MUSICALISED

A R Rehman's speciality lies in that he knows what he is making. While with other music composers generally songs 'work well' or 'fit' in situations, A R Rehman's music generally can tell you what the situation is.

Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na is one such example where the movie's mood can be guessed from the light music of the album.


The opening song of the album is 'Kabhi Kabhi Aditi'. Don't go on the title of the song, as the song is a pretty soothing number and Rehman's touch is clear from this very first song. The song is a feat in the new voice of Rashid Ali, as the lyrics of the song are fine too.

Rehman and 'Saala' make a good combination. At least that seems to be the thinking of uncle producer Aamir Khan when you listen to second song 'Pappu Can't Dance'. And though I haven't got the importance of Saala in the song like it was in Roobaroo, I can't deny the goodness of song. Expect it to be an instant hit. And the dirigidi-da-da-da-da-daa sounds in the background make sure you don't forget it's Rehman. Interestingly, the song has a few lines dedicated to uncle Aamir's debut Papa Kehte hain too.

The third number of the album, 'Jaane Tu Mera Kya Hai' seems to be a good song that may last long, though there is a little monotonicity in the song. The song is sung well by Runa Rizvi and Rehman's music is good. The song doesn't have much length but has a male version later. Lyrics of the song are also worth listening to.

The fourth one, a very light 'Nazrein Milana' is another good number. The song has a number of partying voices from six singers that include Naresh Iyer too, giving a good listening experience. Though there is not much to look forward to in lyrics of the song, music is quite good as Rehman experiments with rock sounds in a light party song.

Only one sentence would be enough for the next song. The song, 'tu bole main bolun' is sung by A R Rehman.

Well, the song is not like Khwaja Mere Khwaja or Luka Chhupi, but there are a lot many new things in the song to listen to. I can't exactly place which school the song comes from but it has a slight clubbish feeling attached to it, which comes easy with the saxophone's sound. And though the song is not a heavyweight (like examples I gave) but it's not a very light number either. It short, listen to it to know it completely.

The sixth song of the album 'Kahin to hogi wo' is a lovely, romantic song sung well by Rashid Ali and Vasundhara Das. Especially Rashid is wonderful. The song seems to have the ingredients necessary to make a song last long and I expect it will be heard for months. In the end, the song has the chorus effect which was generally used in older songs and has been tried by composers at various times.

The seventh song on the album is a second version of 'Jaane tu Mera Kya hai', in a male voice this time, sung by Sukhwinder Singh. The mighty voice of Sukhwinder suits the almost-only-sad-song of the album well and the song goes a bit better than the female version, even though both the versions seem to have almost completely different tastes after listening to the two versions alternately.

The eigth and final song of the movie is a remix like in most other albums. And unfortunately, like most other remixes of today, the song doesn't have much stuff in it and has been experimented with a little too much it seems.

Anyways, with almost all the songs of the album in at least above average category, one remix doesn't make a difference. The album is overall a great compilation and A R Rehman deserves the credit for that. Listen to it. Hope you'll enjoy a lot.

Kiski aawaz hai, sunn,
Ye naya saaz hai, sunn,
Kaun deta hai sadaa,
Chal ke dekhen to zaraa,

Raah veeraan sahi,
Raat sunsaan sahi,
Har ghadi saath rahe,
Kitne gham saath sahe,

Thode gham aur sahi..
Do kadam aur sahi..
Do kadam aur sahi...
Do kadam aur sahi....


singer: Sonu Nigam
music: A R Rehman
album: Meenaxi - a tale of three cities

If it's the best, it's mine.

It's not a dialogue from Hitler or Napoleon (I don't guarantee though) but it's the policy of the music composers since time immemorial.

When I was a buyer of cassettes, I used to see the names of composers as they were brands to me. And most of the times these brands gave good results, Nadeem Shravan being the most consistent until they gave Jeena Sirf Mere Liye.

But soon the time of cassettes was over and I got digital format, that is MP3 songs. Now I had to find which were the best songs in every album so that I could listen to them first. To remain a leader in the hostel.

And that was when I got my algorithm to find the best songs.

My initial algorithm was made of two standard parts.

1. If there is a song sung by the composer of the album, it should be listened first.
2. The longest song of the album should be listened first otherwise.

The first part is generally applicable to movie albums only but the second one is applicable almost universally.

For those who believe in superstitions, I got a third part that says a song if 3 minutes and 28 seconds must be good. (Dus bahane and One love are examples)

Well, superstitions apart, the first two hold good most of the times and later I realized that it was an old formula that the best songs were always captured by the music composers themselves.

Want some examples?

Let's start with the King of Indian music industry, A R Rehman. Rehman has not sung many songs. But the best of the songs in almost all the albums he has composed are sung by Rehman himself. Be it 'Dil se', Guru's 'tere bina', or Jodhaa Akbar's 'khwaja mere khwaja'.

Other than Rehman, it's been Vishal from the Vishal-Shekhar duo and Shankar from the Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy trio who have given their voices to the best of the songs for the past few years. Both have been quite selective about the songs they sing and such songs have either had the best of lyrics, or something 'different'.

'Aazma le' from Taxi 9211 and Saaiyaan ve from Ta-ra-rum-pum are the best examples of Vishal's love for good lyrics. To some extent, the same can be said about Shankar Mahadevan for his Mitwaa and Jhoom Barabar Jhoom title song.

Even composers who have not been this regular at composing music for Hindi movies, have also tried the same. And succeeded to some extent, at times. Awarapan from Jism and Khoobsoorat hai wo itna from Rog sung by MM Kreem and a try of Adnan Sami at Sun Zara of Lucky have been such examples.

Vishal Bharadwaj has also sung the best of the songs in his previous movies Omkara (O sathi re) and U me aur Hum (title song).

But for a long time I was thinking that it was a new trend and only the composers of this age were trying to keep the best songs for themselves.

Guess I was wrong.

And I got this when I came to know that the song I liked the most in Guide, 'Wahaan kaun hai tera' was sung by SD Burman himself instead of a professional singer.

There were legendary singers like Mohammad Rafi, Kishor Kumar and Mukesh available at that time, but Burman Senior decided to sing it himself. And the result is there. A superb song.

In fact, now a new trend has started where lyricists have started singing their songs. This is about Swanand Kirkire singing Khoya Khoya Chand, even though his voice is not that good and the slow version of the song shows the discrepancies. I don't have any stats on the trend if this too is an old and is being followed since then.

Anyways, next time you see an album for the first time and you have to decide where to start, just pick the number sung by the composer. Hope it will be good.