I'm back after 2 months gap and timing is perfect. ARR-Mani combo is something to die for and something to wait for lives. However unfortunately on first hearing I also have similar feelings like some other people have expressed: it is below expectations. On first hearing I liked only two songs Behne de and Ranjha Ranjha. Now on fourth day of hearing I have started to like Beera as well, although when I heard it first time my reaction was what the hell it is.... the reaction was also due to very poor lyrics it has. The rest sounds average to me however I hope I will have a different opinion in a week or so.
Here are my current quick views. Behne de is pure magic, a gigantic, epic song. I absolutely loved it the first time. The instrument it starts with is epic and magnificent (the one on website, which ichord correctly guessed from promos to be part of Behne de). Karthik has done wonders even though I really wish Sonu Nigam had sung it. And man on top of this the promo made the song even more killer. Similarly Ranjha Ranjha is awesome, catchy and has everything to make it a chartbuster. Both Rekha and Javed Ali have done a wonderful job. Loved those chants by Anuradha Sriram too. Beera is good, with some wonderful arrangements and orchestra, however what a pity that it is such a short song. Vijay Prakash sounded very much like Kailash here. Great job by him anyways. It seems Vijay, Javed and Karthik (and Benny) are ARR's current favorites and I must say they are revelations each time. Thok de killi is good, and is already growing on me, however it is below expectations from a Mani-ARR combo point of view. Also especially when it is sung by Sukhwinder. It is thousands miles away from what these four people did in Chaiyya Chaiyya and even Jai Ho. The interludes are very good and Rahmanish but again nothing new. Khili re is sweet but average, nothing extra-ordinary. ARR has composed much much better songs of this type recently. Man mohana is a good recent example perhaps. Also it has feeling of some old Lata song which I cannot recall. Kata kata is a total mess. It is currently my least favorite. Lots of singers and un-understandable lyrics. To me it seems like that holi song from Mangal Panday, average and forgettable. Raavan is an album that does not seem for masses, it is more for ARR fans than aam janta. There are very few hummable songs, only Behne de, Ranjha and Khili re in my opinion. Similarly there are very few songs that can become masses favorites and remembered for years like in previous ARR-Mani films e.g. Kehna hi kya, Ek ho gaye, Tu hi re (Bombay), Chaiyya chaiyya, Dil se, Satrangi re (Dil Se), Choti si asha, Ye haseen vaadiya (Roja) and even Tere bina (Guru) etc. Another thing I must say is that this is perhaps Gulzar's worst lyrics with Mani-ARR, barring Behne de of course. I could still hardly figure out lyrics in Beera and similarly in Kata Kata, it seems I am listening to his Tamil album. Ur ja re, the song ARR sang in audio release sounds awesome. To my utmost surprise it is not on CD. Isn't it very strange that the only song presented in audio launch isn't even on CD? Then what was the point of singing it there? I am even wondering was it even for Raavan? may be it was only a song boss compose to dedicate to Mani and not intended to be part of Raavan soundtrack? / Jahanzeb
