A Rave-Worthy Effort The Rahman-Ratnam-Gulzar combo strikes gold again with the music of the eagerly awaited `Raavan'. A heady mixture of energy and innovation the music of Raavan does not disappoint. It ranks, along with Ishqiya, as the best album of 2010 so far, and will probably end up within the top five of the year
By Suprateek Chatterjee Posted On Tuesday, April 27, 2010 at 05:28:41 PM Album: Raavan Music: A R Rahman Released by: T-Series Rating: * * * * (out of 5) Being A R Rahman can't be easy. It's one thing to be competing with the best in the business, but when the toughest competitor around is yourself, that's when things get worse. The maestro is back with one of the most awaited albums of the year, Raavan, where he collaborates with director Mani Ratnam and lyricist Gulzar (the three of them can safely be said to constitute the Holy Trinity of Bollywood music). It's only natural, then, to approach an album like this with super-high expectations and, sure enough, the music of Raavan does not disappoint. It ranks, along with Ishqiya, as the best album of 2010 so far, and will probably end up within the top five of the year. Is it Rahman's best? No, but it comes close. The music of Raavan is earthy, percussive and full of imaginative arrangements, but it doesn't scale the same heights as Roja, Bombay, Dil Se or even Delhi-6. It's clear that many of the songs are made for the screen, and will appeal more to some listeners once the videos or the movie itself is out. That said, this is one hell of a Rahman sucker-punch that should keep listeners hooked (this reviewer listened to the entire album thrice in the same day). The album opens with the eminently hummable `Beera', which is clearly an ode to the titular character Beera essayed by Abhishek Bachchan. Sung by Kirti Sagathia and Vijay Prakash, this one has chartbuster written all over it and has a nice folk-rock vibe. The second track, `Behne De', is an aggressive tour-de-force for singer Karthik who gets just the right amount of angst in his vocals. With arrangements that include lush strings, a choir, electronic synth leads and a deliciously angry electric guitar riff, one can already imagine an adrenaline-pumping montage cut to this brilliant track in the film. This level of energy is carried over to the next track, `Thok De Killi'. Here, Gulzar's lyrics take centre-stage with lines that speak of revolution and violence, and, really, who better than Sukhwinder Singh to convey that feel, right? The singer goes all out, while Rahman keeps pace with some impressive orchestral arrangements. This leads to the magnum opus of the album, `Ranjha Ranjha'. Sung by Rekha Bharadwaj, Javed Ali and Anuradha Sriram, this song packs a wallop imagine `Maiyya Maiyya' from Guru combined with `Liquid Dance' from Slumdog Millionaire. Gulzar's poetry scales new heights sample the line `jalti raakh laga ley maathey lagey toh chandan hoy' and when the delectably fuzzy bass kicks in, your foot will start tapping of its own accord no matter where you are at that moment. Rekha Bharadwaj's delectably silken vocals come once again in the next song, a soft and romantic semi-classical number, `Khili Re'. While Rahman's arrangements are interesting, the song doesn't compare to a `Badi Dheere Jali' (from Ishqiya) in terms of creating an atmosphere; however, after the aggressive gale-force nature of the tracks preceding it, this one comes as a pleasant zephyr. The album ends with the heavily percussive `Kata Kata', whose lyrics compare a bachelor getting married to a lamb headed for slaughter. Sung with tremendous energy by Ila Arun, Sapna Awasthi and Kunal Ganjawala, this is one song that will look and sound better on screen than it does on the album. The good news: Rahman's only getting better with age. His music is growing more complex in terms of arrangements and the production quality is par excellence. Some might complain that the music of Raavan doesn't have as much melodic strength as, say, a Lagaan, which is absolutely true. However, the music has to fit the film, and in that regard, Rahman has hit the bulls-eye as usual. The Holy Trinity can rack up another notch to their credit. http://www.mumbaimirror.com/article/135/20100427201004271728412599b05c361/A-RaveWorthy-Effort.html
