Music Review: Delhi-6 21 Jan, 2009 06:00 am ISTlGaurav Malani/INDIATIMES MOVIES
Music: A R Rahman Lyrics: Prasoon Joshi Label: T-Series Rating: The world’s singing laurels of Indian ace A R Rahman post Golden Globes. Back home we always realized and recognized his musical magic. Rahman again teams up with Rakeysh Mehra and Prasoon Joshi post their achievement in Rang De Basanti , for Delhi-6 . An interesting observation is how Rahman has cut down on established singers like Sonu Niigam, Sukhwinder Singh, Udit Narayan and Alka Yagnik and is employing more of new-age voices like Javed Ali, Benny Dayal and Mohit Chauhan to good effect. Usually music directors rove in their standard sphere of influence to come up with risk-free instantly appealing numbers. It’s only blessed composers like A R Rahman who can instantaneously attract and yet experiment to come up with something new in their compositions. Masakali clearly falls in that category. Prasoon Joshi continues to introduce new words from his expressive lexicon with Masakali which implies freedom or liberation and also happens to be the name of Sonam’s pet pigeon in the film. Much against the freewill connotation of the title, Mohit Chauhan captivates with his uninterrupted somniferous singing and the intermediate reverberation he gives to words has a splendid effect. Whether it’s spiritual Sufi or Hindi devotional, expect Rahman to come up with the most authentic composition without getting garish like the fanatic lot. A quartet of female singers chants the Aarti (Tumre Bhavan Mein) and though not in the league of O Palanhare from Lagaan , this one makes up for a decent bhajan . With pristine sitar strums in the backdrop, the tune creates a sanctified ambience as one can literally visualize an early Morning Prayer offering. >From bhajan , the album makes a divergent shift to a Sufi qawalli . Rahman >uses a calm and countryside combination of Javed Ali and Kailash Kher for this >9-minute long devotional number Arziyan . Javed Ali continues to sound like >Sonu Niigam like he did in Jashn-e-Bahaara ( Jodhaa Akbar ) though one doesn’t >complain. While Rahman effortlessly adapts to the new milieu, Prasoon Joshi >shows equal versatility in his writing. Bhor Bhaye is an absolute delight for connoisseurs of classical music. Rahman seamlessly superimposes the original rendition of the Thumri Raag Gujari Todi by Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan with the chaste classical singing of Shreya Ghoshal. The late Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan is undoubtedly a music maestro, last heard in an Indian film almost half a century back ( Mughal-e-Azam ). But what’s amazing is how the contemporary singer Shreya Ghoshal almost matches up to the expert with her proficient hold on classical raags . Genda Phool opens as a Rajasthani folk number until a funky beat is introduced to form a fantastic fusion. Rekha Bharadwaj, the specialist in rustic rendition takes the lead with Shraddha Pandit and Sujata Majumdar opening parallel layers of the song. The chorus notes are notably expressive and the poised fusion gives the slow number a hip-hop groovy effect. Rahman introduces a new playback voice Ash King and Prasoon introduces another new word Dafatan (meaning sudden) both working favourably for the track Dil Gira Dafatan . With minimal instrumentation the song relies mainly on the soulful singing of Ash King and backing vocalist Chinmayee, to qualify as an ideal romantic number. The opening notes of Rehna Tu sound suspiciously similar to Laura Branigan’s Self Control though soon after the track gains its own identity. Like always Rahman saves the best (and demanding) of the lot for himself and has blue-eyed boy Benny Dayal for company. Prasoon is again at his lyrical best for this rich textured mellow romantic number. Hey Kaala Bandar is thematically Masti Ki Paathshala revisited. The lines are adapted to contemporary campus lingo and yet make sense. The arrangements are wacky though an interlude comes close to the Dil Ka Rishta theme piece from Yuvvraaj . This fun track should work best as a background theme piece. Noor is a 50-seconder monologue by Amitabh Bachchan though not having much to offer musically. As the synthesizer goes uncouth, Blaaze and Benny open the title track Delhi-6 with a heavy bass effect. The female rapping by Vivinenne Pocha and Claire who have also written the song is impressive. Rahman creates a groovy rocking feel with the title track. With Delhi-6 , Rahman offers a wide array of musical genres in a single album ranging from devotional, Sufi, classical, rock, romance, folk and emerges victorious in all. Prasoon Joshi’s poetry and the vocal chords of new-age singers gel well with the compositions. With no complimentary tracks in the form of remixes or instrumentals, Delhi-6 is stuffed with sense and substance. Delhi-6 promises global appeal, much above its title terrain. Song of the album: Masakali , Genda Phool and Delhi-6 http://movies.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4006637.cms
