The Original. Review on Paheli Songs

With Shah Rukh’s mustache-look getting negative remarks all over and the promos of the film being uninteresting, the audio of ‘Paheli’ should be nothing less than exceptional so as to keep the pre-release value of film at a higher altitude. But it falls short of being at that level; especially, for its lack of mass appeal. The songs don’t comprise of catchy tunes so as to hold the attention of a normal listener. But except for the lack of that commercial charm, the music, full of Rajasthani folklore, is rich and pure. For (folk) music connoisseurs, this album will stand among the best in their collection.

The Golden Voices

The main lead of most folk songs is the voice of the singers. In Paheli too, it is the voices of the singers that will win most laurels. Sonu Nigam, Sukhwinder Singh, Hariharan, MMKreem, Shreya Ghosal, Madhusree… the list of singers sounds great and so do their voices. The best I would rate among the male voices is Sukhwinder Singh for his energetic voice in rendering ‘Phir Raat kati’. The tone and expression are awesome and they pull the listener into the dashing world of that song. And Sunidhi Chauhan is the best among the female voices and she lends her voice to the same song along with Sukhwinder Singh. Especially, the rhythm she hums at every edge of the song is simply the best. And her voice is as energetic as Sukhwinder’s.

I felt that Hariharan, after a long time, was obedient to the music director’s composition. He did not get carried away by his style of singing. And this obedience resulted in a soulful song: ‘Khaali hai’. Sonu Nigam was at his usual self. There were minor mistakes from his side in ‘Dheere Jalna’, which on keen listening would be found out; but his soft voice is sure to impress most music lovers. He sounded very nice in short sentences he rendered in ‘Khangna re’. Shruthi Sadolikar was apt for the voice of an old woman in ‘Laaga re jal laaga’. The emotion that is traced from the voice is exactly in sync with the emotion which comes from Gulzar’s wonderful https://lyrics. Shreya Ghosal has one more set of great songs to her credit and these are among her toughest renderings. Her best lines are the ones she rendered in ‘Dheere Jalna’.

The Musicals

The Melodious Flute: The soft feel that a flute emotes throughout the melody, soothes one’s senses. Paheli has many compositions on the flute intermittently in most of the songs. In the song, ‘Laaga re jal laaga’, it tells about the sheer happiness of the poor villagers when rains fall on their soil. In ‘Dheere Jalna’, it expresses the ecstasy of being in love. And in ‘Khaali hai’, it evokes the pain of separation.

The Violin and its Symphony: The best comes from the single violin which plays the instrumental of ‘Dheere Jalna’. Brilliance of the sound that comes from the chords is a pleasure to listen. Arranging the Symphony has been hardly done of late with such vividness. In ‘Khaali hai’, the prelude with the violin is enough to summarize the song.

The Thumping Tabla: Against the symphony of the violin, the table gives golden rhythm to the tunes. Especially, the instrumental of ‘Dheere Jalna’ gets magical with the tabla. The table (synchronizing perfectly with other percussions) in most songs will give life to the song on the screen.

The Maestro’s masterpiece

MMKreem (MMKeervani) is known in Bollywood for his scores in Mahesh Bhatt productions. But most of his brilliant compositions have gone unnoticed because of the low-production values of those films. For the first time, he is working with a big cast and production. And for this film, he has given one of the most original compositions in recent times.

It is a challenge for the music director to keep his compositions within the limits of the film’s theme. And Rajasthani folk music is an area which MMKreem has never ventured as a music director. With Paheli, he succeeds the challenge.

A lot of hardwork has been put into in terms of lyrics and the subsequent compositions. And that’s every much evident in the songs: ‘Khangna re’ and ‘Minnat kare’. Gulzar and MMKreem must be applauded for such a brilliant effort.

Technically, the music arranging and sound engineering were at their best. No flaws can be found in terms of recording.

Expectation on the Film

Had the film’s lead cast been without SRK, the music of this film could have been appreciated more. An uncontrolled expectation (as usual for an SRK release) does half the damage and lack of commercial appeal in the songs does the other half. So the pre-release value of the film is surely low; so now the burden of the film’s fate totally rests on Amol Palekar’s direction and SRK’s histrionics. Let’s wait and see!