The Master At Work: A.R.Rahman’s “Yuvvraaj”
There is a very good reason why I have titled this post A.R.Rahman’s Yuvvraaj……because considering Subhash Ghai’s track record of late, (the seeped-in-cliches “Black and White” and the-lesser-said-the-better “Kisna” )the odds are that “Yuvvraaj” will be another Ghai film which will flatter to deceive…..and that should not come in the way of the fact that A.R.Rahman has given us yet another masterpiece of a soundtrack, one that(dare I say it?) might be his best yet.
The last time Subhash Ghai and Rahman worked together was the ill-fated Kisna, where Rahman contributed two tracks and a few instrumentals before he dropped out in favour of other assignments. Before that, they had famously collaborated in “Taal” 10 years ago, resulting in the creation of a watershed soundtrack which is still considered to be a landmark in the history of Bollywood music. The onus was, thus firmly on the maestro ever since it was reported that he would work on “Yuvvraaj”. Like “Taal”, this too had been billed as a grand musical.
Rahman does not disappoint. The album starts off with “Main Yuvvraaj” which is basically Salman Khan introducing his character, as the familiar strains of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony play on. The next song, the one which we have been listening to in the promos, is “Tu Meri Dost Hain” marks the beginning of the fun……Rahman creates a simple yet immensely powerful melody, one based on a steady Western Classical Orchestra sound. On this template, Rahman brings on the refreshing Benny Dayal(Pappu Can’t Dance and Nazrein Churaana from Jaane Tu..) Shreya Ghoshal(and himself for good measure) to weave pure magic on a track which will have you hitting the replay button again and again. A note on Gulzar’s lyrics: The old stalwart delights again… sample this
“Awaaz ka dariya hoon, behta hoon main neeli raaton mein….
Main jaagta rehta hoon, neend bhari jheel si aankhon mein…”
Rahman’s prodigious skill with Western Classical music is on parade for much of this soundtrack, including the next song “Tu Muskura Le” which, in the spirit of reunions, has Alka Yagnik hitting the high notes ever-so-sweetly again. This is again a keyboard-based track, albeit one in which Rahman doesn’t quite let his hair down. However, the track has an amazingly haunting quality, and as with so many Rahman songs, gets better with every subsequent listen. We then merrily segue along to “Mastam Mastam” which is characteristic of the recent Rahman(Guru etc.) subtle melody combined with earthy sounds and a general sense of joie de vivre. The highly innovative and thematic nature of the lyrics as well as that of the song is a standout feature.
The same “thematic” concerns continue with “Manmohini Morey” which combines classical Hindustani vocals set to a simple techno arrangement with the signature Grand Orchestra violins and cellos of the film keeping company. I suspect that these songs will be all the more impressive, when they shall be seen and not just heard. Rahman decides to have a bit of fun with “Shano Shano” which is a very unsual disco track, one which may seem lightweight in comparison to the melodious riches strewn around the rest of the album, but a highly infectious track nonetheless.
Next up is “Zindagi” which is a typical Rahman-soft track, featuring Srinivas(remember the soulful “Kaisi Hai Yeh Rut” from DCH?) whose honest-to-God vocals lend a delightfully fragile edge to the track. Finally, Rahman signs off in style, with the nearly eight-minute long “Dil Ka Rishta” which has as many as nine singers, including Sonu Nigam, Roop Kumar Rathod, rapper Blaaze and Rahman himself. I strongly suspect this will be the final scene of the film, as the melody has that operatic sense of climax about it.
There is no doubt in my mind that for sheer brilliance, variety and originality, this is the best Bollywood soundtrack of this decade. Ghai has smartly emphasized the Rahman-Gulzar combo in the initial teasers of the film.
Rahman had already done more than enough to ensure that his would be the career that would define the past 15 or so years of Bollywood music, but with “Yuvvraaj” he just raised the bar higher….. The only question in my mind is, what will he do next? The man who has already notched up more accolades and kudos at 40 that most musicians do in a lifetime(including the slightly cheesy epithet “Mozart of Madras” given by TIME magazine) has only himself to beat……
Finally, a word about the film itself: “Yuvvraaj” seems very much to be from the classic Ghai stable, with all the allure of grandeur, and his characteristially “epic” storytelling. The film stars Salman Khan, Anil Kapoor, Katrina Kaif and Zayed Khan, among which Katrina is a cello player and the rest are singers.(From the teasers, it’s Kapoor’s character which intrigues me the most, and I suspect a solid performance from the veteran will go a long way if the film is to work….) I sincerely hope that the film is good, because I’m going to watch it first day first show anyway, just to watch Rahman’s gems unfold on the large screen, where perhaps they might sparkle brighter still.
Tags: Ghai, Movies, Music, Rahman, Yuvvraaj
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Yuvvraaj may not be AR’s best, but definitely its one of his best. I would rate it better than Taal, may be a notch below Roja, Bombay, Vandemataram. But its right up there in his top five.
Hats off to Ghai for pulling out this classic soundtrack from AR.
Nice article. Thanks.
Eugene
The songs are really good, but honestly the movie promos, put me off. Problem is Subash Ghai, like KJO and SLB, suffers from an epic hangover, and makes the settings dwarf the characters, to such an extent that after sometime you dont feel any empathy for the lead characters.
I think i will just get the CD and listen to songs. Honestly the cast does not inspire confidence. And is Zayed Khan still acting? High time he is given a retirement policy from movies forever.
Still I do not understand. People lauding Yuvvraaj, had they never heard “Tu Hi Re”, “Mukabla” or even “Jaage Hain Der Tak”? Where is that compactness dude? Where is that feeling when the track stops and you feel a blissful of silence washing your consciousness ?
@labor_day_sale: Dude, my friends are getting sick already of my relentless humming of “Tu Hi To Meri Dost Hai” ….believe me, bliss doesn’t even begin to describe what I feel…!! And by the way … “that feeling when the track stops and you feel a blissful of silence washing your consciousness..” tell me you honestly feel that way with “Mukabla” …?? I may be wrong, but isn’t this the one where Prabhu Deva does some stunts which shouldn’t be played before the kids are tucked in????
I know that feeling, Aditya. :-)
@Ratnakar: I agree. As you can see in the article, I, too, am pretty sceptical about the film. Ghai’s intended grand opera effects all too often turn out to be delusions of grandeur!
And by the way, (this is something completely unrelated to the topic in question) you said that Ghai “suffers from an epic hangover, and makes the settings dwarf the characters, to such an extent that after sometime you dont feel any empathy for the lead characters…. ”
You know, weirdly enough, a similar argument has often been used in the past to criticise the fiction of Salman Rushdie, saying that his characters have magical powers or weird bodily traits instead of having plausible inner lives…..
(DISCLAIMER: I do not intend to suggest that Rushdie and Ghai even belong to the same planet as creative beings..)
I dont know but the more you play ARR songs, the more you fall in love with. It has remained the same since Roja(which i didnt like initially, and eventually fell in love with).
He sure is a genius. Look at the current crop of musicians in hindi cinema, none of them arouse such curiosity with their music, none of them dare explore the unexplored. Everyone’s churning the same songs, loud is not good, can someone say that to the musicians.
We are fed with such mediocrity in music, that everyone has high expectations with every Rahman’s release. They listen to it for the first time, and realise its not great, but the other music around is so insipid, that you end rewinding rahman’s songs and then eventually falling in love with the songs. As the songs composed by Rahman keeps growing in to you.
Last but not the least, please buy original CDs for ARR, atleast he deserves it.
Hey Guys Aditya and Ratnakar…give Subhash Ghai a chance at least. Agree he certainly is no great filmmaker or creative genius but the film has not released yet !! This one may not be great cinema but there is a fairly good chance that it may be entertaining enough for one viewing. Anil kapoor’s character looks interesting in the promos and the music is awesome !!
Kunal: God bless you…. No one will be happier than yours truly if Yuvvraaj turns out to be a good film…..because I am gonna watch it anyway, as I said
Hve heard Shano Shano, Tu muskura and Tu meri Dost hai so far, and i am really feeling that people are really jumping the gun here. Doesn’t nearly sound like one of ARR’s best to me. And yes, the promos are REALLY off putting. So wannabe epic, so stiff, so jaded and so faded…
The sole reason i liked Taal is that inspite of the canvas, Ghai has taken care of the characterization. Especially Anil Kapoor’s which really pulled the movie through. Also the contrasts between the 3 lead characters, Aish, Anil and Akshaye. And even the supporting characters like Saurabh Shukla and Mita Vashist were well etched. This was something totally lacking in Yaadein and Kisna.
Ghai’s movies work best, when he sticks to the plot and characterization, and does not worry too much about the settings. Eg: Karz, Hero, Taal.
Whoa! This is Rahman magic yet again.
I hated this coundtrack when I heard initially, and I even told my friends not to buy this album, as its one of Rahman’s worst. :-((
But now when I hear the songs again, I am learning the subtle nuances of the songs unfolding and its such a sweeping experience for the past 2 days.
Absolute cracker of an album, with so many layers of tune, melody and orchestration with great improvisation.
Give the album a few patient listen guys, and you will definitely fall in love with this album.
Yuvvraaj is now my favorite Rahman album. :-)))))))))
A new feather in the hat of The Poet here…
Zindagi zindagi, kya kami rah gayi,
aankh ki kor mein, kyu nami rah gayi…
tere bina badi pyasi hai, tere bina hai pyasi re,
naino ki do sakhiya hai…tanha ri…
tu muskura jaha bhi hai tu muskura
tu dhoop ki tarah badan ko chu zara…
sharir si ye muskurahate teri
badan mein sunati hu mein aahate teri…
tez chalti hai havao ki saanse,
mujako baahon mein lapet ke chhupa le…
teri aankho ki hasi loriyon mein
mai badan ko bichhau tu sula de…
Awaaz ka dariya hoon, behta hoon main neeli raaton mein….
Main jaagta rehta hoon, neend bhari jheel si aankhon mein…
bheje mein bhauchal hai,
pairo mein patal hai,
dil ka ahevaal le ke aaye….
billi ki khaal hai,
cheete ki chaal hai,
dham dham dhamal le ke aaye….
mahobbat to jaha dhua vua uthe vahi hoti hai,
jaha agan lagan vagan lage vahi hoti hai…
I guess i haven’t yet connected with this album….
So, it doesn’t sound as his best. But it is definitely better than the rest of the nonsense you hear nowadays…
The best is the Zindagi song….lovely tune with great vocals…I have heard it umpteen times and feel like listening to it again…..if you are down and out…listen to that song….hats off to Gulzar saab….immortal genius…wah!!
Dil ka Rishta is like a never heard song before in Hindi cinema….overall its like a Rahman album…not good initially, but catches you slowly like Vodka -;)
@Sarang: I too felt quite disappointed at first! Except ‘Dil Ka Rishta’ and ‘Manmohini’ nothing was pretty much good. But now I love ‘Tu Muskura’ and ‘Zindagi’ and ‘Tu meri dost hai’.
Trust me, give the album a little time and it will capture you
@Sridhar: Zindagi is actually fantastic. After very long Srinivas comes in an ARR hindi album.
Hear 1.57 – 2.20 in Tu muskura… Awesome!!! Frankly, i would have rewound this around 50 times..
A very good and timely article Aditya!
Hey Abhishek….Just shakeup…U just answered like you were the one who’s written this post…jus 4 a sec I thought it was u…then realised it was Aditya…Good writeup Aditya…Rahman has touched you!! so, you become?
naaaa…its something related to music…think…
@Sivakumar and others: Always glad to listen from fellow Rahman aficionados……
@Sridhar: Not sure what to make of the comment, honestly….
Whenever Apna Subbu makes a movie with title based on cricketer, it works :-)
Kalicharan, Vishwanath. So Yuvraaj may just work. But Yuvi himself not in form who knows, this may tank too :-)
@Vishesh: Lolz!!!
Easily the most astute cinematic observation I have read in some time now …
Completely hooked since last night. I see no one is talking much of shano-shano.. there is a great piece of music somewhere at 2:39 .. too good.. My personal fav, ‘Dil Ka Rishta’..mashallah…
hey Vishesh….that is just awesome. best joke i ever read on PFC
great album… typically rahman, as it grows steadily on you; taking you to a completely different world; gem of an album; zindagi in particular is outo f the world composition…
I liked “Zindgi” the most, the best I heard this year.
rehman aur gulzar hain to yuvraj ko ek bar to suna hi ja sakta hai…tuhi to meri dost hai
Really? ARR’s best???
I could not even finish one hearing!
hey guys its surely ARR best album till date. May be Ghajini album could overtake it. You need some patience and bit of concentration to know the best things abt this album. give two or three listenings and you will start to love this songs.
@Syed: It’s interesting that you mention Gulzar, because genius loves company….. and this album is a perfect example of this
@ravptor: Awwww….that’s too bad,mate…. but surely Rahman deserves another shot..