Traffic Signal is a movie about life and love in a traffic signal. Both in concept and execution, the movie is a montage of people, events and happenings ably directed by Madhur Bhandarkar.

      The music of the film is by Shamir Tandon predominantly and is a pretty diverse selection of musical styles ranging from Ghazals to Blues/pop to Marathi tamasha.

      The album starts with” The spirit of Signal” composed by Raju Singh which is a short piece invoking the feel of a busy traffic signal. With choral effects and a peppy beat, the piece is quite good.

      Hariharan renders”Yeh Zindagi hai to kya zindagi hai” with his dulcet voice and inimitable style. A song about the hard knocks of life and reality of life on the street (literally!), Sameer’s soulful lyrics elevate this song.” Kahin  ashq banke barasti rahi, Kahin lamha lamha tarasti rahi, yehi zindagi hai to kya zindagi hai” A good listen!

      “ Na jis din teri meri” is a romantic ballad featuring Kunal Ganjawala and Yogita pathak. Kunal’s vocals are divine, hugging the words and soaring with them. Yogita is technically excellent and does a lovely job with this song. This is one of the best songs in my opinion, despite a familiar tune, it is infused with freshness.

      Do not miss the same song rendered by Bhupinder Singh (soulful!!). It is so great to hear his beautiful voice.

      “ Aai ga” is a Mumbai-cha song with Marathi lyrics interspersed with Hindi ones. It is a peppy, naughty song ably rendered by Vaishali Samant. Brings back memories of Tamasha!

      The 2 ghazals by Jagjit Singh “Haath chhute bhi to Rishtey nahin” and “ Din kuch aise guzarta hai” are vintage Jagjit. Soothing and delicate, they are perfect for easy listening. I found “ Haath chhute “ to be exceedingly mellow and low-piched, almost soporific!

      “Dilruba” by Kailash Kher is a fairly unremarkable song, its seems to be a transplant from a private album.

“ Signal Pe’ is a situational number with various voices representing the characters inhabiting the film. Musically, it is ho-hum.

The music of traffic signal is very much like the movie with an assortment of songs with different voices/ styles and themes. It is worth a listen for “ Yeh Zindagi hai to” and ‘ Na jis din teri meri”.

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