Qala (soundtrack)

Qala (Music from the Netflix Film) is the soundtrack accompanying the 2022 film of the same name. Released on 11 November 2022, by Sony Music India. The album featured six tracks, five of them being composed by Amit Trivedi, and the sixth song guest composed by Sagar Desai, who also scored the film's background music.

Lyrics for the songs were written by Amitabh Bhattacharya, Swanand Kirkire, Varun Grover, Kausar Munir, and Anvitaa Dutt, excerpts from Sant Kabir's poems were also included. Since the film is set in the 1940s, Dutt and Amit Trivedi had used ethnic classical instrumentation entirely to reflect that period. The album received positive reviews from music critics and listeners.

Background
Qala is set in the 1940s, around the early days of the Hindi film industry. Trivedi was challenged to create melodies that felt true to the vintage Hindi film music, but not old-fashioned to contemporary music listeners. He listened to the musical works of C. Ramchandra, S. D. Burman and Naushad to prepare for composing the score. His focus was on how to do justice to the story that Dutt had written, as "it [was] a mother-daughter story, and there [was] a real haunting quality to it".

In an interview to Swati Chopra of The Quint, when asked about the soundtrack being inspired from the music of Guru Dutt's filmography, Dutt responded, "We never specifically talked about any particular director or composer while working on the songs, because we didn't want anybody to be influenced. We only spoke about the character and the story."

The songs were composed within three days when Trivedi was on a staycation in Goa, accompanied by Dutt and lyricist Swanand Kirkire. Though in an interview, Trivedi admitted how it was hard to compose in retro-classical music styles, but he still completed scoring for the album in a relatively short span of time. Initially, the narration of the script took place over a single day, whereas the scoring process took two days. Trivedi, while launching his debut studio album Jadu Salona in Spotify, admitted that he almost gave up on scoring the film, but turned back and finished the score.

To match the story and setting of early 1940s, the soundtrack was devoid of electronic instruments. Trivedi mostly used the accordion, tabla, dholak, rebab, and sitar, reflecting Indian classical music. The songs were sung by Sireesha Bhagavatula and Shahid Mallya, who were the playback singers for Qala (Tripti Dimri) and Jagan (Babil Khan). Mallya elaborated on his contribution to the film, saying, "Qala let me tap into a space that was not explored by me on a commercial platform. Hence, singing for this film was like a golden opportunity that I could never have missed out on." In addition, Bengaluru-based musician Iman Das provided extra vocals for two of the tracks in the film.

Songs
Dutt and Trivedi found inspiration for the songs through the story's narrative. The ballad song "Shauq" depicts the fruition of love between Qala's mother, Urmila Manjushree (Swastika Mukherjee) and Chandan Lal Sanyal (Samir Kochhar), an abusiverecord executive, where Sanyal asks Urmila to grant her sexual favours in exchange for launching Jagan as a musician, to which Urmila obliges, that eventually led to the downfall of both Qala, Jagan and Urmi in the end. Dutt drew a visual reference for the song, where the characters were in the boat at night and the Howrah Bridge was visible.

Another song, "Phero Na Najariya", was described as a song of redemption for Qala, and "Nirbhau Nirvair" portrayed the competition between Qala and Jagan. "Udh Jayega" is abundant in imagery of death and freedom, and plays in the film after Jagan's death, evoking both a sense of downfall and liberation.

Firstpost writer Deepansh Duggal considered the song "Ghodey Pe Sawaar" a "sharp critique of overbearing heroes and male actors, who normalized stalking in Hindi songs by violating the consent of the actress, often portraying it as harmless fun"; it was played as Qala's rebellion song against Sanyal, who forces her to grant him sexual favours. In the track, Trivedi used the accordion to match the beats of a galloping horse in homage to O. P. Nayyar's use of trotting horse in "Piya Piya Piya Mera Jiya Pukare", with intentions to make the song more nostalgic and playful. For the song, Anushka Sharma, the film's producer featured herself in a cameo role as actress Devika.

Although another song "Rubaiyaan" was recorded as a part of the soundtrack, it was not used in the final film.

Reception
Qala received positive response from music listeners, who highlighted it as one of the best soundtracks of 2022. Music critic Deepansh Duggal reviewed the soundtrack, describing how "the music is a character and has a distinct identity of its own. There are times when it acts like an oracle prophesying future events. It also plays the role of a keen observer who has a birds eye view of the events in the film and how they unfold which makes it privy to the innermost feelings of the characters." Fellow critic Vipin Nair wrote, "Anvitaa Dutt makes up for the lack of songs in her [previously-released] debut movie with style! And in a year that has seen Amit Trivedi deliver in quantity but not so much in quality, it is heartening to finally hear a soundtrack that really shows us what the man can produce."

Manjeet Singh of Leisure Byte wrote, "Music is indeed the core element of the film, and it is surely reflected in the meticulously crafted album." Bhavya Sadhwani of India Times wrote, "The songs are original and authentic, and yet they have recreated "golden era" Indian music, which sounds familiar and comforting to most". Anish Mohanty of Planet Bollywood wrote "Qala serves as a reminder of how Amit Trivedi is a gifted composer who just needs the right director (and perhaps, adequate time and space) to bring the best out of him." In a mixed review, Roktim Rajpal of India Today wrote "Amit Trivedi tunes prove to be a mixed bag. While Qala's songs manage to hold our attention, they aren’t really all that catchy."

Qala has been praised by new-age listeners, appreciating its "transcendental music and lyrics". The track "Ghodey Pe Sawaar" became popular after its release, leading to several cover versions of fans and celebrities, including Madhuri Dixit. A fan-made male version of the song was performed by music enthusiast and singer Jainam Barot. However, this invoked criticism from certain listeners as it deviated from the major context of the song, which was based on a woman's consent.