Ada Soundtrack

It is well known that with given adequate time Rahman delivers his best, but when you give him six years to make a soundtrack for a movie, ‘Ada’ is what we get. Though a composer tries to put his best for a movie and I am sure Rahman does it for every movie, if he comes to know that the movie may not see the light of the day, obviously he will loose some interest and that is acceptable and understandable. I am not saying music of Ada is bad. It is just that it is not Rahman’s best. Music of Ada is anything but instantly likeable but likeable nevertheless. The soundtrack with 10 different songs isn’t consistent throughout, by consistence I mean the level of interest it generates in a listener and the engaging power of each song is different from the other.

A good example of what this soundtrack could have been if Rahman’s interest hadn’t faded is the orchestration of ‘Gum Sum’ song. When I first heard the song with just vocals (which was released earlier for the remix contest), I had great expectations, the melody sounded great and I was eagerly waiting to get surprised by Rahman’s arrangements to the melody. But it turned out to be a very conventional song with done-to-death beats, not-so-in-synch guitar layers and too much of Santoor interludes. But I still listen to the song and like it for its melody, because I know how Rahman can make a ‘Baba kichu kichu tha’ from Baba into a gorgeous ‘Dekho Na’ in Swades.

‘Gulfisha’ has too many shifts in rhythm and fragmented phrases of melody; it just doesn’t hold our attention in our first few attempts at listening to the song. But once you know that it is how the structure of the song is meant to be and get use to the shifts, you start to like it. ‘Hawa Sun Hawa’ is breezy in every sense of the word with a free flowing melody, soft synth beats, and the windy flute interludes and not to forget the sweet laid back rendition of Sonu nigam and Alka Yagnik.

‘Isha Ada’ is the only instantly catchy and it is obvious considering it is set in a waltz rhythm. Though it swings on a simple melody, the charming alaap, the lazy harmonium piece, Rashid Ali’s rendition makes it less monotonous. Female version with totally different arrangements is equally appealing and Parul Mishra’s unique voice and rendition makes it a different song.

Milo Wahan Wahan - The full length version of background score piece from Kannathil Muthamittal with long tedious interludes sounds too far fetched and slow paced but for those who have patience there are some delightful portions in this song. But I don’t know why Rahman chose Alka Yagnik for this song? As she moves to higher octaves, our ears ache. ‘Tu Mera Hai’ and ‘Hai Dard’ are difficult to listen through. No matter, how much I try to like it, it doesn’t reach me. But still I have some hopes on ‘Tu Mera hai’, let me wait and see if it grows.

As always Rahman reserves the best song of the soundtrack, ‘Meherbaan’ for him. Rahman delivers the song with such calm and soothing texture of his voice, it instantly makes us feel pleasant. Initially I thought the song after catchy hook lines and promising starting, randomly wander in between but after few more listening, realized that the song is pure delight. The instrumental version is equally haunting with acoustic guitar replacing the vocals.

Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na Soundtrack

It has been quite a while since Rahman scored for an out and out romantic plot set in a college backdrop, in which a composer gets ample scope for scoring conventionally entertaining music. But a conventional Rahman soundtrack is always unconventional and so is that of ‘Jaane Tu ya Jaane Na’. The melody, orchestration, choice of singers, lyrics all come together to accomplish one single mission and that is to make every listener feel light, energetic and much younger when listening to this youthful soundtrack. Music may be technically complex but what finally matters is the world that it transports the listeners to, the mood and feel the music immerses the listeners into.

The instantly catchy and constantly looping acoustic guitar riffs - velvety vocals of Rashid Ali, exquisite multi layered flute interlude – structure with no standard structure - the flute pieces at an optimum pitch without airy sounds complementing the velvet texture of Rashid Ali vocals, all sit on subtle beats which hits just as hard as a dancing kid hits the floor with its legs, in ‘Kabhi Kabhi Aditi’.

‘Pappu can’t dance’ with multiple vocals is pure fun and entertaining music at its best. The hooky motifs ‘Thirikita’ and the e-sitar/guitar/mandolin piece, helps in sandwiching the fragmented catchy phrases of the song. The thump in the beats, whistle blows, claps and chorus brings in the necessary campus feel in the song. There are so many layers and overlaps of motifs, sounds and instruments and the song needs a lot of attention to unravel the beauty behind its production. The remix version is a perfect track to burn the dance floors. Though it has all usual elements of a remix, there are some interesting variations and surprises in this track which makes it one of the rare not-to-be-skipped remixes.

Rahman as always tries to make the pathos song ‘Jaane Tu Meri Kya hai’ more sophisticated and less sentimental in its sound but without diluting the emotion. Though Runu Rizvi’s voice is good, her subdued and husky rendition lacks the depth that the emotions in this song demands. While the male version which is comparatively more conventional in its orchestration, has Sukhwinder Singh precisely delivering the emotions in his rendition. There is a beautiful and a very intricate and intimate vocal harmony running throughout the song and it delivers the intended emotions so effectively.

The acoustic guitar rich ‘Nazrein Milana’ is a joyride throughout. Rahman’s yet another attempt at Jazz in ‘Tu bole’ is little tough to buy in immediately. It is tough to fit the Hindi words into a genre like Jazz without loosing the flow in the lyrics. But Rahman has somehow managed it, and to those who feel it is too difficult to consume, Rahman provides a catchy hook with the title line to which all the jazzy twists and turns conveniently comes to an end. ‘Kahin To’ is yet another breezy popish melody which just flows so effortlessly and the soft crescendo towards the end is just exhilarating.

Sometimes a song or music piece reaches our ears from nowhere place and for few seconds we enjoy the part we listen to, shake our head, tap our feet and soon continue with your work carrying within, the mood of the song, we just listened to by accident. Even if you play this soundtrack in a place where people have no time or intention to pay attention to the music, this music will find a way to reach their ears and soul and shift their moods for a while. The music of ‘Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na’ has got that quality.

Kalloori - Balaji Sakthivel

Last weekend, finally I got the opportunity to watch ‘Kalloori’. After one week, the movie still haunts me. In spite of its flaws, Kalloori is miles ahead of other movies that I saw in 2007. I would rate ‘Kalloori’ higher than ‘Kaadhal’. I don’t know why it didn’t do as well as ‘Kaadhal’ did? Anyone know about Balaji Sakthivel’s next?

And read this beautiful review on 'Kalloori'. I agree with each and every word in it.

Remix Rahman's Ada

Rahman in collaboration with Nokia recently announced a remix contest in which we have to remix two songs from Rahman’s forthcoming Hindi soundtrack ‘Ada’. One minute clips of the two songs with just the vocals are available in remixrahmansada.com. In the same site, Nokia XpressMusic mixer is also available, which we can use to remix the songs. With XpressMusic mixer it just takes a few seconds to make the remix which makes it restricting, less challenging and more fun. We can also create our own remix and upload it. I created my remix (without using Nokia XpressMusic mixer). I don’t know if my version is at par, but it just feels good to arrange a Rahman’s composition.

You can listen to my remix here.

Kaadhalikka Neramillai Title Song

The title song of Vijay TV’s ‘Kaadhalikka Neramillai’ serial is one that I am listening to daily since its start. Typical of any Vijay Antony’s romantic songs, the melody of this song is so romantic and beautiful, and though the female voice (the title credits doesn’t mention the singers name) sounds little amateurish, the innocence in the voice adds a fresh flavour to the song.