Bohurupi (soundtrack)

Bohurupi
Soundtrack album by Anupam Roy, Bonnie Chakraborty, Arnab Dutta, Noni Chora Das Baul, Silajit Majumdar
Released	October 8, 2024 (2024-10-08)
Recorded	2024
Studio	Studio Bandish, Kolkata Asha Creations TAG Institute (Mumbai)
Genre	Film soundtrack
Length	28:20
Language	Bengali
Label	WINDOWS, Times Music Bangla
Producer	Anupam Roy, Bonnie Chakraborty, Arnab Dutta, Noni Chora Das Baul, Silajit Majumdar
External audio Audio Jukebox on YouTube
Singles from Bohurupi
"Shimul Polash" Released: 13 September 2024 "Aj Shara Bela" Released: 20 September 2024 "Dakatiya Banshi" Released: 25 September 2024 "Tui Amar Hoye Ja" Released: 5 October 2024 "Tui Kyane Eli Sarobore" Released: 23 October 2024

Bohurupi is the soundtrack album, composed by Anupam Roy, Bonnie Chakraborty, Arnab Dutta, Noni Chora Das Baul and Silajit Majumder to the 2024 Bengali film of the same name, directed by Nandita Roy and Shiboprosad Mukherjee starring Abir Chatterjee, Ritabhari Chakraborty, Koushani Mukherjee and Shiboprosad Mukherjee himself in lead roles. The film is also produced by Roy and Mukherjee under their banner of WINDOWS.

The soundtrack features seven songs with lyrics having been penned by the composers themselves in their tracks. The album preceded with five singles— "Shimul Polash", "Aj Shara Bela", "Dakatiya Banshi" and "Tui Amar Hoye Ja" and "Tui Kyane Eli Sarobare" before its release in its entirety on 31 October 2024.

According to Bonnie Chakraborty, the film is a "culture-based folklore film in musical context" and wanted the music to be "rooted in the traditions of the Bohurupi artists". To attempt, what the crew had envisioned, both the film score and original songs were composed using folk instruments and folk musicians were roped in for the songs (excepting "Aj Shara Bela" and "Tui Amar Hoye Ja").

Background

When Bohurupi was announced on 27 February 2024, Anupam Roy and Bonnie Chakraborty was revealed to be associated with the film as its composer, in the former's sixth collaboration with the director duo after working on Bela Seshe (2015), Praktan (2016), Posto (2017), Konttho (2019) and Bela Shuru (2022), while the latter in his maiden collaboration with them. As a guest composer, Silajit Majumder was revealed to be included in the team in March 2024.

Development

Shiboprosad Mukherjee decided to bring the folk music as an integral part of the script while writing, whereas Bonnie Chakraborty, one of the composers, added that the music in the film including its score, is different for other films he had composed. He brought in nearly 20–25 musicians. For the film, multiple Bohurupi and Baul groups who play instruments such as Ektara, Dotara, Dhol, Madol and Damru, performed the music, so as to give importance to the folk music in West Bengal.

Noni Chora Das Baul, one of the Bohurupi artists, was included in the film as a composer. He penned two songs of the soundtrack, one was "Shimul Polash", which was also composed by him, and the other one was "Dakatiya Banshi", for which he associated with Chakraborty. The latter song also had lyrics by Anindya Bose, while a poetic part was written by Das. Nearly 30 hours of recording were used for the film's background score, for which Chakraborty excited him more than the songs, as "there is immense scope for experimentation". He combined flute with drums, so that the sound of the latter would dominate the flute music, and also used Bass guitar which served as the "key in producing the scream-like sound". He programmed into the western music to elevate the cinematic experience.

The song "Tui Kyane Eli Sarobore", composed by Silajit Majumder, contained extracts from the Manasamangal Kāvya, the oldest of the Bengali Mangal-Kāvyas. On composing the song, Majumder revealed that it would be chronicling the establishment of the snake-goddess Devi Manasa's worship in Bengal.

Music video

The songs were choreographed by Mangesh aka Maggy. "Shimul Polash" was the first song of the film to be shot. The filming of the song took place at Aushgram in Bardhaman district on 13 March 2024. The song was a portrayal of the marriage sequence of Bikram Pramanik (Shiboprosad) and Jhimli (Koushani), which was shot at an ancient teracotta temple in front of the Rajbari. Having an inclusion of a dance sequence, the song was challenging for Shiboprosad as he performed it just after recovering from his lumbar injury, which itself happened while shooting of a major action sequences. In an interview to Hindustan Times, Koushani mentioned that she joined pottery sessions by some potters to learn to prepare mud utensils for the song. She also added about the difficulties of shooting a dance sequence in soft mud as it was challenging to maintain balance on it in order to justify the sequences of the song.

The song "Aj Shara Bela" was begun filming in April 2024. At the music launch event of the song, Ritabhari Chakraborty revealed that her bathing scene was shot in the dalan of an old house.

The song "Dakatiya Banshi", which denotes Koushani's intro in the film, took 8 hours to shoot. For this specific song, a set was constructed with utmost plethora of enthusiasm in April 2024. In an interview to Anandabazar Patrika, she informed that she rehearsed the song in a few weeks, in the gaps between the shooting schedule.

Release

The first song "Shimul Palash", composed by Noni Chora Das Baul and Bonnie Chakraborty with lyrics by the former. Sung by Shrestha Das and Noni Chora Das Baul himself, the song with influences from "folk" and "baul" music was released on 13 September 2024. The second single was the Anupam Roy composition "Aj Shara Bela", sung by Shreya Ghoshal, was released on 20 September 2024. The third single was "Dakatiya Banshi", promoted as the "biggest item number of the year", was released on 25 September 2024. Written by Anindya Bose and Noni Chora Das Baul, it was performed by Shrestha Das and had composition by Chakraborty. The fourth single "Tui Amar Hoye Ja" was released on 5 October 2024, composed and sung by Arnab Dutta, along with Shrestha Das.

The fifth song, which was featured in the climax, "Tui Kyane Eli Sarobore", was released on 23 October 2024. It was composed and sung by Silajit Majumder, along with Sukanya Chattopadhyay.

Pre-release business

The music rights of the film have been acquired by Junglee Music for ₹50 lakhs. This was the first time in the Bengali film industry, that the music rights of a film has been sold for such a high amount.

Track listing

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Shimul Palash"	Noni Chora Das Baul	Noni Chora Das Baul, Bonnie Chakraborty	Shrestha Das, Noni Chora Das Baul, Bonnie Chakraborty	5:38
2.	"Aj Shara Bela"	Anupam Roy	Anupam Roy	Shreya Ghoshal	5:16
3.	"Dakatiya Banshi"	Anindya Bose, Noni Chora Das Baul	Bonnie Chakraborty	Shrestha Das, Noni Chora Das Baul, Bonnie Chakraborty	3:56
4.	"Tui Amar Hoye Ja"	Arnab Dutta	Arnab Dutta	Arnab Dutta, Shreshtha Das	5:16
5.	"Tui Kyane Eli Sarobore"	Silajit Majumdar and Extracts from Manasamangal Kāvya	Silajit Majumdar	Silajit Majumdar, Sukanya Chattopadhyay	5:09
Total length:					25:15

Background score

Bohurupi
Film score by Bonnie Chakraborty
Released	31 October 2024
Recorded	2024
Studio	Studio Bandish
Genre	Film score
Length	7:09
Language	Bengali
Label	WINDOWS, Times Music Bangla
Producer	Bonnie Chakraborty

The film further featured two songs in the background score, that was released as a separate album on 31 October 2024 by Times Music Bangla. A medley version was also used as its score in the post-credit scene, while it was not included in the album. It was released on 1 November 2024, coinciding with the 25th day of the film's release.

Score list

No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Bohurupi Theme 1"	Noni Chora Das Baul	Tamal Kanti Halder	2:08
2.	"Bohurupi Theme 2"		Sudipto Paul	0:57
3.	"Bohurupi Medley"		Bonnie Chakraborty, Noni Chora Das Baul, Shrestha Das	4:04
Total length:				7:09

Reception

A. R. Rahman twitted in his X-handle, expressing his reaction towards the song "Shimul Polash". He bade Bonnie Chakraborty and Noni Chora Das Baul for the creation. On Rahman's regards, Shiboprosad Mukherjee said in an interview to Aajkaal, "Of the one whose songs we grew up listening to, we are overwhelmed by the love and congratulations".

Critical response

The music received critical praise for the composition and instrumentation, which captured the ethnicity of folklore and the traditions. Snigdha Dey of Aajkal said that the soundtrack represents the ethos of the land. A reporter from Aaj Tak reviewed the song "Shimul Polash" and wrote "The song 'Tapa Tini' from Nandita-Shiboprosad's Bela Shuru used to resonate with people. Just like that, the audience got a gift of a wedding song again."