Blue Music Review- AR RAHMAN IS BACK!

Whether expectations from the media are high or not, it doesn't bother me, what I do know is that I'm just glad that finally there is an AR Rahman album to cherish after nine months in 2009, a year where really good music was so hard to come by. 'Delhi 6' was brilliant, and I mentioned in that review that ARR is going great giving albums at regular intervals to keep me hooked to one song after another, but all of a sudden arrived this void since he walked up the red carpet and lapped up two more than deserved Oscars in Hollywood.

I'm not a fan of Akshay Kumar, nor the type of regular movies he makes, the over-hype it gets and often lack of quality in the end product- and teaming up with Sanjay Dutt, Zayed Khan, Katrina Kaif, and Lara Dutta is hardly a sign of total difference. Despite being India's first mega budget underwater film- at around 100 crores (RM 100 Million) of budget- my expectations for the film itself are almost non-existent, so anything decent from that stable would be enough to get in my good books. Given the Akshay factor as well, I don't expect ARR to give his best album, and somewhat ironically, I also do hope ARR is not too brilliant in this album- because if Blue fails, the good music he gives for it will go seemingly unnoticed as well (look at what happened to Yuvvraaj, one of ARR's best albums ever- what ever happened to Dil Ka Rishta, it was the sort of song that should be described as legendary!). So, I lowered the target for ARR. And yes, he didn't try to make Blue his best album either, but I have to say, Blue is a ridiculously good album that runs on one USP- unpredictablity! One number to the next, ARR changes modes so affluently, and even in a commercial film like this where the only way to be going about it seems to be by giving fast-paced commercial numbers (a la Pritam), ARR leaves his stamp all over it. Welcome to brand AR Rahman! Its time for Akshay and the his team to do justice to this music. So on we goooo....

Hang on...the album is special for me personally because the female voice I fancy the most- Shreya Ghosal sings three (yes, three!) songs in this album- and not all the regular romantic number she is known for. And well, yeah, Kylie Minogue (yes, the Kylie Minogue) has also sung in this album...Enough generalizing and off to the songs, peel it one by one...


Peel 1

Chiggy Wiggy
Singers: Kylie Minogue, Sonu Nigam.

I wanna Chiggy Wiggy! This song created especially for a promotional music video purpose, has Kylie (who will appear in the music video with Akshay) crooning her Chiggy Wiggy way that somewhat reminds you of Zara Zara from Race. But, hey, this is ARR na. Listen to halfway of the song and enter Sonu Nigam with an out-of-the-blue bhangra rhythm, now this is fusion of a high-order. Inovative-ness hardly comes in a better package. The western sections suit Kylie fine, and the bhangra section suits Akshay's image fine. You can already imagine how the music video is gonna be now. Good!! But, well, here it is...Enjoy!

Peel 2

Aaj Dil Gustakh
Singers: Sukhwinder Singh, Shreya Ghosal

Put the guitar strings on, and just Chal Chal Charara re! A blues string simply doesn't get better than this. Sukhwinder and Shreya never are off-form, and putting such two able singers with a nicely arranged song, the results are bound to be infectious. Very the good!! I can't remember the last time I heard such a song in Hindi, or even Indian music arena. Well, who else but ARR to compose the first, aite? Its a priviledge for the song itself. :P


Peel 3

Fiqrana
Singers: Vijay Prakash, Shreya Ghosal

How do I put up a thumbs up icon here? Because this is the best of the lot! Fiqraana is phenomenal! Your body might tap to it without you even knowing. It is that good, and its flawless as well. The song doesn't have one dull moment, its completely consistent in its tunes and once again, guitar strings are too good- they are so Robaroo-ish. Brand ARR!! Brilliant! Vijay Prakash sound so different in this song, its abvious that ARR hymns with him at parts, but even alone, Vijay sounds like ARR himself with the way he has sung this song. Shreya, well, need I say? Of course the male singers take the limelight, Shreya is just a beautiful compliment to it.


Peel 4

Bhoola Tujhe
Singers: Rashid Ali

Kahin To Hogi Wo. Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. Take the singing from there. Dil Gira Gaaftan. Delhi 6. Take the music and tempo from there. Resonate both of that, and you have Bhoola Tujhe. Rashid Ali has one-of-a-kind voice, and you can use this anyday to create to an emotional romantic number, and ARR leaves his stamp and slow orcehstration all over the place for this song. This is genuine ARR melody, because it grows on you further as you listen to it further. The usage of saxophones as much as keyboard beats adds a new dimension to it. Very the good!! But if you were to love this song, it takes a real romantic ear to capture the essence. If you have that, you'll simply fall in love with this.

Peel 5

Blue theme
Singers: Blaaze, Raqeeb Aalam, Sonu Kakkar, Jaspeert Singh

Blue! Bulue! Always count on ARR on at least one thing- he knows how to give a superb theme music, no matter what film. Blue theme isn't exactly ARR-ish masterpiece, but the adrenalin rush of it imemdiately appeals the listening experience. Again, ARR mixes a bhagra element into the heavy beats and its so inviting to hum along to this. This is better be used properly in the film. Because if it is used well, the results on screen would be great.


Peel 6

Rehnuma
Singers: Shreya Ghosal, Sonu Nigam

Reminds one of Hello Mr.Ethirkachi number from Iruvar some good 12 years ago. Starts of with a jazz-like arrangement, but ARR's inovativeness springs in again and beats change and keep you hooked. There is even orchestration for the song, and the music is simply so good. But whats unique is that Shreya and Sonu Nigam do not change modes, they sing in the same jazz-like rhythm while ARR changes the beats for the songs. Watch out for the Rehnuma...Neela Samandar bit that starts at the middle of the song. Which is brilliant. And you might find Shreya sounding different in this song. She does a brilliant job in this number and easily overshadows Sonu Nigam when given the chance. Good!!


Peel 7

Yaar Mila Tha
Singers: Udit Narayanan, Madushree

Yuvvraaj was a brilliant album, yet at the end we had Shano Shano, a club number which is very good but not up to the high standards of AR Rahman. This is along the same lines, Yaar Mila Tha is extremely enjoyable, but its not ARR-ish as much. But its slightly better than Shano Shano, and has some innovation done by ARR in the song. Again, good!!

All in all, as I have mentioned, Blue is a ridiculously good album. Now with a sterling budget of 100 crores, the makers of Blue better do justice to the good numbers ARR has put forth for them. Definitely exceeded my expectations.

Thumbs up...Thumbs up...Clap Clap for AR Rahman..

He is back!

Rating: 8.9/10