YUVVRAAJ - A.R.Rahman's Latest Hindi Offering

Anticipation grows high each time ARR releases any new soundtracks, either Tamil or Hindi. I've been his ardent fan since Roja days till now. Frankly i wasn't into Hindi music until ARR's Rangeela song was released in 1995 (i was 15 then), and thats the first ever Hindi cassette i've bought. Not because of ARR brand name, but due to the amazing promo songs clippings shown in TV.. who can forget 'Tanha Tanha' song clip with such unique music. I was actually hooked while watching the clip.. not bcoz of Urmila, hehe :) but the amazing tune, something I've never heard in Hindi songs before. When the clip shown ARR as the music director & also mentioned that its his first original Hindi score, i was stunned. Straight away i bought the cassette from my taman's pasar malam (was only 5 ringgit.. so cheap but good quality.. till now its in good condition) and thats it. I'm hooked to it all day.. even played in my dad's car so many times (i'm sure he's kinda pissed.. hehe). Since then I've started to listen to all his Hindi sountracks till now.

Well, time had passed drastically since 1995. Its now 2008 and ARR had released many Hindi soundtracks, which some had been biggest blockbusters & rated as classics by the Bollywood film industry. To name a few - Taal, DilSe, Lagaan (India's National Award winner for Best Music - rare honour for a South Indian MD to win such an award for a Hindi film). He had so far received 22 Filmfare Awards in his career lifespan, and he's the highest Filmfare Awards recipient compared to any other stars in India... WOW! He had achieved so much but he's still being modest & always experiments on his music without fail, although critics might write him down on certain soundtracks which may not appeal for masses, but still it appeal for classes, and importantly, to ardent ARRs huge fan base, including myself.

OK, lets get back to the topic... many might not know that ARR had collaborated with Subhash Ghai again since Taal & Kisna (2 songs & theme music) in a new movie known as "YUVVRAAJ" with Salman Khan, Anil Kapoor, Katrina Kaif & Zayed Khan. Expectation had grown extremely high for this soundtrack as ARR had composed full fledge songs since Taal for Subhash Ghai's movie. Taal had one of ARRs most innovative & unique score ever, blending both ARRs style & Subhash Ghai's unique taste of music (you'll need to hear Subhash's earlier soundtracks to understand his taste - mostly composed by the famous duo Laxmikant-Pyarelal). Songs in Taal had hit the right chord among common film goers & critics, and it had further strengthen ARRs regime in Bollywood in years to come.

Well, the soundtrack of YUVVRAAJ had just released on 16 Oct 2008, and I've managed to download the songs in MP3 ("My apologies, its not my intention to download the songs without purchasing it, but I've no choice as the major Hindi CD retailer, Krishna Audio in Masjid India had closed down, and I'm not sure where else i can purchase the CD , as the choices are limited in KL Tamil CD shops").

Okey, the songs are out and i have the songs with me... so wat do you think the expectation will be? Extremely high?? Nah... i didn't have much anticipation on this album.. coz ARRs score is different on each movie, based on the movie scripts. Knowing ARRs composing style, the score may not be a solid as his Taal, but will suit the movie... and my assumption was right after hearing the songs. Its not that the songs are bad/average... its nice, but maybe it grows on you after repeated hearings (thats ARRs slow poison). I'm not really impressed with the songs yet. Most of the songs are kinda slow & more lyric oriented (lyrics by Gulzar), which doesn't appeal on first hearing. But the review by Bollywood music critics had said it otherwise. Check out the review here:

http://www.planetbollywood.com/displayReview.php?id=m101608064638

They had rated this soundtrack as one of the best in 2008. The rating was '9 out of 10' which is rare in Hindi soundtracks by other Hindi MDs. I'm sure that they got the facts right as they'll definitely understand the lyrics better and how it gels with the music.

I'm actually hearing the songs now as I'm typing this blog.. and guess what? I'm actually hooked to one of the song !! the song is called "Zindagi"... sung extremely well by our very own Tamil singer 'Srinivas'... that guy is damm good ! His voice is fresh & the tune is simple in the beginning and ending... but you know what ARR did? He had reserved one of his best tune in the song interlude ! The tune is just for few seconds (2:39 - 3:11), but its truly amazing & I've never heard such tune before ! I'm sure that he used the keyboard, but it has a totally different sound, with a soft humming by a lady, complementing Subhash Ghai's style. Thats what you call innovative :-) I'm not able to elaborate further, its just bliss to my ears or you can call it magic. You'll need to hear it to believe. I'm now repeating that tune non-stop as I'm typing this blog.

So the Rahman's slow poison is actually working for me now.. hehehe :-) I'll now have to wait for the poison to work for the remaining songs.

I've thought of uploading that piece here, but i'm still not used to this blog thingy yet. Well you'll be able to hear the songs online (streaming : http://www.raaga.com) or (MP3 download : http://www.songs.pk/).

Well, to summarize it, the songs seems to be situational and will definitely fit the movie well. ARR had done his part well & hopefully Subhash Ghai will do justice with the song picturisation. I'm not going to type the full details of the song listing and the singers, as you'll find the detailed review in the link provided above.

Also do check out the movie's official website : http://yuvvraaj.com/

Alrite then.. its time to logoff now. I'll definitely write more if anything pops up in my mind. Till then, take care :-)

Hello everyone :-)

Hey guys & gals,

Welcome to my blog ! Finally I've created my own blog after a long time.. Well lets begin with introducing myself..

I'm Ruben from Kajang, Selangor and I'm now 28 yrs old. I came from a small family (dad, mum and younger sis, Hanusha - she has her own blog : http://hanusha.blogspot.com/). I'm already married and gonna have a baby very soon :-)

I'm attached to CSC since 2003, and recently being promoted as 'Analytics Specialist' handling major Asia Pacific Service Desk accounts. My wife, Mahlini is a teacher in the Sri KDU primary school in Damansara. We fell in love during our college days in Informatics Kajang, and we got married on January 2008. She's expecting now, and we're eagerly awaiting for our new member to be part of our blessed lives..

Well, it getting late now & kinda sleepy.. Will post more bout myself soon & will keep blogging more in future..

take care.. chiao !