I am a huge fan of Rehman’s music. And only yesterday I attended his live concert. The spell of the concert is still on me.So what best way to express my love for him than write a review on him.
First of all, Confession: I did not like his music in the beginning.
Well, not exactly in the beginning. becuase I fell in love with him when Roja’s eternal melodies happened. Be it the "nasheela" beat of Rukamani or the sound of rising sun in Dil Hain Chhota Sa
The effect was love at first sound!
But thereafter came certain albums like Rangeela, which was also his first original Hindi album, where the lyrics really acted like the beast when paired with the beauty of his music.
And then there were a huge no. of albums where this beauty-beast pair was repeated over and over again.
I started almost hating him that why he gives so less importance to https://lyrics. ok. he is a Tamil guy.but then why does not he take efforts to learn hindi and do justice to hindi words.
And also there was this Tamil legend called Illayraja who did absolute justice to Hindi lyrics in the classic album - Sadma. Then why does Rehman not cater to Hindi audience. The complaint always remained .
And it made me resort to other favorites like Jatin-Lalit whose music always paid well attention to the lyrics within.
Then came the album Dil Se. Although this time Rehman was much better with Gulzar’s poetic words. it still left me feeling that the correct choice for Gulzar’s lyrics is Vishal Bhardwaj’s music.(Vishal’s album Maachis was a hit then)
But then one day I saw a song on TV from the film Pukar. the ever beautiful Madhuri, wearing a light-blue saari and perfoming on the magical tunes of the music with her equally magical perfromance. the song was Kismat Se Tum. my all time favorite.
I immediately started listening to all songs in Pukar. and Rehman had won me this time, the lyrics was given its due. may be it was Raj Kumar Santoshi’s supervision. maybe he had taken lessons in Hindi. whatever the reason, the music was well bound in the https://lyrics.
And thereafter he has never disppoineted the lyrics-loving audience like me. There is Javed Akhtar’s Lagaan, there is Sonu’s humming voice in Mera Rang De Basanti Chola or Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna(Album: The Legend of Bhagat Singh)
Or the brilliant touch of horror mood in Yeh Jo Zindagi Hain and Raat Ki Daldal Hain Gaadhi Re(Album: 1947 Earth)
Since then Rehman is on the top of my list of favorite musicians. His songs are an integral part of my music stock.
Some other songs by Rehman with very good lyrics:
Mujhe Rang De(Album: Takshak), Kabhi Neem Neem(Album: Yuva)
And some very well dubbed songs:
Most of the songs from album Saathiyaan & Bombay, Gopala Gopala(Album: Hum Se Hain Muqabla), Anand(Album: Hindusthani)
And the cream of the cake is album Guru. I am so addicted to its music that I am continuoulsy listening to its songs. almost on a daily basis, be it Tere Bina or Mayya Mayya or Ey Hairathe.
Rehman had a very good comeptition last year in the form of Jatin-Lalit(Album: Fanaa - poetry in motion) and Vishal Bhardwaj(Album: Omkara - haunting music). What a musical year!
But with Guru, Rehman is once again the king of lyrics based music.
Hats off to the man. the God of music - A. R. Rehman!