Raavan : Music Review

From the very first 30 seconds promo, 'Beera' has become an instant hit. No doubt it has written 'hit' all over the pacey composition mainly lead by drums. Starting with Tribal voices 'Beera Beera' sung by Vijay Prakash, Aslam Mustafa & Keerthi Sargathia - the track is sure shot.

Like it always happens-only Mani Ratnam gives such liberty to Rahman, that he brings out his 'experimental' yet 'best' tracks.

Next track in sparkling example of veteran Gulzar saab. 'Behne De' is a lyrical feast. Sung by Karthik - he leaves you amazed with his flawless rendition. Backed by Mohammad Irfan's vocals - the dark song is surely a treat.

Rahman's favorite is up next with 'Thok de Killi'. With sounds of bagpipes and more chorus singing, the song is uplifting. Drums and bugles sounds make it seem more of a 'war' song. After 'Rasiya' in Mangal Pandey, Rahman is here again with song of same genre. 'Ranjha Ranjha' sung by Rekha Bhardwaj, Anuradha Sriram & Javed Ali has mix sounds of Punjabi folk and remixed beats. Javed Ali sounds so different in this one.

With all these earthy sounds, I was keen on something magical like Guru's Aye Hairathein Aashiqui. And then 'Khili re Khili re..' - having sweeeet voice of Reena Bhardwaj - yes the same lady who sang fabulous Yeh Rishta from Meenaxi. Dreamy sound of the track made me fall in love instantly. Tablas are a highlight of this song. Love Love it.

Last track 'Kata Kata' sounds like 'Rukmani Rukmani-Part 2'. It has same feel, but this time its not an 'after wedding' song but a before wedding song. Say Bachelor party. The rhyming lyrics of Gulzar saab makes this sound fun. And Ila Arun's Rajasthani lines in this southie song by Sapna Awasthi & Kunal Ganjawala- makes it more interesting.

A notable similarity I found in all songs that Gulzar saab has created interesting link of words. Most of them are rhyming, or repeating a single word. See.. Beera Beera, Behne De Behne De, Thok de Killi-baagad Billi, Khili re khili re and Kata Kata. Same thing we recently saw in - Paa. Most of the song had repeated words. So is this going to be the next trend ?

All in all, huge expectations from Rahman's Raavan are fulfilled, but somewhere I am not 'that' satisfied with this. I know that story's demand is for more 'Earthy' sounds, but I love rich compositions, and more songs sung by Rahman himself. :( He doesn't have even a single line in this album. Why ?

My Picks : Behne De, Khili Re and Beera Beera.

34 comments:

  1. Anonymous00:38

    Listen harder my friend. Rahman's voice is hiding in Beera.

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  2. We can hear Rahman at the start of Beera Beera. But I'm disappointed that there is no dance song for Aishwarya. I hoped to see her dancing! :(

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  3. Anonymous04:27

    Dude, I think the music of Raavan, whichever way you try to make it sound awesome, pretty much sucked. This is one of the worst Rahman-Ratnam offerings we have ever had. In fact, it is so bad even "Yuva" sounds like "Dil se". It tries to sound like "Omkara", but it's no where close to it. I just don't see the point of Ratnam using Rahman when he doesn't even give a damn about the song. For quite some time Ratnam had been contemplating making the movie without a song and I guess he fulfilled his dream. There are not even a single "song". All of the songs are stupid except "Ranjhana". I am annoyed man, I am pretty much disappointed. I expected more from at least Rahman. What a sucker punch.

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  4. Yes.. I wanted Rahman sir to sing a song in this...
    But he has a song in Tamil.

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  5. Anonymous07:54

    HIs music always takes some time to grow on you but so far I am not loving the music either. Beera and Khili re are great though.

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  6. Sucks big time ! Big Letdown ! I am shocked ARR came up with a mediocre Album for Raavan !

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  7. Anonymous
    It sounds like Rahman's voice, but its not.

    ironmaiden
    that's voice of Mustafa.
    I'm never so excited about Aish's dancing, but yes, the way Mani sir does such numbers, [kehna hi kya, tere bina] it would have been interesting if such number would've been there.

    Anonymous
    That's quite different view coming from you. Always it takes some time to 'like' Rahman's experimental tracks. Moreover to these kind of tracks, I love Rahman's orchestra rich compositions. But still, this album has its own moments.

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  8. darsh
    hey, thats news. I need to find Tamil soundtrack then. Thanks for info.

    Anonymous
    Valid point there. So many times it happens with me that I don't like his songs at first listen, but later I can't stop listening to them.

    Narayanan Venkitu
    Thanks for stopping by. I know this is not comparable to his best works, but its not 'bad' yaar.

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  9. grt songs indeed .. but none of them sung by rehman ... :(

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  10. Anonymous23:15

    Raavanan Tamil Movie Songs List – Tracklist

    1. Veera Veera – A R Rahman, Kailash Kher

    2. Kata Kata – Ila Arun, Malgudi Subha, Sonu Niigaam

    3. Kaadhale – Shreya Ghoshal

    4. Madhuvanam – Asha Bhonsle, Chitra Sivaraman

    5. Moozhgi Vidava – Karthik

    6. Aaruyir Nenje – Mahalaxmi Iyer, Rashid Ali

    7. Chakaa Chakka – Naresh Iyer

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  11. Darshit - Hmm..what can I say, none of the songs are impressive. Terrible let down. I listened to them today again ..only to feel bad for all the ARR fans.

    If you go back in time you'll see that Manirathnam has had a good taste for music. Even his last with ARR - Guru , had hummable songs...! I loved them. YUVA - I am not sure...were the songs a hit?

    Anyways, IMHO - This is ARR's biggest flop till date. Pardon me ARR fans.

    BTW - I like your blog...will bookmark you and keep visiting. Keep writing !

    ReplyDelete
  12. nihalsharma
    Yes, i m too disappointed no songs by Rahman. But hey, have you seen live webcast of music launch? Rahman and Gulzar has created a song, overnight !! Jaa Udd jaa... can't wait to listen.

    Anonymous
    Thanks a lot for the tracklist. When is the release?

    Narayanan Venkitu
    I agree that the trend which Mani+Rahman 's jodi had in past, this is a weak score against it. But lets see, how well it is included in movie itself. on a personal note, Yuva is one of the favorites of mine by Rahman. And Guru was indeed outstanding. But here, it must be demand of script to give such earthy and different compositions.

    Thanks for stopping by again man. Looking forward to hear more from you.

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  13. ramnathr3010:51

    the tamil track is releasing on 30th i heard.. *waitin*... :)

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  14. ramnathr30
    Hey, thanks for the date. me too **waitin** :)

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  15. Anonymous10:52

    Wait dear! Before listening such an experimental movie soundtrack you sshould get yourself prepared first. Before you listen, first read 4-5 reviews from renowned critics (I always prefer planetbollywood.com reviews), then listen again. You may have your own opinion, no forcing in anyway though. But I consider this as one of ARR's best work. Have you ever heard anything similar to Ranjha Ranjha before in Indian film music? This song has brought a complete new sound. Beera and Thok de killi are other two gems. Kata Kata sounds soo funny, but indeed a very tough composition. Behne de and Khilli re are nice but we have heard this genre before also from ARR. Overall a great soundtrack. My pick: Ranjha Ranjha

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  16. Anonymous
    Thanks for your input.
    I think Ranjha Ranjha is pretty average by going through Rahman's standard, its pretty regular sound of 'banjara' kinda songs. Agree there with Kata Kata being tough to compose, and even singing such song that too with chorus, seems extremely tough.

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  17. kumar10:59

    well ARR is a legend himself so we cant say much about his work bt love the album of raavan

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  18. Raavan is a mastery sound-track. I simply can't take Behene De, Ranjha Ranjha & thok de killi songs out of my mind. Simply awesome. Need I have to mention about my Kata Kata addiction? Excellent. I'm loving it. AR Rahman at his best. True mastery.

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  19. kumar
    Legend is the word ! indeed.

    Bragadish
    Thanks for comment. Behne De is excellent composition. Though kata kata takes time to grow on me, as discussed earlier, it seems tough composition.

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  20. Anonymous11:09

    i thought the music was a let down, but looks like it is slowly growing on me.

    most of the tracks have heavy beats so i would suggest to try with better speakers/headsets to get better clarity....otherwise you're gonna have headaches.

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  21. Anonymous
    LOL. nice point there. The OST is full of sound of drums, or say 'heavy' drums. So better keep everyone out of house so besides us everyone's safe :)

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  22. Anonymous22:33

    This is one of the best of Rahman for sure. My personal choose would be Behne de, Beera and Ranjha even though the last one sounded like Sabha sabha (Daud).

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  23. SAMMY23:18

    good songs but ARR nd mani sir did many grt songs than this like yuva,guru...the songs sound weak and boring because the intensity is known only by listening it with the film...i think the film resembles a dark and differnt kind theme...so THE BOTTOM LINE-its not so good for listening but i think it will do good with the movie

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  24. Anonymous11:35

    Raavan started disturbing me.. Love this feel :-)

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  25. Anonymous
    ahaa, Shabba Shabba ?? interesting.

    sammy
    Yes, its a downer in comparison of former ones. But lets wait untill we see that on big screen.

    Anonymous
    :) Great feeling there.

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  26. Anonymous11:17

    Unmistakenly there IS Rahman in Beera although not credited.

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  27. Anonymous22:36

    hey all we cant expect all best fm Rahman. but b sure Raavan itself is not something new. Its same concept fm Khalnayak - Raavan ke andar bhi kahi Ram tha. so dont expect much fm Raavan other than better cinematography which is Ratnam's forte and dont expect another Guru like success coz there Ratnam had an underrated Anurag Kashyap behind him n here Rensil DSilva isnt a good story teller.

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  28. ARR Fans know ....... when you start listening you feel like you heard it before.... but when you listen 3 or 4 times you sr\tart loving each songs seperately....... that's ARR MAGIC...... All rahman fans know tht................

    Love the music GREATTTTTTTTT again and Again

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  29. Mohan Narayanan23:20

    No doubt ARR had redefined film music with "Roja" but now with "Raavan" he has redifened it once again to the extent I have to ask...."What is the definition of music?"

    For me, like most of music lovers, music is synonymous with melody. I have been listening to world music over the past 60 years - I also teach and compose music - and having heard plenty of African music(and beats) as well as lots of Blues, Jazz etc, I have found tnem to be also melodious in the real sense of the word. But here in "Raavan", the African and Blues numbers just end up as cacaphony.

    Where has the nelody of "Bombay", "Rangeela","Dil Se" and "Lagaan" disappered?

    I go with the majority of the reviewers and agree this is perhaps the biggest let down for ARR fans.

    My request to our music directors is too keep the "Melody in the Music", the way Naushad, O P Nayyar, C Ramachandra, Roshan, the Burmans, Salil Choudary, Manna Dey, Ilayaraja and of course ARR himself nave done.

    If 0ur film music goes on in this direction, soon we will have our films without the songs - as in Hollywood movies.

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  30. Not being a fan of ARR's work I was surprised that instantly fell in love with this soundtrack ... everything about it is flawless, i hope the film does a good job at picturizing these songs on the big screen.

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  31. Can anybody tell..... how can i get the end numbering song in raavan ??

    that sumthin called "udne do"

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  32. Anonymous17:50

    this is for
    "
    Dude, I think the music of Raavan, whichever way you try to make it sound awesome, pretty much sucked. This is one of the worst Rahman-Ratnam offerings we have ever had. In fact, it is so bad even "Yuva" sounds like "Dil se". It tries to sound like "Omkara", but it's no where close to it. I just don't see the point of Ratnam using Rahman when he doesn't even give a damn about the song. For quite some time Ratnam had been contemplating making the movie without a song and I guess he fulfilled his dream. There are not even a single "song". All of the songs are stupid except "Ranjhana". I am annoyed man, I am pretty much disappointed. I expected more from at least Rahman. What a sucker punch.
    04:27 "

    YOU ARE AN IDIOT!!

    ReplyDelete
  33. Hey Anonymous
    Yes, agree, that this movie has pretty different score than the usual Rahman stuff.
    But after watching movie, I am convinced that its totally suitable to the storyline. And its good on its own.
    Thanks for your view on music, and on Me !! :)

    ReplyDelete
  34. Anonymous10:08

    Very disappointing album. I suspect that there are folks who are mostly listening to the beat and rhythm and for those folks, these definitely seem good. But when you look at the overall effect of being able to change your mood and craving to hear the song again, these are nowhere close!

    ReplyDelete

 
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