Raavan Music- Filmfare review

Director: AR Rahman
T Series
Rs 160
Raavan scores from the word go. Beera beera, the opening song, seems to be the introductory song to Abhishek Bachchan’s character. It reminds you of Omkara’s title song, which described Ajay Devgn’s character. Gulzar incidentally has penned both. Let me add here that Gulzar has outdone himself with his word wizardry. Be it the chant-like Beera, the prayer-like Khilli re, the Sufisesque Ranjha ranjha, the rhythmic Thok de killi or the love ballad Behne de (the most poetic of the lot) – Gulzar saab has moulded his words to fit every situation, they are young and vibrant and show no signs of ageing.

The same can be said of Rahman’s orchestration too. Every song is different. They follow different voice and sound patterns. Let’s take Behne de for instance. The song symbolises the ebb and flow of love and Rahman’s music too does the same. It’s as if you are suspended on the crest of a wave and can experience the nuances of the river.

In contrast, Beera has a haunting melody. Drums and human voices are used to bring out an almost tribal chant. African and calypso influences are employed to bring out voodoo like effect. Hats off to Kirti Sagathia and Vijay Prakash for singing this so effectively.
Contrast this with the Sukhwinder Singhj number, Thok de killi, whose opening bars remind you of Thodi si dhoop from Rang De Basanti. Sukhi has sung it with a lot of fun, with verve, he’s not gone overtly high pitched but has sung it in a much mellower tone. Guitar, drums and even the mridangam are used to create a constant rhythm.

Ranjha ranjha’s opening reminds you of the Akhiyan milaoon (Raja) beat but then Rahman goes crazy and adds an Arabic twist to it which takes it to another level. Rekha Bhardwaj is awesome and so is Javed Ali in the rendition.

Now we come to Khilli re, my personal favourite. This is Rahman of Roja, of temple bell chants, of ghatam and ghungroo sounds. This is a situational suhag raat song, sung superbly by new singer Reena Bhardwaj. Rahman has used sitar, tabla and flute to make inroads into Naushad-Khayyam territory. Take it out of context and it sounds like some ’60s, ’70s song. Naveen Kumar (flute) take a bow.

The last song, Kata kata, inverses the Rukmini rukmini (Roja) situation. There, the song was about the aftermath of the wedding night. Here, the song is about a would-be-bridegroom . His friends are teasing him that his bachelor days are over. Ila Arun, Sapna Awasthi and Kunal Ganjawala come together for this folksy song. Rahman uses the Rajasthani vocals and sounds to perfection, creating an atmosphere where you get transported to the wedding pandal.

This is another Rahman album which grows on you with repeated listening. Don’t expect a quick fix, just let go and listen to it on the loop and you’ll be rewarded with something very earthy and original that’ll create a place for itself in your heart.

Devesh Sharma