Tehzeeb impressions

Have been listening to Tehzeeb since yesterday, and it is a curious collection of songs. On one hand you have the "funky" kinda-pop songs (supposedly director Khalid Mohamed pushed for them) and on the other, the ghazals for the character of the singer played by Shabana Azmi. Overall, I wouldn't say it is going to set the charts alive, and the Rahman loyals would probably be the ones to patiently sift through the tunes to pick the interesting pieces.

Meherbaan sung by Asha Bhosle and with backing from Sukhwinder Singh is the obvious star - I liked this on my first hearing, and I don't think I'd get tired of listening to it, atleast for the next many repetitions. Another addition to the Asha Bhosle - Rahman - Urmila collection. I didn't really like the sound clips from the promos, but they didn't do any justice to the song - hear it completely first. As for the others, I didn't quite dig I Wanna Be Free on my only hearing, and have a little trouble believing that Khoyee Khoyee Aankhein isn't something that creeped into the album by mistake. The three ghazals ( Mujhpe Toofan Uthaye, Na Shiqwa Hota and Sabaq Aisa ) aren't supposed to be catchy, so that won't help the album's popularity. I liked Mujhpe Toofan Uthaye and Na Shiqwa Hota including the interlude that played in the first set of trailers. Sujata Bhattacharya has sung all three (I wonder if she is Sujata Trivedi married to Surjo Bhattacharya - both have sung on the tracks of Thakshak).

Talking about the ghazals, I have heard that ghazals have a very strict set of rules about the meter, repetition of phrases etc (from what I can recollect when Niranjan gave me a small introduction a while ago). I didn't take to these ghazals on the first listening - could blame it on my lack of knowledge and difficulty in appreciating them. What I am interested in knowing is whether these "ghazals" obey all those rules, and if they would be considered any good by ghazal enthusiasts. It's a little difficult, I guess, for any composer to come along and create ghazals, so I wonder if what Rahman has offered stands up to these stricter tests. Still, he is lucky to get these opportunities to even explore all these genres (Rabindra Sangeet in Shyam Benegal's film on Subhash Bose is probably the next to be awaited for these explorations).