The music of “Agni Varsha”, starring Jackie Shroff, Raveena Tandon, Milind Soman and Amitabh Bachchan (special appearance) is very different from the popular Bollywood brand.
The film being a period drama (based on playwright Girish Karnad’s play), its music director Sandesh Sandiliya has composed melodies based on Indian classical music.
The album opens with a romantic duet “Dola Re” sung beautifully by Indipopper K.K. and Chitra. The song has a gentle pace and good amalgamation of musical instruments. There is another version of this song in the latter half of the album featuring the same singers.
Then follows Alka Yagnik’s solo rendition in “Prem Ki Varsha”, a slow number that keeps moving from low to high pitch. Javed Akhtar’s lyrics in the song are poetic and full of linguistic finesse.
Punjabi singer Jaspinder Narula shows her vocal inflection to the hilt in “Chal Re Saajan”, a lively track sung from the perspective of a lovelorn girl.
A similar attempt by Pamela Jain in the next song “Aanchal Ki Chaya” (a Bhajan) falls flat because of bland singing.
In the end comes the highlight of the album “Din Andhiyare”, a melodious ghazal impressively rendered by the classical singer Ustad Sultan Khan. Ustad’s rich baritone stands out in contrast to the Sitar accompaniment in the backdrop.