Rang De Basanti - Music Review

I have to say, I take umbrage to the loose translation 'color me yellow'. I guess Hindi is a hard language to translate to English, but color me yellow is horrible ( esp. if you think about the connotations that ' yellow' carries in English!!). Anyhow, my humble translation, Basanti has more to do with Basant( ie spring) and so basanti carries with it a notion of spring. Color me the colors of spring? it does go better with tag line of the movie ' a generation awakens'.

The music.
It is by A R Rahman. I was quite in love with the mangal pandey music, but with this album the ARR I used to love is sooo back :). The album is strange, almost weird, but boy, do the songs grow on you! It conveys the unrest and indecision of a young generation And he is doing what I love, picking out the right voices to support his songs steering clear of the popular.



Ik Onkar : sung by Harshdeep Kaur, it the authentic rendition from Japji Sahib, reminds of the sunday morning guru-bani in the ye olde days of doordarshan when we did not have ten thousand channels on the Indian TV. ARR didn't mess with it, left it as is. Good.

Rang De Basanti: The title track, sung by, hold your breath, Daler Mehndi (and a cameo by Chitra). It is lovely. None of the brit-panjabi-pop, tunnu-tunnu's. When reined in, the guy can sing! The lyrics are part-patriotic and ARR uses the traditional bhangra instruments, the single strand ektara, plucked with the finger and the dunnalli( the double barrel flute) and the dhol ( the drum). Very dancable, and Daler Mehndi does an amazing job, esp the end, which is a couple, unadorned by music, lines. Chitra's shrill couple lines are note perfect ( with a teensy south-indian accent) and provide a nice dimension. This is my favorite in the album so far.

Paathshalla- This track features twice in the album. Very hip, pop-rock number. A little bizarre with its asymmetric three beat cycle. Sung by Naresh Iyer, Mohd Aslam, ( second version has Blaaze). I could almost see a hiked up car with the immense tires on a dirt track.
Love the lyrics: talli hokar girne se/samjhi hamne gravity,
ishq ka practical kiya/thaab aiye kilarity;
Even uses words like alpha, theta and H2SO4, college kid anthem:D. Hilarious. Uma loves it. My whole car was reverberating with the beats in the song. It was fun!

Tu Bin Bataye: the only romantic song in the album, much different from the 'kho gayi meri gathariaya' song from Swades, thank goodness! Uses some of the same ebb and flow of orchestra tricks. Sung by Madhushree and Naresh Iyer. Background is very subdued, the focus in on the vocals, the full orchestra of violins and some nice subtle touches like ghungaro, church bells and echo effects. The song is nice and mellow with a dreamlike quality to it. very nice.

Khalbali: This is middle-east inspired song, full with arabic lyrics ( Nacim) and the vocal gyrations ( which echo a belly dancers movements). ARR sings, but he is good in this song. The two other voices are Nacim and Aslam. This is one of the places the ARR stamp shows, interweaving themes (including a ‘khaalid’ strain ) give complexity to the song, which saves it from a horrible monotonous death. Not bad.

Khoon challa- Mohit Chauhan, a lead singer from one of the hip new pop bands, apparently. Nice voice, an untrained voice, can't manage complex tunes but does wonderfully well with this very simple tune with minimal music. The voice is reminiscent of Shailendra kumar, the same freshness. This guy loves singing, he puts his soul in the song; and it shows. It is a fragile song and ambient noise is going to distract from it. It shows has the unfinished touch. But it is not unfinished, the attention to the small details surface if you listen to it carefully. Low on layering and orchestration, mainstays are guitar which complements without distracting. Well done.

Luka chupi- It is a funny song, not literally. The words suggest a song sung by mom to call out to her kid, lullaby like… however, and here comes the twist, it plays out more like an amateur jam session. The music is minimalistic, there’s guitar, table and flute and jal-tarang simulation on a synthesizer(weird combo, I know). Lata’s voice is lovely ( and I usually don’t find her voice lovely anymore). ARR sings.
The guys’ been learning classical and practicing, but there are a few things he should leave to others, like singing.
It seems people want to be known for things that they are not very good at, while they take for granted the things they excel at. I have a hypothesis that folks let ARR sing so that he will direct music for their movies, just like folks let MM Kreem direct music just so he’ll sing for the score. ARR should really think twice before singing. Really.

Lalkaar: Aamir Khan recites in guttural tone ( it would sound so much nicer with a baritone like Amitab, but, Aamir does a decent job). Love the words…
Sarfaroshi ki tammana ab hamare dil mein hai …
Good job by the lyricist, Prasoon Joshi. The war backdrop is well done, chorus echoing the voice and the plaintive but subdued taan. Nice!

Roobaroo: Naresh Iyer and ARR. Reminds me of that ‘purani jeans aur guitar ' song, which was the archtypical college-dorm-dreaming-of-your-future-song. Naresh Iyer fits well, not a very well trained voice, but seems to possess raw talent and obviously loves singing. His voice fits in very well with the strumming-guitar-and-singing-along-popular-college-hero that rule the inter-college festivals persona, we all know and love. Minimalistic music, very in keeping with the mood of the song. Like the ‘aye saala’ bit. Nice touch!
It is small touches like this ( and the scatting) which belie the impression of the simple- almost rough edges in the album. It may seem unfinished, raw, but its lack of finish is like the frayed edge tweed coat by Channel. It is intentional and very much a statement.

All in all- love it.
Verdict? typical ARR fare, will not do well… Also, can’t wait to watch the movie… with this much attitude in the music, the movie looks promising.
Another Aamir Khan flick?
I am happy :)