Artist: A R Rahman
Album: Ekk Deewana Tha
Label: Sony Music
It’s funny how a composer matures and it’s far funnier to see a composer who is much-loved to deliverin the most unexpected manner. Creativity certainly comes with a price is the adage that suits thisalbum as we see Rahman and Akhtar; both transit into a phase where they seem a tad bit confused andexhausted – both. In an attempt to invent and innovate, the efforts seem to have resulted in a ratherperplexing and muddled sound which somehow fails to impress.
One note to be made here is that I haven’t heard the Tamil version of these songs and this reviewis being written without that biased mindframe.
Rahman displays his vocal skills on Kya Mohabbat Hai in the bet, ignoring the composition whosemelody has gone slightly haywire. The tune is of the orchestra style but then, the arrangement stilldoesn’t exactly seem to be giving out the same idea. Dost Hai has some nice string arrangement andsome amazing mixing can be seen on this track where Naresh Iyer, Jaspreet Jasz and Arya have donean excellent job on the vocals. The hip-hop rhythm and dubstep sounds give the track a very different flavor. Aromale (My Beloved) has a good classic-rock kind of guitar piece which sets the rhythm andhas a very nice acoustic feel to it. Hosanna is somehow reminiscent of Rahman’s previous work in Roja and Saathiya and some nice jumps and transitions can be noticed in this track.
Phoolon Jaisi is anincredibly deficient and mediocre translation of the Malayalam lyrics which is evident from the mannerin which they verses stand out to be. After all, we know Javedji too well enough to not expect, Sagar jaisi gehri aankhein, uthati, jhukti… from him! A thumbs up could be given to Clinton Cerejo for hiswork on the track which infuses some soul into the track. The arrangement again could have been much better as the music range is very undulating but the shehnai is towards the end is a notableattempt at experimentation.
Sharminda Hoon again has embarrassingly translated lyrics and to addto that, the music is very, very rudimentary with no sophistications and hence, has barely any recallvalue to it. Zohra Jabeen has beautifully lucid vocals by Javed Ali and Rahman seems to have given hisbest to this one with some immensely complex rhythms and tunes. Broken Promises and Moments in Kerala are instrumental pieces with nice orchestration but again, very basic. And lastly, Jessie’s driving me crazy is a track which can be easily overlooked because of some rudimentary rock-sounding arrangements.
To round it off, we wished for something greater with all the hype of Taj-Mahal style launch!
