Netflix has always been keen for giving some out of the box contents. 2022 saw a saddening downfall but surely didn’t step back in trying hard giving some classic gems. One of which is the recently released QALA which stars Tripti Dimri, Swastika Mukherjee, Babil Khan in his film debut and was directed by Anvita Dutt. Both critics and viewers gave the movie favourable reviews, praising the soundtrack, director, script, visual style, cinematography, and performances—especially Dimri’s.
The music of Qala has been winning alot of praises since it has released. Amit Trivedi is the man behind the creation of the magical music in the film. Qala feels unique because the music director’s previous albums have been unforgettable. Trivedi ventured outside of his comfort zone to compose melodies that are reminiscent of classic Bollywood for Anvitaa Dutt’s movie.
Qala, which is set in the early years of the Hindi cinema business, faced Trivedi with the particular task of writing a score that seems authentic to a bygone age but is not dated to our modern ears.
‘Ghodey Pe Sawaar’, which is currently all the talks, Anushka appears in the film in a black-and-white montage lip-syncing to the song performed by the talented Tripti Dimri’s character Qala Manjushree. Originally, the song is sung by the very talented Sireesha Bhagavatula. Not just that, but she has sung 2 more songs in the same film which are indeed appreciative.
Since Qala is a movie about musicians and is set in the 1930s and 1940s, the music had to fit within particular categories. And it’s admirable how the six songs’ composers incorporated intricate details from that time period. The vocabulary in “Ghodey Pe Sawaar” reminds us of Geeta Dutt’s 1947 song “Mera Sundar Sapna Beet Gaya,” despite the songs’ differences in tone and topic. Instead of the Urdu words “khoobsurat” and “zindagi” that would gain more traction in the decades that followed, the latter employs Hindi phrases like “sundar” and “jeevan.” Similarly, the line “hriday ke dwaar” (the door to the heart) from “Ghodey Pe Sawaar” sounds kind of unnatural to us now, but it surely wouldn’t have bothered any radio listeners back then.
About Qala
Qala tells a story of a brilliant singer with a promising career who is troubled by her past manages the strain of fame, her mother’s contempt, and the voices of self-doubt.