Jab Tak Hai Jaan Music Review

I wanted Jab Tak Hai Jaan to be an A.R.Rahman soundtrack in which the songs have simple and straight melodies with a conventional Indian film song structure and no real quirkiness in any of its aspect that demands the effort of a listener to decode the song. I am not at all averse to Rahman’s quirks and his experimentation, in fact, those aspects make him what he is, but just once in a while, it is no harm to go back to basics, take the cliched route and see what happens and how best he can turn the cliches sound not so. There is a lot of challenge in there. Rebelliousness is fine, but making something utterly basic and conventional and yet likable and make it stand out of the crowded Indian film music scene, is a big challenge in itself. For Yash Chopra’s Jab Tak Jai Jaan, A.R.Rahman, as I expected, has taken that conventional route, and also, more importantly, taken it precisely the way I had expected him to take. Jab Tak Hai Jaan is one wholesome soundtrack. I love all the songs. I am totally satisfied.

A.R.Rahman, many a times in his interviews has told how everything sounded the same back then when he was working as a musician with other composers. He repeatedly referred to the music as “same Dholaks and Tablas”, but quite obviously, he didn't mean that he had problems with using Dholaks and Tablas, he had problem only with using them in every damn song that got made. A.R.Rahman has used Dholaks and Tablas (Nenachapadi – Kaadhalar Dhinam, Kurukku Siriththavalae – Mudhalvan and many more) when it is entirely indispensable in a song that has to have its roots firmly in milieu of the film. A.R.Rahman using Dholaks and Dhol drums in Jab Tak Hai Jaan to the extent he has used isn't a problem. I don’t give a damn whether he was forced to use them. I believe that he hasn't done something he loathes doing. Also, like me, I don’t think A.R.Rahman looks down upon any form of music, he just don’t like using same form continuously. He hates monotony and repetition.

A.R.Rahman is very clever when he uses cliches in his songs. He uses them, but mixes them in the song in a way that suits the situation of the film, and that gives you the comfort of listening to something utterly familiar, and yet never sound embarrassingly simplistic and pedestrian. Whenever Rahman uses Dholaks, Dhol drums or Tabla beats, they would almost always be accompanied by the synthesized beats. In most cases, it is the synthesized beats that hold the main rhythm of the song, while the familiar drums loop along distantly. Both Saans and Heer in Jab Tak Hai Jaan have this blend of Indian percussions and the Synth beats. Rahman boldly uses just the Dhol drums with no trace of any Synth in the rhythm section of the Saans reprise, and it is just as beautiful. He even denounces some of the syrupy instrumental layers, like, that Cello in the Saans song that achingly repeats the melody of the line Mujhe paas aayi immediately after Shreya is done with repeating the line three times. Similarly, the flute piece - that is already playing melodies in lowest registers, in Heer, is totally muted. I would have liked the song just as much if he had mixed them boldly.

Most of the songs have a simple and straight structure - a prelude, main verse, first interlude, first stanza, second interlude, second stanza, reprise of the main verse and a postlude. And we don’t complain as much when he uses this cliched structure. Actually, we haven’t got bored of this structure yet and probably we wouldn’t for long time to come, because this structure is kind of a perfectly balanced mathematical equation. The sense of completeness and wholeness, and thereby the satisfaction, we get in a song, when each section of this conventional structure does its job right, is still unparalleled.

Except for the title song, all the songs in the album have the standard Indian film song structure, and it is after quite a long time since we have heard so many songs with familiar structure in one single Rahman soundtrack. And in that title song, Rahman quite wonderfully jumps between Rahman and Chopra mode and yet the song works like a magic as a whole, because the melody is beautiful and the flow and the transition in the melody between the two modes of the song is quite seamless. It took me a few times of listening to realize the beauty of the emotions in the melody in the lines Tumse hi Mohabbat thi Tumse hi Mohabbat hai – what I call the anchoring phrase in a song that is set afloat like this, and once I did, the whole song fell in place and I was perfectly in sync with idea and the emotions of the song.

Challa - the song sung by the street singer, who has nothing in life except a guitar in his hand and undying spirit to live in his heart, has just those elements in its musical backing too – a relentlessly beaten acoustic drums (brilliantly played by Ranjit Barot) that thump in sync with the rhythms of his heart and guitar that he strums in sync with the melody on his lips. For its melody, Challa is overtly upbeat and dangerously plays to the point of becoming monotonous. Probably, that is why, in the first interlude, A.R.Rahman chose to have an extempore guitar piece, the kind guitarists play following their heart without thinking much. The rhythm section in the second half is different from the first, also, while Rang Satrangi de lines are repeating again with rangi in satrangi repeated twice the second time, the corresponding lines in the second half of the song isn’t repeated at all. If that is not enough, there is a vintage Rahman sargam in the second interlude that peps up the proceedings further.

Heer is simple, flawless and mesmerizing. Harshdeep Kaur renders the song with such honest yearning in her voice; Rahman decided that her voice and the melody is enough to carry the song through and hence denounces everything else in the song. Am I the only to have realized the beauty of the Saans melody after hearing its instrumental version of the melody playing as an interlude in Heer? A.R.Rahman gets into his favourite middle-eastern terrain in Ishq Shava and expectedly he kicks ass. A song meant to make you dance, and it will and how! It is tightly packed with incredibly catchy melody, rhythms, Oud and Mandolin pieces throughout. The only so-so song is Ishq dance. If I heard it somewhere else first, I would have thought of it as a song from one of those Blazing drums series of albums done by various percussionists. I am surprised that the pleasant, swinging main melody in Jab Tak Hai Jaan poem isn’t that of any of the songs in the soundtrack. That main musical theme of the poem sounds incredibly romantic when played on a sweeping string section. I would like to listen to it more in the background score of the film.

The zing and swing of the accompanying guitars, the pitch perfect attitude in Neeti Mohan’s voice and singing, effervescent bubbles of joy that relentlessly burst through the never ending layers of strings underneath, an incredibly peppy and flamboyant melody - Jiya Re is as best as it can get. It is a song transports you to a magical land. The melody that sounds so western on surface is laced with beautiful teeny-weeny classical touches and sargams. Rahman brilliantly binds the main melody and backing orchestration. I mean, I cannot sing the line Chotte Chotte Lamhon Ko titli jaise pakdon without playing in parallel in my mind the accompanying guitars that is actively conversing with the vocals singing the line. How many different varieties of strings accompaniment Rahman provides to the hook line Jiya Re Jiya re Jiya Re! I am still counting. The feel of flight it evokes when Neeti Mohan gradually ascends up after every Jiya Re Jiya Re Jiya has to be experienced to be believed. Jiya Re is vintage A.R.Rahman. Jiya Re is Perfection. Jiya re is Genius. Jiya is limitless Joy.

There are songs and there is Jiya Re. There comes once in a while, a song, which, when I get the song in its entirety for the first time, I jump in joy, I love myself more, everything in the word around suddenly seems to be absolutely perfect, I sense extreme ecstasy, I sing aloud with the song, I sway my head and body in sync with the rhythm, I want to instantly run to and hug the person I so dearly love, I smile at everyone throughout the day (because the song is always looping in my head). I stop listening to the song, and even stop looping it in my mind, because I want to have the experience close to that of the first time, again. I deliberately make myself to crave for the song again. Jiya Re is that kind of a song. That is why, though Jiya Re is my favorite song of the soundtrack, it is still the song I played the least number of times.

This level of joy and excitement while listening to a song like Jiya Re is inexplicable. I don’t know if it just because of the beauty of the song or if this is an emotion compounded by the fact that he composer who made a song that made me feel this way, is the one whose music I care for and love the most. Few days back I tweeted, “This feeling when I listen to Jiya Jiya Re Jiya Re Jiya – omg! Omg! Rahoonga mein ek Rahmaniac Jab Tak Hai Jaan Jab Tak Hai Jaan” and I will.

P.S: I remember that people were quite underwhelmed by Rahman’s music in Yuvraaj when it first released. Now four years after its release, I am surprised that people (not just Rahman fans) remember even one of the string section layers in one of the songs in Yuvraaj, and they say Rahman has reused them in Jab Tak Hai Jaan. That unforgettable, huh?

P.S: “A.R.Rahman has lifted Jiya Re Jiya Re hook from the hook “Dhaiyyaarae dhaiyyarae dhaiyya” of the title song M.S.Vishwanathan composed for a Tamil TV soap called “Ganga, Yamuna, Saraswati”. Seriously? Can’t you think of something original Oscar winner?” – I am disappointed that no one in the national media has made this brilliant observation yet.

P.S: After a long time, I see in credits of an A.R.Rahman soundtrack that no one else has done "Additionally arrangements" for any of the songs.

Jab Tak Hai Jaan Pre-release

Challa the first song from the most awaited soundtrack of the year Jab Tak Hai Jaan will be heard, discussed, analyzed and tweeted and retweeted about millions of times in few hours. The song’s main melody was revealed already on Guitar in the very first trailer of the film. I already have a certain expectation on what the song is going to sound like. I am expecting that Challa would have a typical Indian film song structure with standard prelude-stanza-interlude structure. The song will have a lot of Guitar (There are many making-of videos of the songs which reveals that Shahrukh Khan is singing the song wandering the streets of London with a guitar in his hand throughout) and acoustic drums and very less Synth. The song though is written in Punjabi, I am guessing that there will not be any Punjabi elements in the music – no Dhols or Thumbi.

None of my predictions may turn out to be true. But, what is there.

Here is an excerpt related to the pre-release of an A.R.Rahman album from my book Memoirs of a Rahmaniac

Earlier, when the musical storm hit us, it hit in its entirety, it hit all of a sudden, one whole song, one whole soundtrack at one go, but nowadays, much before the release of an AR Rahman soundtrack, we already get to listen to samples of the tracks online. It is because of these the immensity, intensity and force with which an AR Rahman hit us, has reduced.

Also, it is a bad idea to listen to snippets of an AR Rahman song before the release, though I have hardly succeeded in restricting myself from doing that. And the online folks, who want to jump into a conclusion instantly, jump into conclusion instantly! These snippets can no way reveal what the whole experience is going to be. AR Rahman‘s music is as unpredictable as it always has been. If AR Rahman‘s songs still take time to grow on you, listening to thirty second samples could only make the process more difficult.

You first have to come out of your own restricted imagination of the flow of the melody to embrace the entire song the way it actually is. "Am I giving the listener a whole new experience?", "Am I taking the listener to a place they have never been to previously?" are the questions AR Rahman seems to ask when he sits to make a song. In the pre-Internet era, when I use to rush to the nearest music shop to buy an AR Rahman album on the first day of its release, ―What new experience is AR Rahman going to take me through his music this time?‖ would be the only question running in my mind. AR Rahman is the most predictably unpredictable composer of our times. Like they always say, the only constant in AR Rahman‘s music is the change. The AR Rahman soundtracks that released in the last three years, while I was on the journey of writing a book on AR Rahman‘s music, have occupied an interesting place in my life. For the first time, in 2011, I heard a full song from a yet-to-be-released AR Rahman album Rockstar, because of a benevolent Twitter friend.

Ayutha Ezhuthu (Yuva) was the first AR Rahman album that released after I started using Internet in college. For the first time, I heard thirty seconds samples of all the songs of an AR Rahman album (Ayutha Ezhuthu) on the Internet, much before the release of the album. I remember that I did not like the way I was preparing myself to embrace a new AR Rahman album. It killed all the excitement I used to have before buying an album, when I would have no clue of what to expect from it.

Times have changed, but the excitement levels on the verge of the release of a new AR Rahman‘s album still remains the same, despite or many a times because of all those short snippets of music that is spilled over on the Internet and the film‘s teasers and trailers. When I heard the haunting Yuvraaj Piano theme on the official movie website, my excitement hit new levels. The complete Oru Koodai Sunlight song, albeit an incomplete version from Sivaji – the Boss, was leaked on the Internet before the release of the album. I still remember the exhilaration I experienced when I heard O Saya from Slumdog Millionaire on the Internet. I wrote in my blog, "I am exhilarated like I was when I first heard Thiruda Thiruda songs".

There is AR Rahman‘s version of the song Omana Penne which, in the film, is sung by Benny Dayal. It is available on the Internet. Madhan Karky released a scratch version of Irumbilae Or Irudhayam from Endhiran, which was given to him to write the lyrics. I remember writing a review and guessing the moods of the scenes in which the cues are used by just listening to the thirty second samples of the cues from Couples Retreat soundtrack. The grandiose Choir motif Un paer sonnadhum perumai sonnadhum from Endhiran was released much before the release of the soundtrack and as always that too stirred more excitement.

The Rockstar website had the yayaya bit from Jo Bhi Mein as the background music. Also, the main riff of Saadda Haq was available on the Internet six months before the release of the album. Ranbir Kapoor fan site had posted a video taken while the shooting of the Hawa Hawa song was on in Prague. You get to hear snippets of AR Rahman‘s song, even the work-in-progress versions, much before the release. And yet, you cannot help but feel astonished when the song finally unfolds in its entirety in its final form. He does it again, again and again, in the way only he can.

Rahman's First for SdM Score

A.R.Rahman wins in ‘Best Musical Score’ category in L.A Critic’s Award - his first award for ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ score. It is not for the ‘Jai Ho’ song but for the complete background score. It won over Alexandre Desplat’s score for ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’.

For best musical score, the group voted for A.R. Rahman, a go-to composer for Bollywood films making his debut on a Western film in "Slumdog Millionaire," besting Alexandre Desplat for "Benjamin Button."

Also, Rahman gets nominations in the Original Song and Background Score categories in 14th Annual Critic’s Choice Award.