Mani Ratnam is back after Yuva, along with A.R. Rehman and Abhishek Bachchan. And this time, we have Aishwarya, Madhavan, and Mithun added in the mix too. A most awaited movie, the music was also most awaited. Does it match up to ARR/Mani Ratnam standards? Read this short peice to find out.
The album opens with Barso Re, another song about rain by ARR, sung very well by Shreya Ghosal. There is a singature “nanna re nanna re”, which is addictive, but sounds like you heard it somewhere. It is vintage ARR song, in the league of his other rain songs, like the one from Lagaan. It grown on you with time. Nice opening to the album.
Tere Bina, sung by ARR is in one word, fabulous. It is a classic, probably beating his tunes in RDB. This is ARR at his best, both at vocals and melody, and great lyrics by Gulzar Saab. Again there is a signature tune, “dam dara dam dara mast mast”, which you keep humming for long. The female voice supporting ARR is sweeter than sugar!
I remember its a mini review, but I had to explain the two best songs in the album!
I am onto the third song, Ek lo Ek muft, sung extremely aptly by Bappi Lahiri. Its a “lafanga, drunk” song, which brings a smile to your face, and makes you “jhoomofy” like a drunk. Typical earthy song, with “desi” beats. Sample the words “Babu Bhai Pranam, Raju Bhai Salaam, Kanta Ben Ramram”. Great variety here in the album.
Mayya, the next song, is unlike any other song you have heard in Guru so far, it is in the league of the dark item songs. I noticed an interlude from Asoka here, which also ends the song! Looks like Mallika Sherawat will be making this song memorable. The song is likeable, but not in the league of the previous three. It is more in the league of Khalbali.
And what a great song to follow the average Mayya. Aye Hairathe, sung by Hariharan and Alka Yagnik, is another masterpiece in every sense of the word. The song begins with the Tere Bina tunes, and is interspersed with the siganture line from that song “dum dara dum dara”. Great earthy classical melody, and the 2nd best song in the album.
Baazi Laga, is a situational song to celebrate money and hard work. This one has the same tempo and feel as Chori Pe Chori from Sathiya, and is enjoyable. It will surely be best viewed in the movie. A fast paced song, well sung and arranged.
Which brings us to the last song in the album, Jaage Hain. It is a minimum arrangements song, more of a theme music, sombre, soothing and melodious. ARR comes in the middle of the song, beginnning at a low pitch and dark voice, and then elevates the proceedings. Must mention the lyrics here, just amazing. The most fitting way to end a great album.
So, to sum up, except Mayya, all the songs are praiseworthy, and different from each other. I would be tempted to say this is better than Rang De Basanti. All the songs complement the main theme and setting of the movie, and you can actually imagine where the song would be palced in the movie.
Buy this CD folks, its one helluva score. And to entice you even further, it inlcludes 5 great Rahman hits from his previous films.
The Nth Eye 
Great review dude..
chk out my review too
askbabloo.blogspot.com
checked it out man, and looks like we have the same opinion!
Great review, sounds like we are on the same wavelength. A R Rahman aka the master aka the king is still on rule. The legacy goes on…
WE are indeed on the same wavelength, ARR rules!
The music by ARR always takes time to grow on people but it sure does find its own niche in every heart !
Brilliance personified ! I’ve put up Tere Bina’s lyrics on my blog.
the review is great, but maya song is very good “Wow AR RAHMAN RULES” HE IS THE BEST……AND EVERY ONE SHOULD GIVE CREDIT TO HID MIND BLOWING MUSIC.
wondreful
Showkath: I dint like mayya even after repeated hearings! But the other songs i just cant keep my ears off them!
hi there – am still getting over tere bina and aye hairathe – badly hooked onto both! slowly getting onto jaage hain – very powerful gives me goosebumps…
the first time i heard mayya ( when i helped maryem with her dialect – great singer .. powerful vocals) i noticed the asoka bit – cant remember which song it was from but thank god someone noticed it .. i think its from a karunesh song … a tiny few notes… but used effectively in mayya ….
Nice review. I have reviewed the album on my blog too (http://mohankaus.blogspot.com/). Slightly different take on what you’ve provided above. I am yet to see the melodic/rhythmic/arrangement beauty that you’ve seen in “ek lo ek muft” and “baazi laga”.
Aye Hain Rathe, Tere Bina are simply great.
Gulzar is at his poetic best in Jaage hain.
Hats off to ARR and team.
rahman rocks………….
Hi
Two songs Tera Bina and Jaage Hain are Too good and the best part is the timing of these Two songs in the movie. . Hats off to AR Rehaman for his Delightful Music and Maniratnam’s Movie. .Perfect selection of Abhishek. .
AR RAHMAN your a “GIFT OF GOD” in music and your a legend.
As usual your guru music growing like anything.
Tere bina sona pitthal.
rahman ur great, ur voice is making me cry… bahut din baad iss dil ko kuch achha mahesoos hua
i listen his songs.we can say in very smooth way that a.r.rehman is in his best.he has ability to catch our all senses.he has a ability. in his music we feel his hard working.not onlyhardworking but also with shows his love with music.Rehman is wonderful guy
Rahman’s score has got something more than like peace.
His voices touches the heart of each people, like lukki chuppi in rage de basanti.
I love rahman a lot, i die for his score
HEY U ALL RAHMAN FANS,
MUST BE EAGERLY WAITING FOR SOMETHING NEW,EXCITING AND SOULFUL MUSIC OF A R RAHMAN
IN GURU.
I WAS,
AS THERE IS NO GOOD MUSIC SCORE DONE BY A R RAHMAN SINCE THE TIME OF saathiya.
BEFOR 12-13 YEARS I WAS THRILLED TO HEAR THE SOULFUL MUSIC OF ROJA.
THEN IT WAS THE TURN OF bombay-dil se-yuva………
MASMERISING MUSIC, GREAT BEATS AND UNBELIEVABLE FUSION OF INDO WESTERN CREAM.
but this time trio of mani ratnam-a r rahman-gulzar are not up to their mark.
we had expected better music from rahman………
but guru is nowhere near his talent,ability and originality in GURU.
DEAR RAHMAN, I WAS READY TO BECOME EVEN A PEON OR A JAADUWALA IN UR MUSIC STUDIO…..DUE TO UR EXTRAORDINARY MUSIC TALENT……….
BUT SAME AS SACHIN TENDULKAR OR MAHENDRA DHONI, U R OUT OF FORM NOW A DAYS……..
Do u remember the melodious compositions of ROJA, BOMBAY, OR DIL SE?? WELL IT WAS MAGIC RAHMAN AND MANI RATNAM. BUT IF U EXPECT SAME FROM GURU TOO, THAN MY DEAR FRIENDS, U WD B DISAPPOINTED. THERE IS NOTHING EXTRA/SPECIAL IN IT.
SONG jaage hai der tak is nice blend of indo western symphony. But don’t u agree with me that the symphony is heard somewhere before?! Other wise the pain and depth of rahman’s voice is mesmerizing……….no doubt, the best song of the album.
Do u remember the foot stepping beats of “COLLEGE KE SAATHI” from Dunia Dilwaloki? OR CHORI PE CHORI from SAATHIYA?? Baazi lagaa is just like the remix or refreshed version of that beats, with better lyrics from gulzar. Sweetness of udit’s voice makes the song somewhat melodious. May be the song is going with some situation of the storyline. Sudden change of track is rahman’s old habit in songs. It was experimented in many songs before also.
The most melodious song of the album is Heyrat-E-ashiqui due to nice composition and sweetness of alka yagnik, rahman and hariharan’s voice. But unfortunately the beats are almost same like the KEHNA HI KYA of Bombay. The lyric is the soul of this song is quite new kind of.
MAYYA is the second versions of SATRANGI RE of dil se. do u remember the style and composition of antra with husky voice…ISHK PAR ZOR NAHIN, HAI YE VO AATISH GAALIB? The style, rhythm and the beats are same, some Arabic flavors are added. Gujrati folk music is rich with variety of high pitch songs. But unfortunately rahman has mixed here ZARMAR ZARMAR VARSE MEHULO very ugly way with Arabian YA HABIBI. O dear rahman, I wanted u to work on some original Gujrati song after hearing MARO HELO SAAMBHLO JI in background music of BOMBAY….
Chor-Chor was very innovative experiment by rahman before 10 years. But the lyrics of HAATHI MERE PYAARE SAATHI were very stupid. Now in GURU same beats are used in ek lo ek muft , but with different lyricist and singer. Improved version of HAATHI MERE SAATHI by all mean. But doesn’t sound new…… Afghani music instrument Rabab was played very nicely in telephone dhun. Same is used in this song. But we must be thankful to rahman for bhappida’s come back as a singer. We were missing him since long. Well come back bhappida.
One album was scored for a film of Minakshi sheshadri and a south Indian MOTU by rahman. The lyrics were very funny and stupid LIKE “DILKA RAJA MERA RAJAA MOTE RAJAA, PYARE BALAM LAGTA HAI TU RASGULLE SA”
In that album, so it was the biggest flop of those days. So the beats of that movie album is recycled by rahman in BARSO RE MEGHA … in guru. VAA VAAYANE VAADAL UMATYAA is itself
very nice folk song of Gujrati, but only one small piece is used here.
The most highlighted song dam Tara dam Tara it self is a remix version of JIYA JALE JAA JALE……..from dil se and KEHNA HI KYA from BOMBAY. MELODIOUS, BUT NOTHING NEW IN IT. Problem with rahman fans like us is: if rahman sings ABCDEFG, we would appreciate.
So dear rahman, please sing or compose ABCDEFG better way next time…. Love u, appreciate u very much dear. U are NOT ONE song WONDER like Jatin Lalit, RESHAMIYA OR ANU MALIK, but the only MUSIC COMPOSER OF THE NATION TODAY. SO WE EXPECT SOMETHING NEW AND INNOVATIVE EVERYTIME.
dr joban modha
ahmedabad
http://www.benmoonpharma.com
Yes.. the songs are pathetic, not to the AR Rehman standards at all.
It looks like we have heard these music before. Its like our old patriotic songs reinvented with new music.
I had heard AR Rehman copies music I guess its true now.
DEAR ARAVIND,
why don’t you go and buy yourself a fresh copy of
any himmesh album…………………..
I buy CD’s of Rafi’s, Kishore’s, Udit’s and Sonu’s songs I don’t have to buy CD’s for the heck of buying 🙂
Guru songs are utter waste. People just created a hype as it is Mani-ARR combination and they are afraid to comment on that.( You know The emperor’s cloth story?). If Guru had been released without ARR and Mani’s name it will just go to trash.
the songs of guru are one of the best for the year comparing to other hindi films around… though it does not stand up to the stds lik dil se, roja, bombay… still it has its beauty in its way… its not fun music at all… go hear it!!!
I totally disagree with what Dr. jk modha has written…songs have been made according to the requirements f the scene.
1… mayya mayya… has got complete arabic flavour…n ARR…known to be a perfectionist..even got the song sung by a bosnian singer..Maryem Toller to get the actual flavour etched in the listener’s mind. 2…Jiya jale…had a carnatic touch…in which he even used malayalam words….tere bina…has sufi touch…more towards hindustani music…how are they similar?
3… baazi laga…has been based on an olden style…wid a lot f chorus…cos the sequence of the song is tat they r tryin to show how ‘guru’ gets adjusted to the stock exchange…so its a fast process…u dun expect ARR to play a dholak or a mridangam for such a number..besides the lyrics describe everythin.
4…jodi…this song has very less musical notes in it…its more f a recitation..because ..he is drunk….bhaang peeke…he’s singing the song..so ARR…has made it very easy for abhishek to act naturally!
txh for music)))