Until I read the gist of the story of Yuvvraaj from the CD inlay (in my defense, no mad fan of Rahman does until the CD has warmed itself fairly well under the laser) I thought the music was mostly cliched and sometimes chaotic. Now I am convinced there is also a mix of genius in it. That genius comes through in 'Dil Ka Rishta' where Rahman melds the disparate musical leanings of the three siblings in a way only he can. That aside, Yuvvraaj is still a mixed bag ranging from an elixir-like melody in 'Zindagi' to the zingy fusion in 'Manmohini Morey' to pure unadultrated techno noise in 'Shano Shano'. Rarely, if ever, do I despise a Rahman song so much but 'Shano Shano' absolutely deserves it. In fact, the remix is far more coherent and effective. 'Tu Muskura' and 'Tu Meri Dost Hai' are soothing, well arranged and beautifully sung, but they do sound very trite. 'Mastam Mastam' starts out as interesting but peters out into chaos. It was wonderful to see a name like 'Chennai String Orchestra' as opposed to a 'Budapest' or 'Ouagadugu', and you can feel the effect of a live strings orchestra throughout the album, starting with the intro to the album by Salman. While that is appreciable, Rahman reintroduces the very banal rhythm patterns that he almost single-handedly help banish from mainstream film music. The lack of innovative rhythm programming is conspicuous throughout the album and that I believe is a first for Rahman, and hope it is his last. As someone who embarrassingly admits to have seen the last two duds by Ghai I won't be holding my breath for the movie but I am eager to see how the visuals stack up, at least for the superlative numbers.
Bottom line: Mixed +ve bag.
Reminiscence ... What I added to my playlist after listening to numbers from Yuvvraaj
1. 'Bailamo'(Kadhal Virus) after 'Shano Shano'
2. 'Vaaji Vaaji'(shivaji) after 'Tu Muskura'
3. 'Mushal Murai'(sangamam) after 'Zindagi'
4. 'Innisai'(Godfather) after 'Manmohini Morey'
Thursday, October 23, 2008
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