Pritam composed the soundtrack to Agent Vinod in his first collaboration with Sriram Raghavan. The track "I'll Do the Talking Tonight" is a partial interpolation of the popular 1978 song "Rasputin", composed by the German disco group Boney M. which in turn, was an uncredited interpolation from "Kâtibim", an Ottoman folk song.[1] Pritam acquired the rights for the song, as he had to compose a nightclub song which should have a universal appeal, and the rendition of "Rasputin" was part of the nightclub sequence.[1] Amitabh Bhattacharya's lyrics also shared similarities to the evergreen hit "Dum Maro Dum".[1]
The song "Raabta" had four versions.[2] The original version is solely sung by Arijit Singh, but it was not used in the film.[2] The "Night in a Motel" version of "Raabta" is featured in the film, sung by Singh and Aditi Singh Sharma.[3] Two other versions—"Siyaah Raatein" and "Kehte Hain Khuda Ne"—was rendered by Shreya Ghoshal, Hamsika Iyer and Joi Barua with Singh. Each version of the track varies in duration, lyrics and musical arrangements.[2] The "Night in a Motel" version was incorrectly credited to Hamsika Iyer in the CD liner notes,[4] while Aditi's name was used in the credits for the digital album.[5] The song "Pyaar ki Pungi" was described as a cheeky and fun number, with lyrics that referenced of the story of Laila and Majnu.[6] Upon release, the song was topping the music charts according to The Wall Street Journal,[7] while Hindustan Times and India Today considered it to be a chartbuster.[8][9]
The film version of "Dil Mera Muft Ka" was not included in the soundtrack. Similarly, the song "Govind Bolo Gopal Bolo" was not included in the soundtrack as well.[10] However, it was released separately on 29 March 2012 on the T-Series YouTube channel owing to popular demand.[11]
Reception
Joginder Tuteja of Bollywood Hungama gave three stars to the album and stated "despite not really the kind of soundtrack that one would remember six months down the line, it is still good enough to ensure that it helps the film's narrative. Songs like 'I'll Do The Talking Tonight', 'Dil Mera Muft Ka' and 'Pungi', though not extraordinary, keep up the pace while the theme track is an absolute killer. As for the one that may stay on long, there is 'Raabta' that one can play on a repeat mode and feel content."[12]Karthik Srinivasan of Milliblog stated "Pritam lets his wildly enjoyable music do the talking in Agent Vinod".[13]
In a mixed review, Jaspreet Pandohar of BBC stated "this is a loud, brazen bevy of songs that will attract some and repel others."[14] Rachit Gupta of Filmfare called it as "a stilted, one and a half horse album wasn’t what we expected" and rated two out of five stars.[15]Mumbai Mirror based critic rated one-and-a-half out of five, stating "What ails Pritam’s latest fare is that it sounds just as dated as the film looks. It lacks the verve and chirpiness that he often captures. Not only is there a strange stuck-in-time air around this soundtrack, it also sounds more synthetic than organic, smug in its space. With such an unremarkable, downer of a soundtrack, Agent Vinod may as well press Self-Destruct on this one."[16][17]
The Iranian pop band Barobax filed a copyright case against Pritam as the song "Pyaar ki Pungi" was plagiarized from the band's "Soosan Khanoom".[7][32] However, two weeks after the film's release, the band publicly apologised to Pritam saying both songs were different, claiming that the only similarity was the Iranian beat used in the song, and withdrew the case.[33][34] The use of old songs in the film—"Aasmaan Pe Hai Khuda" from Phir Subah Hogi (1958), "Meri Jaan Maine Kaha" from The Train (1970) and "Rakkamma Kaiya Thattu" from Thalapathi (1991)—without obtaining prior permission from the producers and its respective audio labels, resulted in another controversy, and Saif paid the rights to the producers and explained this to be a last minute co-ordination problem.[35][36]
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