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Thursday, September 10

Blue - Its Rahman!! Need I say anything more??


Movie - Blue (Hindi)
Director - Anthony D'Souza
Producer - Dhillin Mehta
Music - AR Rahman
Cast - Sanjay Dutt, Akshay Kumar, Lara Dutta, Katrina Kaif, Zayed Khan, Kylie Minogue
Lyrics - Abbas Tyrewala, Mayur Puri, Raqueeb Alam
Sound Mixing - Resul Pookutty
Choreographer - Farah Khan
Singers - Kylie Minogue, Sonu Nigam, Sukhwinder Singh, Shreya Ghoshal, Rashid Ali, Vijay Prakash, Blaaze, Raqueeb Alam, Sonu Kakkar, Jaspreet Singh, Neha Kakkar & Dilshad.
Release Date - 16th October 2009


First of all, let me tell you that I'm a die-hard of this man called AR Rahman. So I will be totally biased when it comes to his music. But I cant help it, he keeps surprising me and most of his fans time and again. He does it yet again with Blue, his first album to come out after his sweep at the Golden Globes and Oscars. And the interesting fact is that the other Oscar winner, Resul Pookutty, is also part of the team of this film which already boasts of a huge cast and amazing production values. 


The first track is 'Aaj Dil Gustakh Hai ' by Sukhwinder Singh and Shreya Ghoshal and written by Mayur Puri. One word - Brilliant!!! Its completely different and unique from whatever you have heard from Rahman or anybody else so far. So much of freshness. Its a passionate, sensual romantic number. And at one hearing itself, you get the feeling that you are somewhere underwater. Something which you can call, an aquatic feel or something. Lol.  I dont know how to explain that. I dont know how he does this.  Sukhwinder Singh is a powerhouse as usual. Nobody brings so much energy into songs like he does. And Shreya (again, i am biased towards her.. huge crush!! [:)]) again scales new heights with this one. Something very different from what she has done so far. Totally refreshing. The song has been picturised on Sanjay Dutt and Lara Dutta and the promos look totally Hot!! [;)] An amazing opening to the album. (5/5)

The next track is 'Bhoola Tujhe ' by Rashid Ali written by Abbas Tyrewala (director of Jaane Tu). The song begins with guitar strings (probably played by Rashid Ali himself) and is a soulful sad number number. Again, Rahman has done a composition which sounds simple but is in fact, grand. A track about separation, Abbas Tyrewala's lyrics is great as well. Rashid Ali impresses yet again with his unique voice after Aditi and Kahin To. The humming bit towards the end is wonderful. A beautifully unique track. (4.5/5)


Next up is 'Blue Theme ' with vocals by Blaaze, Raqueeb Alam, Sonu Kakkar, Neha Kakkar, Jaspreet Singh and Dilshad and written by Blaaze and Sukhwinder Singh. A highly energetic rap number which will work perfectly as this action movie's theme piece. Lots of energy and action packed into the number. Hearing this in the theatrical trailer itself created quite an impression with visuals from the amazing stunts of the movie. So, this works both as a stand alone track and a perfect theme piece to be used in the background score of the movie. (4/5)

Next up is the already popular number 'Chiggy Wiggy '. The most interesting thing about this song is that the international pop artist Kylie Minogue is singing this song and performing in it too. This again, is written by Abbas Tyrewala. A true bridge between international pop and our own Bollywood music, this song is super-catchy. The 'chiggy wiggy' part sounds funny at first, but then its kinda cute after repeated hearings. Sonu Nigam joins in bringing a bhangra flavor to the song through his vocals. His voice again is powerful totally in contrast to Kylie's soft voice. Abbas has included the word 'Khiladi' in the song cleverly, for obvious reasons. :) The promo featuring Kylie, Akshay, Sanjay, Lara and Zayed is already a hit. And Farah Khan has choreographed the song in true Bollywood keeping in mind the international appeal of Kylie. This is sure to be a hit in the international market also considering the market both Kylie and Rahman have there now. A chartbuster in all senses. (4.5/5)

Next in the album is 'Fiqrana' by Vijay Prakash and Shreya Ghoshal and written by Rajat Arora. This song again, is refreshing. The way the composition goes to finally reach 'Yeh Fiqrana' is brilliant. It cannot be expressed here. Hear it yourself and experience. This number again, would most probably be picturised on the sea or beaches. It has that breezy mood and feel to it. Vijay Prakash does very well with his vocals. His voice is modified at lots of places to sound different. Probably because at those instances, the artiste would go underwater. Shreya has relatively fewer lines and gives able support to Vijay. A totally fresh number with wonderful instrumentation. (4.5/5)


'Rehnuma' by Shreya Ghoshal and Sonu Nigam, written by Abbas Tyrewala starts with Shreya singing in a jazz mood. The song then goes into a thrilling instumental interlude. Shreya sings with full passion and romance and Sonu joins in with 'Rehnuma' in an extremely high pitch. This song yet again, gives that aquatic feel. There are lines which go 'yeh neela samandar' as well. So you can guess how its going to be on screen. A thrilling composition in which probably the artistes would go deep into the sea exploring and it gives all the thrill and passion that it requires. Shreya is outstanding in this song. Rahman uses her voice to its full potential and Sonu of course, excels. Surely, the pick of the lot for its completely unique mood and composition. (5/5)


Next is 'Yaar Mila Tha' by Madhushree and Udit Narayan, written by Abbas Tyrewala. Madhushree's extremely sweet voice begins the song and Udit joins in with a completely new singing style quite different from usual style. A playful number, very catchy on first hearing itself. Hearing Madhushree singing is wonderful. She has an extremely sweet voice. Udit Narayan goes into hip-hop mood towards the middle of this song, which is really nice to hear. Its the best part of the song actually. Ujjaiyinee also gives good support with her backing hip-hop vocals. A fun, playful number which works mainly because of Madhushree's sweetness and Udit's new hip-hop style singing. (4/5) 


There is a rap version of the 'Blue Theme' again which is a shorter version of the same track with some extra beats and rap. I have alread talked about it. So no need of rating again.


As i mentioned earlier, this is Rahman's first film after his Oscar victory. So all eyes are on him (in fact, ears would be more apt :P). Not only us Indians, he's under the eye of the international audience as well. And he meets all those expectations with Blue, an underwater action flick, something which he hasnt done before. The inclusion of Kylie Minogue in the album will guarantee a hit run in the international charts as well. Even otherwise, both the movie and the music have an international feel to it. I have written this review after 12 hours of hearing the songs. Its so addictive. But as we all know, Rahman's songs sound even better than the first hearing after hearing a lot of times. Shreya Ghoshal has completely reinvented her style in this album where she has three songs to her credit. Its already sounding brilliant to me. So once the movie comes out, it would be even better, with all the underwater action and stuff. Cant wait for Diwali. :)


Rating - 4.8/5 (As i said earlier, I'm completely biased towards Rahman. But I think this is really worth it)

2 comments:

  1. at first, i wasnt pleased with Chiggy Wiggy.. n even now, im taking some time to digest just the part where Sonu begins..
    Aaaj Dil is my favorite.. the way ARR plays around with the keyboard, Shreya's changing of the notes, n the appeal in Sukhwinder's voice.. awesome track..
    Rehnuma is the one which grew on me all of a sudden.. brilliant jazz.. no other words..
    acoustic music is always my favorite..n dats y i cudnt resist the beauty of Bhoola Tujhe.. awesome orchestration...
    Fiqrana reminds me of his Boys/Yuva days.. n happy to hear such music from the maestro again..
    Blue Theme is catchy.. but what i missed in the album is that fast paced Blue theme played in the trailer..
    Blue is a commercial album from ARR.. so just blast ur car cd players n ipod with Blue..

    waiting for couples retreat though.. that tamil track is mesmerising..

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  2. yea.. the tamil track was beautiful.. would be interesting to see how they would use it in that hollywood movie..

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