10 Personal Favorites of Mine. May not be the Best.
Lucky
I thought why bollywood didn’t embrace Adnan Sami as a composer for movies yet. As most of the movies in bollywood are turning out to be romantic melodramas, his style of composition would justify any love-based movies and moreover it will enhance the love theme more than what is written in the script. With adequate knowledge in Indian classical, western classical and modern music, the style of his composition emerges out to be a new sound that we can hear only from Adnan. One should love music very much to create an immortal music to emote love and its pain through it. Adnan has got that love and has taken immense effort and pain to compose some of lovable songs on melodious love in this album.
Black
Typical of Hollywood scores, Monty has composed a simple basic tune with just three notes for the movie, which is well orchestrated differently to be used at various moments for various emotions. I wonder how such a simple tune would carry the background score of the whole movie on its just three notes. It is in the hands of the composer to make the tune register in the minds of the audience while coming out of the cinema halls by his clever arrangements and orchestrations. Monty has done that brilliantly in the movie. Monty has mostly used a middle eastern instrument called Duduk, solo violin and slow strings in the background, the sound of which synchs well with mood of the movie. The music of black is a symphony of silence.
Taj Mahal
I was bowled over by the simplicity and the immortality of the MEZ songs and so are the songs of this album. I doubt if anyone could do better justice than Naushad to such historic movies especially those that belongs to the Mughal era in such a simple way. Classics are all Simple Songs. A composer can easily make classical songs with complex notes that only scholars in music can understand but a musical genius will never do that, instead he will make it as simple as possible so that even a kid can catch the tune the moment it listens to the song and such a musical genius is Naushad and he has done just that in this album. There are no synthesized sounds and layering works in the songs, which makes it sound pure, unadulterated down to earth melody with soul. Preeti Uttam and Hariharan sing almost all the songs and they have done a great job.
Parineeta
Santanu Moitra has stuck to the very basic elements of melody making like usage of solo Piano, guitar and flute, non distracting tabla beats and strings in the background, aptly appended minimal synth sounds here and there. Almost four of the melodies are in this format. But what make these melodies with usual instruments sound extraordinary are the simple yet catchy tunes that he has written. The tunes are so beautiful that it doesn’t need any of the instruments to squeeze or enhance the melody out of it. The tune speaks for itself. Such simplicity is the added beauty to the songs. Usage of western classical vocal and strings and orchestrations are great in the interludes of the melodies. Shreya Ghosal and Sonu Nigam add more beauty to the songs.
Bose: The Forgotten Hero
It is those synthesized rhythms, loops and sounds along with an Indian melody in his songs that made A.R.Rahman what he is now. But I always wanted to hear from him, songs backed with live orchestrations instead of computer-generated sounds. The orchestral music always has a long lasting life and soul in it. A.R.Rahman has finally quenched my thirst of listening to such an orchestral score in songs with this album. None of the songs have electronic stuff. The songs are backed with roaring and subtle orchestrations that go well in synch with the mood of the songs. By this album, ARR yet again proves to be a film composer rather than a mere song maker. ARR has done just what is needed for the movie. With grand orchestrations, melodies, rhythms and symphonies, he has created a unique sound for the movie that resonates the period, place and overall mood of the movie perfectly.
Mangal Pandey
As always this Rahman album carries a unique sound of its own. It is because of the choice of singers, catchy Indian rhythms, multi-layered sound of various Indian percussions and an element of pulling bass in all the songs that makes it catchier. The album really works mainly because of ARR’s ability to pull various rhythm patterns that are folksy, classical, foot tapping and also that fits well with the situation in the movie. Each and every song has domination of percussions. The title track with rustic vocals of Kailash Kher rocked the whole for sometime.
Bunty Aur Babli
An album/ song can be said as completely successful only when it satisfies all the four people for whom the song is made. They are the i) the masses who just want peppy dance numbers to play it in their parties ii) the classes who look for some uniqueness in sound and substance in the songs even if the song is said to be a mere dance number iii) the director for whom the songs should fit well in the situation of the movie for which it is scored and iv) the composer himself who should reinvent himself and move ahead to create something that he had never done before.
I think this album by Shankar – Ehsaan –Loy is such a complete one, which satisfies one and all. Though the songs are bubbly there is no any run-off-the-mill stuff in it.
Dil Jo Bhi Kahey
Shankar – Ehsaan – Loy team comes up with yet another winner in this one. What makes this trio stand out among the composers is their urge to try different genre of music(say, Salsa in this album) in each and every album. This group though initially had a Rahman hang over in their compositions has now managed to establish a unique sound of their own and you realize it when you hear this album and the thought that I crossed immediately after listening to this album in mind was “typical SEL stuff” and of course that is what every composer strives to achieve.
Mumbai Express
Most of them in the north wouldn’t even know that this movie has got a soundtrack. But this is one of Illayaraja’s great efforts in the recent past. The album is refreshing with full of Jazz stuff with unique Illayaraja touch. Though we know the genius of IR, we just can’t stop admiring his versatility when we listen to this album. It has a beautiful melody; peppy dance numbers and symphonic orchestral piece performed Hungarian Symphony Orchestra. If you are a true lover of music with an open mind go for this album. You are sure in for a great music feast.
Paheli
This album can be called as a near masterpiece of M.M. Kreem. He always scores in giving a soothing orchestration to the melodies. In addition the songs are authentic to the place where the movie is it. It has got rich Indian classical flavour along with Rajasthani folk rhythms. You can find all those soul stirring instrument sounds like sitar, veena, flute, sarangi, sarod, santoor and you name any traditional Indian instrument, it is there in any one of the songs in the album. The album is a perfect companion while sleeping.