Jhootha Hi Sahi - Music Review

It's quite a while, I just took the back seat reading articles/reviews/blogs on films and film music at other websites or any networking sites. Also there was an urge when I did not agree with one's view on any aspect of the art being reviewed. Still the laziness to get into the comment section, log-in with your credentials and write your views was painful most of the times. One can say this review might be to come out of the silent loop running through my senses.

Firstly, Jhootha hi Sahi's music was painful for me to own, that's one of the sad part to be in Pune, Rahman CD's arrive late. It was very tempting to download the pirated versions when friends tweeted/updated status about the music of Jhootha hi Sahi, but I still waited for the original ones to arrive. After a week or two I finally got a chance to own the CD and the review follows after more than a week of repetitive hearing.

Basically, this album is very urban when it comes to the composition or the words fused with the tunes. Rahman repeated his new bunch of singers like the Jaaved Ali, Raashad Ali, Shreya Ghoshal. Having said that it's really refreshing to hear Sonu Nigam singing to the tunes of the maestro. Also Vijay Yesudas sings for Rahman for the first time in a hindi feature.

I will try to touch upon all the tracks in the order I liked the most.

Firstly, one of my favorite track from this album is "I 've been waiting" rendered by Vijay Yesudas. The track oozes romance throughout it's play time. The wordings have the fusion of English and Hindi words giving it a out and out western track. Even the orchestrization is kept very simple, to mention the Saxophone just elevates the feel of the entire track.

Followed by "Call me Dil" by Rashid Ali, again a less orchestrized track and again a magical track. It starts with soft interlude of guitar and the vocals showers the sheer beauty of this track. A simple track with melody all over, setting the mood of letting one loose freely in air. The lyrics for this one is a mixed culture combination Hindi and English.

Sonu Nigam's track "Do Nishaaniyan" is a soulful track giving a feel of introspect. This track has some beautiful lines by Abbas Tyrewala depicting the life being woven through a telephone line. Also the rendition by Sonu Nigam is good but am certainly disappointed that Sonu deserves something more challenging, if it comes from Rahman's tunes. Nevertheless it's a track which will take it's time to get in.

Shreya Ghoshal and Rashid Ali's "Cry Cry.." follows after Sonu's track. It's cute peppy song which will hit your senses the first time you hear just for it's sheer simplicity, be it the composition or the poetic element. Use of minimal percussion and harmony makes the track a catchy hummable number. Shreya and Rashid provides ample freshness to the song. Change of scales in the verse sounds very odd in the beginning but later it sounds just PERFECT!

"Mayya Yashoda"- a dance number, to be frank this is way better than "Pappu Can't dance Saala" from "Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na". Having said that the track has it's special moments like fusing devotional track into a out an out dance number, which is really amazing but that's it! Rest sounds ordinary, also to mention the Sitar used in between the track, Rahman looks repeating the Sitar interludes since SlumDog, but to be honest it works here.

"Hello Hello" track is the one which seems to hold the inherent core of the movie. The song has been rendered by Karthik. The track has some groovy elements pitched in with all the sounds related to telephone, that makes the song unique. Rest is nothing spectacular. A passable track for me at this point in time.

"Pam Pa Ra " is a below average track, not sure where this would fit in, looks really out of sync with the album altogether. Nothing much to add for this one.

In all, if we compare Jhootha hi Sahi's music with Abbas Tyrewala's first movie "Jaane tu ya jaane na", Jhootha Hi Sahi shows lot of potential and maturity be it content wise or melody wise. The album has soul stirring tracks which I hope will remain with me in years to come. It's not that type of album where in one can find extra-ordinary innovations, but one can, if one wants to, relate to simplified music gelling with modern times.

Rating: 3 out of 5 (No problem if you find the rating as 'Jhootha hi Sahi' :) )

Raavan Music Review

To start with, writing a review for AR Rahman's work (ARR from hereon) is difficult; as ARR's work grows on slowly and there is no certainty at what time his music will bring us to come to a decision. Also the term 'grow' is solely to the individual choice. One would love to impose the songs by hearing it again and again consciously, the other would find a particular song intriguing and would love to hear it again. I belong to the second definition.

Reviewing a ARR- Gulzar- Mani Ratnam is as challenging as reviewing any classy art form. But in order to review Raavan particularly I would like to take you back to the past work in which these three genius were involved. Firstly Dil Se, am still speechless, it's still a cult classic by these three in their creative journey. The songs are immortal especially 'Ae Ajnabi', 'Satrangi Re' and 'Jiya Jale'. Then 'Guru' happened which was a disappointment altogether, only 'Ae Hairathey' and 'Barso Re' worked for me. With Raavan's music released, expectations are sky-high but at the same time a suspicious wave slides out whether too many cooks may spoil the broth. But with Raavan's music it isn't, it lies in between Dil Se and Guru i.e. Nothing spectacular but not below average either.

The album starts with Beera song, WOW what a song, it has all the weird percussion arrangements, very aggressive and the good thing is that, ARR keeps it short. The impact is all over and I feel it's a perfect start for this album.

The second song 'Behane De' sung by Kaarthik and M Irfan, this is one of my best grown songs from this album. What a composition, it gives a faint similarity to 'Satrangi Re' but as the lyrics say I was flown with the song. This would be my pick from the album. It took some considerable repeated hearing but eventually it's now a masterpiece.

This is followed by 'Thok De killi', again an aggressive socio-political song sung by Sukhwinder Singh. It is a fast number with all the ingredients in place to make it peppier. The song gets more interesting when pipe melody (at duration 1:28 minutes) is played after the first stanza. ARR generates more pace in the last bit, the words are spot on and gives a sneak idea about what the song would be. Awaiting the visuals eagerly for this song.

The next song 'Ranjha Ranjha' is a sweet romantic song, I felt Rekha Bharadwaj's singing does not gel well with such type of songs. It would have been better if Shreya Ghoshal or Madhusree were opted for this one. Jaaved Ali is commendable. Nothing much to talk about this song, moving ahead.

'Khili Re' a soft melodious song. This song is the only one song from the album where the melody overshadows the percussion. A slow growing song, well sung by Reena Bharadwaj. This song would my second favorite from this album.

The last song 'Kata Kata' is one hell of bachelor party song. What energy has been oozed out for this song. Awesome chorus synchronization, funny lyrics, well use of percussion and the loudest song of this album. Ila Arun and Sapna Awasthi are aptly used for this song.

To sum up, ARR portrays his versatility by composing songs of varied culture and more importantly coming out with flying musical colors. Although Raavan is not an instant clicker for a listener like me, but with time it might or has find it's place. Having said that ARR had come with a stellar Delhi 6 to which Raavan holds no major comparison, but still keeping the varied plot in mind for Delhi6 and Raavan, let's hope the music for Raavan will not disappear quickly after the visual release. Definitely it's better than Guru, you can trust me for that :) Give it a try!

Rating: 3/5