Pritam, Jim Satya & Prasad Sashte have secured themselves the National Award for Best background score of the year with his Barfi score. It has soul stirring leitmotifs (mostly derived from the melodies of the songs) and breathtaking incidental chase-action cues that seamlessly capture all the shifts and cuts in the action and aptly recurring thematic ideas throughout the film.
For Barfi to work, score should work as much as Ranbir’s performance and it sure does.
Just like the film, the score is heavily inspired by the music of Silent film era and European films. I don’t know when was the last time I saw an Indian film with so many long silent visual montages that rely totally on music. Composers beautifully capture with the music every little mood changeover in all of these long stretches of silent montages.
There is so much more to say about this score. I want to watch the film again. I can’t wait for the DVD. I hope they release the background score separately on CD. That Barfi background score is heavily inspired is quite evident, but I hope the cues and motifs weren't blatantly lifted from some foreign films.
30 Cues from Barfi background score. Runs for almost 45 minutes. I couldn’t post many other cues (at least another 20 minutes) because of the overlapping dialogues; the audio clips might spoil the film for those who haven’t seen it yet.
Picture Shuru
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