The way ‘Saans’ starts, one does feel the sound of A.R. Rahman trying to hit you. Shreya Ghosal comes up with an echo (and a lot of ‘dhafli’ in the background and some unnecessary violins that more or less go on and on).
Mohit Chauhan has probably done a doctorate in such slow mood songs and remains flat and predictable. (Couldn’t help but feel the point where Mohit chauhan makes an entry in the song sounds terribly same like the line ‘Do pal chala khwabon ka karwaan’ from Veer zara). Both the singers take their turns to go out of tune (in second stanza of the song). The unbearable shrill alaap of Shreya Ghosal isn’t good enough to keep you in the song. There are bagpipers playing too..Yes, Someone mentioned A.R. Rahman has done music for this film. Very ‘Subhash ghai’ sort of song. Grand uselessly, falls flat on the ears.
Ishq Shava - Guitars. Peppy start with a very thorough Raghav and the usually brilliant Shilpa Rao behind the microphone. The unnecessary ‘Say what’, ‘Yeah’ and ‘hey’ do their bit to spoil this song. Paani pe chal ke dekho zara, badalon mein zameen nahi hoti....Yes this sounds like it has been penned by Gulzar sahab. Foot tapping song.
Heer - Harshdeep kaur puts so much soul into this! The excellent use of ‘Mirza’ has Gulzar written all over it. The soul piercing violins are very A.R. Rahman. Yes, this is more like it. There is an element of ‘Yash chopra presents’ finality and drama in the music arrangement. Not complaining at all. The song just fades towards the end and will invariably have you reaching for the repeat button. Goosebump stuff even if you don’t understand punjabi. The faint electric flute, the pace of the song, the feel, the atmosphere, easily my pick of the album.
Jiya re - The start, although no way related to ‘ni main samajh gayi’ did remind me of it. First hearing made it sound like - chaiyya re but it is ‘Jiya re’. References to loving herself and a general happy feel is what characterises the song. Sung very well and you will feel the singer Neeti mohan has put in a lot of effort. Probably an intro song (with a lot of English vinglish phrases in the background), the song lacks continuity in my view. It’s tiring to listen to this song in it’s entirety.
Jab tak hai jaan - Javed ali, Sitar and some violin in good measure start this song. Probably the loudest arrangement of all songs. The moment we try to settle with the pace of the song the ‘sajid wajid like’ break disrupts the pace of the song. Very filmy song. Shakthisree Gopalan makes a splashing entry (but pauses the pace of the song only to pick it up again). Would love to hear more from her because the voice is just beautiful. The typical song that you can imagine has a lot of ‘Hero turning and heroine turning...and heroine turning again and hero turning again....and the hair flying all around’. Whether we like it or not, this song (looks like) will pick when the film hits the theatres. Did I like it? Shamelessly, Yes!
Saans (Reprise) - Oh yes...a ‘reprise’ (generally referred to as ‘Part 2’ in previous films of Yash chopra). Shreya ghosal. Sounding very much like ‘do pal ruka’ song again like from Veer zara, the song ends. (Music by Yash chopra or the stock of old madan mohan tunes?).
Ishq dance - Instrumental (of course!) - Completely undecided on this piece. Doesn’t sound like the typical ‘ARR’ instrumental track. In between an all male chorus of ‘hey hey hey hey’ is disturbing but the bass it is accompanied with is very theatrical. bass doesn’t dip for a moment from here and is joined by a brass band like sound towards the end. Not catchy but this shall remain in my playlist for a while.
The Poem - Shahrukh khan, if only you were given better words to recite! Pedestrian poetry accompanied with excellent music arrangement has done it for the track! The filmy (of course it’s a film soundtrack, I know) end of this track is what ARR can do to you. Hear the music and tell me if you don’t get goosebumps?
Challa - Sounding more like the work of Rabbi shergill than ARR. The song has grown from the time it was launched. ‘The voice doesn’t suit SRK’ is probably a lame argument against the song so I won’t go there. The choir like chorus mixed smartly does speak of ARR a bit though. The song is again in punjabi so the uptake of the same might not be instant, but as the case with ‘90s A.R. Rahman’ remains, this song will grow.
Not an entirely impressive album by ARR/YRF standards, the album falls in the ‘listen and buy only if you want to’ category.
Pick of the album - Heer, Challa, recital by SRK and Ishq dance.