The King strikes back

- Shailesh Kapoor


Close on the heels of the zillion-dollar music release of Veer-Zaara
comes another magnum opus' music launch – Ashutosh Gowariker's Swades.
And after listening to the album, you can't help but say: Hail Rahman!
For the umpteenth time, the maestro delivers a refreshingly different
yet contextual score… an album that sounds awesome, yet tells a story
of its own.




My benchmark for evaluating a Bollywood score has always been
two-fold. One, does it sound good – be it melody or rhythm or a heady
mix of both? Two, does it make me watch the film? Given that film
music sells largely because the film eventually sells, the second
factor gains utmost significance. With Swades, it's a case of ten on
ten on both parameters.

In an album that boasts of several gems, three classics stand out
instantly. Ek taara has an infectious rhythm to it, Yun hi chala chal
is Rahman in top form, and Yeh jo des hai tera, swades hai tera gives
you goose pimples big time.


Javed Akhtar enjoys working with Rahman. We have seen enough evidence
of that before, especially in Lagaan. Here too, the word play and the
soul Akhtar lends to the score is to be heard to be believed.

The best part about Swades' score is that it intrigues you enough
about the film, yet it doesn't tell you enough about what Swades is
about. That's a trait the music of Ashutosh Gowariker's Lagaan
exhibited in ample measure. It only shows a great sense of cinema and
the market, for which Gowariker deserves all accolades.

In view of the brilliance of Swades, the magic of Veer-Zaara seems a
little overhyped and kind of a letdown. There is nothing fundamentally
lacking in the score. But it just doesn't hold water beyond a point.
There is sense of sameness to the soundtrack, which, in today's day
and age of fast food and instant fixes, becomes a drag.

But knowing Yashraj films, its sense of music, and their amazing
marketing abilities, it won't be a surprise to see Veer-Zaara's music
becoming a chart-topper sooner than one would imagine.

For Shah Rukh Khan fans, however, it has been a perfect week. Two
larger-than-life soundtracks are more than what they would have asked
for. And the magic of SRK will ensure the hype around the music of
Veer-Zaara and Swades only increases by the day, as we near the
November releases of these films.

But the hero of the week is still Rahman, who, after RD Burman, is the
first composer in many years who can sell an album purely on his name.
In an industry where music always gets secondary status to the stars,
that's poetic justice!

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