Musical tidbits

Lakeer

Didn't expect this to have any thing drastically different, as it was known that most songs would come from an earlier ARR film Rhythm. Nachle - Daler Mehndi for the first time singing for ARR - seemed notable mostly for Mehndi's robust singing voice. I've never really fancied the original of Uff Ho Jalta hai, the same for this Asha number. Paigham stands up pretty well with the crossover lyrics, I thought the line jii karta hai... fitted the meter extremely well. The three new songs provoked mixed reactions. I liked parts of Sadiyaa.n, mainly the opening and Hariharan's part. Found the female solo and Udit Narayan's portion quite dull. For some reason, reviewers have been unhappy with Rozaana and Shehezaade, while for me, these were the two I kept coming back for. Rozaana is the first cheerleader-situation song I've heard (a first for Indian movies?) and seems to fit it well. The choice of now-defunct pop group Viva! for the song is apt, for they bring the right blend of cohesive voices required. It was rousing and get-up-and-go, which is what you'd want a song of that nature to be. Shehezaade reminded me a lot of the arrangement from the Bombay Dreams version of Shakalaka Baby. This one seems to be a guys-in-a-car-on-a-dare theme. I found the scatting decent and the mood upbeat and very western.

All in all, nothing pathbreaking, but definitely passable.

*** ARR is due for a blockbuster this year. The first of the hopefuls is releasing this month, and Meenaxi's trailers are already out on television. Immediately revealing something very gorgeous: the cinematography of Santosh Sivan. *** I don't think I'll get to see Kamalhassan'sVirumandi soon, but Illayaraja's folk tunes do tell a great deal about the film. No one else but the Maestro could've done them. In Kamal saar, he must've found an able and supportive director for his music. *** Paap and Maqbool are other albums that I found very appealing so far, based on the samples of the former and the film version of the latter.