The Music Review of 'Rang De Basanti'. Review on Rang De Basanti Songs

Rang De Basanti. The music that is here to stay. Yes, A.R.Rahman has done it again. Those people who were eagerly waiting to write Rahman off, Rang De Basanti came in like a jolt from the blue. In a single line we can summarize the music of Rang De Basanti as ‘Youthful moments woven into Melody.’ Rahman is known to be a great patriotic composer and this album allowed him to showcase what he is really good at.

If we take into account all other Rahman’s previous work, although Rang De Basanti may not be as good as what has been done in the past, the quality factor is still intact and the music has made great inroads into the hearts and minds of millions. I think the main positive side of this album is that Rahman has again experimented with new voices. Voices unheard before. The reason simply that it is a youthful movie and so maybe he might have thought that sticking to the old combination of Udit, Sonu, Sukhwinder or Alka might not do the trick. The result, a new find in Naresh Iyer and Mohit Chauhan.

The music has been co-produced by some fantastic lyrics by Prasoon Joshi. The album is by far the best in recent times considering the quality aspect and the flavour. The USP of Rahman movies is that he provides the background score too. This time around too Rahman has done wonders in the background. He has used a lot of hard rock sort of stuff to keep the youthful mood intact. Sometimes you just start getting excited the way the instruments are rendered. Brilliant background score too blended in Gen-X format.

Now coming back to the main album, lets take it up song by song.

1. Ik Onkar

A soft and devotional track sung by Harshdeep Kaur. Soulfully sung and great in melody.

2. Rang De Basanti

A foot thumping number sung by Daler Mehndi and Chitra. It’s the title song of the movie and quickly grabs your attention. It has a great Punjabi touch to it. The song has been composed as a Bhangra sort of a number with good use of bass guitar, mandolin and extra percussions. Moreover the backing vocals are also worth appreciating.

3. Paathshaala

A very energetic song and most popular among the young people. It just conveys the chill-out attitude existing among the Gen-X. It has great instruments in the background with a lot of Acoustic guitar and synthesizers involved. The lyrics by Prasoon Joshi really are remarkable here. A song sung beautifully by Naresh Iyer and Mohammad Aslam. Wow! What a pumping start to their musical careers.

4. Tu bin Bataye

This song is the only single romantic number in the movie. Although just a simple track, it has a great amount of melody content involved. This is a very soothing track and personally I like the saxophone piece played in between. A song extremelyably executed by Madhushree and Naresh Iyer. Also worth mentioning are the backing vocals creating that extra background for love.

5. Khalbali

Again Rahman is upto his old bag of tricks. All music lovers are fully aware of Rahman’s inclination towards Arabian Music. He has done it a lot in the past and this track too boasts of the same. This track has been sung by none other than Rahman himself and he is backed up by Nacim and Aslam. The percussions used are also Arabian to get that Arabic feel. Moreover great use of Flamenco guitars has been done. The line “Ziddi Ziddi” rendered by Rahman in full Arabian accent is really worth listening to.

6. Khoon Chala

A sweet and melodious track sung by newcomer Mohit Chauhan. This track has a sort of Western classical feel to it with brilliant backing vocals and good use of Piano and violins and cellos. The continued rise and fall in the tempo of the song make it more of a haunting solitude sort of a track.

7. Lukka Chuppi

Well I don’t know how many people would agree but this is the best song of the album. If we take into account the melody, the lyrical content and the place in the movie where this fits, really this is a ‘Magical Track’. For the first time Lata Mangeshkar and A.R.Rahman have sung a song together and what a great way to sing together other than a ''maa-beta'' song. Rahman has really induced full spirit in the track and Lata ji has managed to make this track really memorable. This song really is a blend of Indian Classical music in its refinements. I personally love the Guitar start to the song which reminds of Silk Route’s “Dooba Dooba” track. A masterpiece track in its fullness.

8. Lalkaar

On hearing this track I wondered why such a hoopla was made after Aamir Khan singing a song. Great heavens!! This is just a poetic rendition of the soul behind the movie. But this song or poem to be more exact has a great significance in the movie. I think this number truly fits to be called the theme of the movie.

9. Roobaroo

The last but not the least. Another song sung beautifully by Naresh Iyer and his vocals co-produced by A.R.Rahman himself. The way Rahman hums Roobaroo is really worth listening to. Naresh has done a fantastic job in his debut and believe me if he continues going this way doing quality stuff and choosing his songs carefully, he is really going to go a long way ahead. Also worth mentioning is the Guitar piece played at the start of the song. That’s beautiful and worth listening to. Great music Rahman!!!!!