The soundtrack "Gully Boy" Co-Opts – but also gives credit to the street

In recent decades, Bollywood has gone from copying to co-opting. In the 80s and 90s, music directors like Bappi Lahiri were roasted for their plagiarism. Since the early 1960s, composers like Vishal-Shekhar have been praised for taking the pulse of the contemporary hit and for everything from dancehall to dubstep in their songs.

The most intelligent thing about Gully Boy who is loosely inspired by the lives of rappers from Mumbai, Divine and Naezy, is that he cooperates with good sources and collaborates with them. The problem with Gully Boy is not with his music, but his marketers. The production company Excel Entertainment sold the rights to a conglomerate like Zee – an irony that does not need to be spelled.

The soundtrack has no music director, but a music supervisor – singer-songwriter of Hindi pop-rock and The occasional composer Ankur Tewari, who is not a rapper but who is very rooted in the independent music scene. It would have been relatively easy for filmmakers and Tewari to make sure that lead actor Ranveer Singh, in the lead role of hip-hop star muran Murad, wants to rhyme everything. Fortunately, they do not have it.

Singh has only five pieces out of 15, and he does a pretty good job for most of them. It radiates on the infamous anthem "Apna Time Aayega", which represents the pbadage to the adult age of his character's character – an Indian equivalent of "Lose Yourself" by Eminem from 8 Mile a track and a film that led countless local MCs trying to write and spit rhymes.

Singh is just as powerful on 'Kab Se Kab Tak', quickly tingling tongue twisters while contemplating an emerging romance. He brings the right dose of sincerity to "Asli Hip Hop", a sincere ode to Murad's love for the genre, and to the "Doori" ballad on which he talks about the income inequality.

But it was not a good idea to ask him to play the roles of Naezy in "Meri Gully Mein", the groundbreaking song of 2015 that turned Divine and Naezy into sensations of the overnight and prompted director Zoya Akhtar to make this film. This new version misses the spark of the original and even the verses of Divine lack a little verve. Naezy was pausing during the filming of Gully Boy and is clearly absent from the OST (he only made a comeback at the launch of the soundtrack).

Divine, however, appears in two new feature films, which fit perfectly into her live sets. "Sher Aaya Sher" is an addition to her growing series of self-wrecking melodies, and has an unusual rhythm for dance, courtesy of veteran DJ Major C.

. Dub Sharma's "Azadi", which the electronic music producer recorded in early 2016, at the height of student protests at the University of New Jersey.

This version was sadly disinfected – the rumor references to the oppression of manuvaad, Brahmanvaad, Sanghvaad and pittrusatta (casteism, Brahmanism, communalism and patriarchy) have disappeared. This does not prevent it from being striking thanks to the inflamed verses of Divine on the avarice of the politicians. The following phrase, "Deshs kaisa hoga saaf / Inki niyat mein hai daag" appears to be a sneaky reference to the Swahili regime's ruling Swashh Bharat initiative.

Dub Sharma provided the necessary information for "Apna Time Aayega", and he also contributes to the best song of the album – the "incendiary" Jingostan ". Sharma evokes the voice of hate-mongers and shouts songs such as "Pakdo, maaro, kaato, cheer do / Saaf suthre chamdiyon pe / Gehre gehre neel do / Dheere dheere saare gadaar khud hi maan jaayenge". It clearly explains how disastrous the consequences of our democracy can be.

"Kaam Bhaari", of the eponymous rapper of Kandivali, is more discreet and his voice is lighter, but his high-speed rhymes were first heard in his video. with Ranveer Singh, after winning a contest organized by clothing brand Jack & Jones.

The album of Viveick Rajagopalan, India 91: Another highlight – Altaf, 100RBH, Maharya, TodFod and Noxious – rap in Hindi, Marathi and Punjabi on the innovative track, which takes clbadic carnatic rhythms and includes a konnakol choir.

Gully Boy features a shocking 15 tracks, not to mention the spoken version of "Doori's", the remix of "Jingostan's", and "Ek" Hee Raasta, a poem by Javed Akhtar recited by Singh. Because producers probably did not want to take the risk of releasing an OST "rap", there are a handful of non-hip-hop tracks.

Everyone sounds exactly as you wish. Raghu Dixit, Karsh Kale and Midvale Punditz's "Train Song" is a folk-fusion song that goes well with them. Jahaan Tu Chala by Jasleen Royal is a sweet acoustic ballad. Tewari's "Jeene Mein Aaye Maza" and Mikey McCleary is a nostalgic waltz performed with a ukulele. And the reworking of Kaka Bhaniawala's "Goriye" by Prem-Hardeep, featuring singer Arjun and rappers Blitz and Desi Ma, is ready for use by clubs, such as Punjabi R & B.

. all that Bollywood has recently produced. Too bad, then, that it does not understand anything by an Indian woman MC. Alia Bhatt, who portrays Singh's love, does not play the role of rapper – but judging by the trailer, her brbady and brittle character might have had her own hip-hop theme.

"From" Azadi ", there is also the issue of unpaid royalties owed to Sez on the Beat, the producer of" Meri Gully Mein ", whose name does not include the name of the artist. was added to credits after his protest on social media.

And it's hard to swallow that Zee will make the most of the sales and cash flow of Gully Boy . This pain is somewhat mitigated by the knowledge of the difference between the production and the life of some of these rappers. Part of the credit goes to Singh, who spent months in their business learning about their lives and improving their skills.

Singh gives back. Rappers Kaam Bhaari and Spitfire (who wrote and composed 'Asli Hip Hop') worked on Gully Boy, . The first has already done advertising work. There have been rumors about how the film announces the sale of the Indian hip-hop scene, but it is mean-spirited to downplay the new opportunities of these rappers. Gully Boy co-opts but finally gives the necessary accessories.