion), “Apna Time Aayega” (it was a hit even before I saw the movie) and “Sher Aaya Sher” (love the lyrics that puts down the snob).
Here’s a bit about the other tracks in the album.
- The slow version of the Doori track (Doori poem) will remind you of Eminem.
- There’s also a track by Jahaan tu Chala by Jasleen Royal.
- ‘Azadi’ sounds like an underground rap battle with just a beat and a rapper spitting lines.
- There are hard rap songs like “Kaam Bhari”
The success of the music of “Gully Boy” shows that the audience is now not just receptive to off-beat movies, they are ready to accept different genres of music as well.
Also Read: Gully Boy movie review