Rockstar – Music Review (Bollywood Movie Soundtrack)

Listen to the soundtrack here.

The soothing twangs of the mandolin and guitar, Mohit Chauhan singing with an amusingly matching nasality, that’s how Rockstar’s opening track Phir Se Udd Chala starts off. And then A R Rahman starts adding on layers in his inimitable fashion, until towards the fag end the undesirable addition of a techno loop happens. The anthemic Jo Bhi Main also has Mohit on the vocals, singing to an invigorating guitar-led background (totally loved the lead hook), Rahman giving a very live feel to this one. Very addictive, the song. Song no.3, Kateya Karoon, brings Harshdeep Kaur on the vocals (with Chaiyya Chaiyya lady Sapna Awasthi on backing vocals). Being ARR a plain vanilla Punjabi song was never expected, and the man doesn’t let us down, crafting the most richly orchestrated Punjabi-flavored song I have heard in recent times. And what flawless singing by Harshdeep! The only regret I had when I heard Kun Fayakun in the promo was that it was under four minutes, which I thought was the original length. How wrong I was. The actual song is close to eight minutes of pure bliss, Rahman NEVER goes wrong with the devotional genre. And the man himself gets behind the mic with Javed Ali and Mohit Chauhan to round it off in style. Watch out for a brief twist at about 5:45. Sheher Mein charms for its peppy tune ably rendered by Karthik and Mohit Chauhan, but also for the way the situational dialogues are peppered all through the track. Rahman makes interesting use of Mohit’s voice in the groovy Spanish (with occasional East European-esque garnishing) Hava Hava, Vivianne Chaix, Tanvi Shah, Suvi Suresh and Shalini supporting him well on the chorus. Special mention is deserved by George Doering for his Spanish guitaring (also dulcimer, I read, though I could not place it exactly) and the fabulous violin by Ann Marie Calhoun. You can actually feel the pain of the protagonist in Aur Ho, such is the rendition by Mohit, with an equally efficient Alma Ferovic on the backing vocals (traces of mayamalavagoula raga, I felt).

Naadaan Parindey has ARR back on vocals with Mohit, but here the clear winner is the composer’s extremely heady arrangement that touches elaborate anthemic proportions in places. Kavita Krishnamoorthy’s reunites with ARR after a long hiatus (Main Vari Vari was their last afaik) in Tum Ko, but the result isn’t something that would count among the best songs from the combo, carrying a very heard-before feel about it. The orchestration of Tum Ho, sung by Mohit and Suzanne, also faces a similar issue, the arrangement and the tune quite evocative of ARR’s work for Yuvvraaj. And then comes the song that has been one of the prime contributors to the buzz around the soundtrack, the song that is trending on twitter as I write this, Sadda Haq. And the song totally, TOTALLY, lives up to the hype that it created. Orianthi’s proficient guitaring, Mohit’s frenzied singing, enough to drive you into a trance of sorts! Ranbir does a decent narration of The Meeting Place, apparently based on a poem by Rumi. The composer closes the soundtrack with two instrumental pieces, Tango For Taj – which starts off with a lovely interplay between piano and accordion before other instruments kick in to produce an “Indianized” Spanish piece, and The Dichotomy of Fame, where Balesh on shehnai and Kabuli on guitars effect a haunting theme song.

Imtiaz Ali has always displayed a good ear for music, but in Rockstar he has totally outdone himself. A soundtrack of absolutely epic proportions. A. R. Rahman, thou truly art God. 🙂

Music Aloud Rating: 9.5/10

Top Recos: Don’t bother, just go listen to the soundtrack.

ravianjali1987 says:

As a arr die hard fan.i think it is a awesome album.one of the best in the decade.i just want to say,stop talking nonsense.just enjoy listen music.we have to proud because we have an indian that make huge success in world of music.

harkol says:

Saw a lot of messages analyzing ‘Rock’ieness of ARR vs others. All I can say is, there isn’t a true genre in any music. They all evolved with influences from each other. Rock itself isn’t an exception.

The thing about great artists like ARR is, they do their thing and leave the interpretation of genres to others. In other words – They create music that others end up calling genres. In India we used to call this Gharanas. Good artists Create genres (or styles) and others follow them. But, truely great ones keep breaking or reinterpreting genres to create something new. Muttuswami Dixitar (one of the composer trinity of Carnatic Classical) interpreted the scottish & Irish music with his ‘nottuswara’, which is part of Carnatic classical tradition now!!

ARR is a great composer, and he tries to reinvent music. He succeeds sometime, he fails sometimes. But, part of being great is to break rules.

So, it is rather humorous to see some folks here, getting worked up about it not being Rock or who better could’ve rocked etc. The bottom line is did you like the music. If you did, and if others followed such style, think of it as a new genre of rock.

arief says:

what the fuck u guys, the movie “rockstar” is a story of a rock star not the rockband and others. In a life of a rockstar may have several flavours and stages u think and u need totally rock music then u guys go for the american and british rock bands what u need indian style arr always given the music that runs the movie forward not like others . AR Rahman is the Rockstar of India forever. U dont compare any fuck composers with him . If u listen “BOYS” tamil movie song ” Machi Gasse” then compare with the fuck rocksongs.

Rajesh says:

Almost all the songs in the movie are fantastic, i still havent moved on to complete the album. AR proves time and again that he is a genius, the sheer magnificence of sadda haq,jo bhi mein,nadaan parindey , aur ho and hawaa is beyond words.

Its sad that there are a few out there who still manage to find reasons to hate AR’s album, every one is entitled to their opinion, however stupid it is.

Awesome review VIP…though i have been following your reviews for a while, i thought this particular review was a perfect opportunity to express my gratitude…

Raja says:

Yes i’m prove to be a die hard fan of ARR. But having said that i can’t completely deny about the rock factor was not in all songs of rockstar. Hmmmm listen its not a rock album. Its a film about a normal person aspiring to become a rockstar. My view here is instead of comparing the film title and music given, why not watch the film and compare the music for the same. And my gut feeling is u’ll not be disappointed. Moreover i cannot invite comparing a top music director of india with minnows just for rock element missing in all songs in this film though 3 songs has come out stupendly well with ARR brand touch. We cannot teach sachin to play cricket and can we compare him with kohli just for his two good innings and 2 bad innings of sachin OR u will start bluffing that if yuvraj has opened the innings instead of Sachin he would’ve fared well.. Funny. Yes about youtube, who cares about the amateuristic comments about ARR music release.. Just remember “ONLY FLOURISHING TREE WILL GET HIT” No body will show interest on any new release of other MDs like rahman’s. Its quiet obvious that 5 people will appreciate and 2 will slam to show their music genius. Some does it for grabbing the attention. Last year same thing happened for ARR’s tamil release Vinnaithandi Varuvaaya. But it went on to make a history and still its magic is making its mark.. I don’t know if u’ve heard his tamil compositions from roja to VTV.. Try to hear that and think of pritam and SEL. U’ll find they’ve not touched even 20% ne what Rahman has done in 90s itself. Lets watch film and come back here.

Chunni Babu says:

Typical reaction from a ARR fan. If you don’t believe me check the comments of any ARR song in Youtube or comments on any review blog post. Makes me sad…I guess ARR will be even sadder.

Raja says:

@ Chunni babu: arrae chunni baiyya, did i say about RDB sir, SDB sir, Shankar jaikishan, LP or even jatin lalit and nadeem shravan who were top on the charts when rahman came in? Can’t deny their contribution. At the same time i can’t nod about ur senseless praise about Pritam, SEL, VS. They r MDs and not giants. These 3 produce one or two original tunes here and there and amateurs like you start nominate these trash with the league of ARR or RDB. Its funny to see your over rated comments about ur fav MDs. SEL came to scene in 1999 with DUS. Can’t remember anything from that film, then came rockford,bhopal express, Yeh kya ho raha hai, Nayee padosan and ek aur ek gyarah. Whose music it was ? If ARR didn’t opt out from Farhan akhtar’s dil chahta hai, SEL would’ve faded. And i dont want to waste my time talking about Pritam. Kis duniya me ho chunni babu. Everyone know about pritam. Don’t talk aloud about him in blogs, PEOPLE WILL NOT LAUGH THRU THEIR MOUTH. Yeah he’s producing good use and throw numbers with few exceptions but don’t bring him to the league of legends. Maan liya ki rahman sir has not created full fledged rock music in in rockstar. Do one thing produce a film based on rock music, fix ARR and insist him not to try something new and just give you rock. I think u’ve sound knowledge about ***k.. i meant rock. U urself can try for rock creating music and satisfy urself. Get suggestions from pritam. Now enjoy sunday 🙂

Chunni Babu says:

@Raja – On one hand I am happy to see a A R Rahman fan come in and say some thing more than “Rahman sir is the best, shut up you idiots”, but on the other hand it looks like all your words can really be summed up to that. I don’t think even Rahman would want his fans to be so shallow in appreciating music. I’d only suggest, open your ears and listen more, listen carefully. Suggesting that everything before Rahman was band, bajaa, baraat is a pretty uninformed comment – listen to some of RDs or Salils compositions to see interesting melodic and harmonic experiments..listen to tons of others for producing classic melodies that stood the test of time..Also suggesting that SEL, VS or even Pritam will disappear, fade away or whatever is similarly naive. SEL have been around for 15 years now..VS around for at least 10 and Pritam even more..so they haven’t faded away really..don’t think they will any time..you might have heard thousand of songs having the similar sound that “Rock On” had yet all the songs were original..why? because that is exactly the sound you will get when 4 people get together in basement and play the instruments they were playing..that’s why..you will not automatically start hearing violins, flutes, bagpipe or whatever. Hence the distinction between real and unreal..ARR is great..the songs are great on their own right…but yeah would have loved to get a full rock album…

Raja says:

Hey all music genius.. Just wait till the film is released and then drop ur views againist or favour of a music director who started a trend in both bollywood and kollywood 20 years ago.. Prior to roja and rangeela, bollywood music is known only for dholaks, band, baaratein type of songs.. Its after rangeela in hindi, other music directors starteded thinking out of the box and gave somewhat different music to hear. The likes of SEL, PRITAM, AMIT TRIVEDI and every one followed the foundation RAHMAN laid. In 90’s some scraped Anu malik is better than ARR, then compared with Ismail darbar.. Where r they now ? Then came SEL, Pritam, amit, VS and few.. They have created few rock music.. But can any one imagine them doing Roja, bombay, dil se, taal or lagaan ? He is not meant for doing what u r used too.. He’s different and he’ll justify his film’s music than any. We’ve heard thousand songs like the songs of ‘rock on’ from international collections. All of us have heard Eminem, elvis, summer at 69, Mj, backstreet boys, blues and few and its immature to expect the same from Rahman. He’s a brand himself. There r other MD’s to give u the remixed versions of western albums. Genius knows what he does. Watch the film and come back. Till then forget the title and listen to the soulfull music and get addicted.

VIP says:

@chunni: understand what you are trying to say. but even if it was SEL/VS, they would have gone the way the director asked them to, no? let me give you a couple of examples. listen to the soundtrack of rascals by vishal shekhar. leave out rock, you wont even find music there. so do you think vishal shekhar were not capable of doing better than that? it si quite obviously the directions given to them that led them to create such rubbish. and for SEL, listen to anything they produce for the karan johar kind of movies. the overused dholak-based template has once again little to do with the rock/blues background, coz they are not required to do that. in rock on, farhan quite obviously wanted SEL to do something on those lines, so it came out that way. now what imtiaz had in mind when he asked rahman to do this soundtrack is something we will know only when we see the movie. that is the only thing i m trying to say here.

Chunni Babu says:

@VIP: I have nothing against the songs or the movie. All the songs are quite innovative and interesting – something you’d expect from a Rahman track and he shines all the way through. There are little things here and there that you start listening to after repeated listens..like the subtle hammond sounds in Jo Bhi Main are terrific and I wish SEL had done some of it in the Rock On songs..It is just that I am pretty excited about the inevitable adoption of “Rock” in hindi movies and the new movies coming in with a Rock theme..So I would have loved to hear a all rock album and am disappointed in that sense. Also knowing the Rock/Blues background of other musicians like SEL/VS, I cannot help but think what’d they have done. This is certainly a movie I am going to catch the first show of.

VIP says:

@chunnibabu: why do you have to “speculate” when the movie is going to release in a few days? why not reserve your judgement till then? imtiaz decided to make the movie in one manner, arr made music accordingly. the comments above from all the rock fans seem to imply a situation like arr telling imtiaz “hey, i dont think i can do rock songs coz i lack expertise in it, so why dont u change the storyline to include sufi, ambient, world et al where i m more comfortable in?”
what we know for sure is that.in rock on there was no stage where farhan was shown evolving from a non-rock fellow to a rock artist. the flashback went as far back as magic was formed, which was a rock band. so there wasnt reason for other sort of music. we do not know yet how imtiaz has visualized his story. so all i m saying is, wait. rahman has been in the industry for 20 years now, and he is yet to deliver a soundtrack that didnt do justice to the movie. if the soundtrack ever sounded sub par, the movie was so, too. so all i can say as of now is, i do not know the storyline of the movie, the soundtrack as a standalone thing works wonderfully for me (for that matter even pritam’s soundtrack for action replayy sounded lovely when i first heard, but we all know how the movie went). it would be criminal for imtiaz to have wasted this soundtrack in any manner, so i hope that he has not. thats all.

David Suchan says:

The songs are good, but dont look at the title when you go for these song…typical ARR style of writing music….

Chunni Babu says:

Well we are just speculating the story, but let’s say we go with the common belief that this is about the story of a rockstar..i.e. how the simple village boy who “became” a rockstar. Well the thing is you just don’t become a rockstar one day (like Himesh became a rockstar in one of his movie). Anybody who is selling you a story of a “rock star” (and that too hard rock) who grew up on katiya karun or hawa hawaa knows his audience and he will certainly get a lot of support for this fantasy. For a musician to ultimately become a rockstar, a more “real” story would be to see what he is influenced by and what his early songs were like – which would of course involve more songs in rock genre or something close to rock genre….not one punjabi song, one sufi song, one arabic song, one salsa, bhajan (well the kk song almost sounds like a bhajan ;)) some classical orchestra thrown in..etc. etc. – this is the reason why the album feels incomplete and inconsistent. However a movie like Rock On was more true to it’s content as it really indeed show how the band evolved..and in fact the music just has lead guitar, bass guitar, some keyboard, drum and singing to properly represent band songs…

Sumit says:

Its very good – totally hooked to the album! 🙂

Gafoor says:

Anybody expecting a full fledged rock album is an idiot. The movie is supposedly a journey of a man from being a beginner in a humble village to conquering the rock scene on a bigger stage, later in his life. Bollywood soundtrack always constitute of situational songs and rockstar is no differentl. Just because Kun FayaKun is a not a rock song, but a sufi qawwali , would you reject it outright. It is a beautiful song and ranks amongst ARR’s best. As for rock songs, Sadda Haq , Nadaan Parindey and Jo Bhi Main would not only fit in any staple rock playlist but also transcends beyond with thier compassionate lyrics and beautifully orchestrated vocals that blend in seamlessly with the conventional rock arrangement.

Evolving is very important for a musician and ARR does it again with this album. ‘Sheher mein’ is a step right direction with its situational dialogues and soulful incoherent crooning of Mohit, similarly ‘Dichotomy of fame’ is a very interesting fusion. Radiohead, probably the greatest rock band of last 20 years released ‘King of Limbs’ earlier this year and its no way a conventional rock album, it is in fact as experimental and as avant garde contemporary music can get.

Being an ARR fan, I was not waiting for Imtiaz Ali’s movie or Ranbir’s act as a rockstar, neither I was waiting for a rock album. I was waiting eagerly for that ultimate ARR experience that I haven’t felt since his last masterpiece Delhi-6. And I can safely say Rockstar exceeded my expectations , this album is for the keeps.

Arjun says:

While everyone is entitled to their opinion, let’s not forget that this is primarily a movie’s OST and not a stand-alone rock album. There is a script first, the script is then given to the music director and according to the script and the situations therein, the music is composed.

The protagonist does not start as a “rockstar”, the movie is about his journey of becoming one. Hence, it would not make sense to have the entire album comprise of purely rock songs. Hence, you have a “Haawa Haawa”, which incorporates gypsy music as it is used during the protagonist’s time in Prague (and Eastern Europe), you have a “Kun Faaya Kun”, which comes at a pivotal time in the protagonist’s life as his own family disowns him and he finds shelter in god’s abode, quite literally.

One has to understand the music is composed keeping the film in mind and if the protagonist only becomes a rockstar in the post-interval reels (which is what I suspect), how many scenarios do you think a script can incorporate in which a true rock song is required? The film has four songs that can clearly be seen as belonging to the rock genre (let’s not forget “Aur Ho”) – one is a great anthemic piece in “Sadda Haq”, one is a soft rock ballad in “Jo Bhi Main” and Nadaan Parindey wonderfully fits the bill of a song performed live. If the script demanded more rock numbers, don’t you think Imtiaz would have himself pointed it out to Rahman?

The OST (and it is an OST, NOT a rock album), I personally think, would do full justice to the story arc of the character and his journey from a middle-class upbringing to his rockstar days.

VIP says:

@nirvan: fair point. life would have been so much easier if everyone had the same opinion. 🙂 and the soundtrack is definitely not rock, but i didnt see what was wrong with the 3 rock songs that were there, naadaan parindey, jo bhi main and saadda haq.
@chunnibabu: he has attempted rock multiple times before, the most recent instance being aaromale from VTV, which is by all means a super composition. and i shall wait for the movie to come out to pass judgement on the rest of your comment. i dont know what was on imtiaz’s mind, and quite obviously arr did the score according to what imtiaz said, i dont think its coz arr was unable to do rock that they had to make do with some other genre.

VIP says:

@pranchi: i repeat, when i review a soundtrack i dont go by what the storyline is (unless it be an outrageous brainless comedy where anyways songs dont play an importance). all i know is this was supposed to be a music-intensive movie, so soundtracks had to play their part. and i repeat, at NO POINT did rahman say in any interview that this is going to be a “rock”-based soundtrack, so i did not have that mindset when going into listen to this soundtrack. neither did i mention at any point in my review that this is a rock soundtrack. from a rahman album i always expect a mix of genres, and i got more than what i asked for in this soundtrack. you might be disappointed coz you have taken other parameters into account and had something totally else in mind, but to me, 11 out of the 13 songs worked, and something of that musical magnitude hasn’t happened for quite some time. so, to me, this IS truly a soundtrack of epic proportions. and if you were to look at the soundtrack for a moment ignoring the fact that you expected a rock soundtrack, there is still no one in the industry who can pull of such diversity in his music like rahman can. so yes, i do consider him God, he reinforced that with this score. 🙂 even as i type this the soundtrack is playing on my system.

Chunni babu says:

Agree with Nirvan and Arun. There are different genres of music and some people are just bit more connected to a particular genre. Take SEL for example – Ehsaan is an accomplished blues guitarist and Loy is a one of the best Jazz/Blues keyboardist in India..rock is heavily influenced by blues..and so rock genre comes naturally to these guys. Most of the songs of Rock On were done “live”, not programmed..that’s why the songs have such a real feel. Forget SEL for a moment, and consider Vishal Shekhar – Vishal is the lead singer of pentagram (u should see his hardrock avatar)..the guy is roped in for many “rock/pop” style songs by other MDs. So I think they’d haved rocked here too. I am not sure about Amit Trivedi’s personal talents (as in what instruments he plays etc.), but he certainly knows his blues as can be seen from his many background scores. The thing with Rahman is, his roots are in 80s pop (the MJ type stuff) and he has over the years extrapolated his programming abilities to encompass a wide spectrum of songs. When he takes on a genre, he rarely stays true to the genre..be it reggae, hip-hop, south indian classical, 80s pop or even Sufi. I don’t think he has attempted rock before..and this album shows he is trying hard to get the right feel. And I agree with the punjabi kuddi sensibilities of Imtiaz Ali…really it may take Farhan, Anurag or perhaps some newcomer who are more connected to the concept of “rock” and “rock bands” etc. to truly deliver a “Rockstar”. That said, being a big sucker of music dramas, I will still look forward to this movie…and I am still waiting the songs to “grow” on me.

Arun Francis says:

I agree with Nirvan…someone like Amit Trivedi would be better in this SEL came to mind quickly…but amit trivedi understands the rock genre quite well and mixes it wiht the rustic feel and gives it a beautfiul finish. I like imtiaz ali for jab we met havent seen his first film, but i thnk he is a sensible director. AR Rahman is a genius. he could have done better which is why i am blaming the film makers thinking rather than the music director, Rahman has his rock band past but i never saw anything rockish from him, other than aaromale- which was brillliant. He has it but i couldnt see it in this film.

The storyline of rockstar sounds pathetic but since it is imtiaz ali i would want to wait and watch all i felt was for a movie called rockstar with good people at the helm the soundtrack disappointed, everyones raving but everyone seems to be missing the point that this is about rock and your putting rock on a cross and burning it with stuff like this. Its rock music, but its come out like fucking candy. The music is crowd pleasing its dont call it a rock music based films soundtrack. Also vip “A soundtrack of absolutely epic proportions. A. R. Rahman, thou truly art God.” i thought that was over the top.

Nirvan says:

Hi VIP
Conducting orchestras and composing rock music are entirely different things musically. Maybe they are not tackling a genre. I will give the benefit of doubt that they are and if they are I agree with Francis, to really tackle a rock genre , you need guts and an insight into the feel of such personalities that wouldnt come with a punjabi kudi obsessed director like Imitiaz Ali. You may have liked the music but just as much as you are entitled to your personal opinions and tastes , I am as well.

VIP says:

@sunil: nicely written. 🙂
@pranchi: it was probly a wrong idea to call this movie “rockstar”, given the expectations ppl seem to have had of the soundtrack. quite obviously imtiaz has not done something like rock on. but he is not a bad director imo, so i shall wait till i see the movie to pass my comment on it. for all you know his idea was probably never what you had in mind.
as for SEL having a better taste in rock than ARR, every person has his opinions. 🙂 if you were to ask me, for a man who was part of rock bands before his movie career started, and has pulled off feats like conducting entire orchestras, doing a rock song wouldn’t present too much of a task.
@nirvan: i repeat, it was not said at any point that the album would be a “rock” album. until you see the movie and understand what way it has been made, i don’t think it would be fair to do comparison with rock on. all i know is, i like this album, and it is NOT regular bollywood music, arr’s music has the richness in arrangement that few other composers of the day can bring about.

Nirvan says:

With respects to A.R Rahman, In my humble opinion these songs are not rock songs , these are just bollywood filmi songs. They are likeable , but they truly do not seem to be giving justice to the genre of rock and neither will the film. It will take someone gritty , kitchsy , earthy like Anurag Kashyap and equally talented music director like Amit Trivedi to tackle this coming of age rockstar genre.

Shankar Ehsan Loy gave their rock angle to Rockon which I think was okay , reminded me more of the fun filled british rock of yester years. Not contemporary . I am only a listener giving my two cents , nowhere near to what these masters of music but an opinion ought to be made.

Arun Francis says:

There 3 rock based songs barely make it there…its pretty much the same stuff you here from other music directors…SEL have a better taste in rock than Rahman i feel…

Arun Francis says:

Its not about your review……Its about the sheer disappointment when you call a movie rockstar and get the best music director in the country and make crap like this…..calling it an OST for a movie called “rockstar”…just my angst about the movie making in india…always chickening out when from showing the real deal…the music develops the feel of a film…. and i dont feel i am listening to something raw and real…this is another sugar coated shit movie from bollywood..

VIP says:

@pranchi: i dont remember arr saying anywhere that this would be purely rock-oriented. 🙂 and there are 3 songs which are rock-based, no? i m sure imtiaz had his reasons for not making all songs rock..

Arun Francis says:

Where the FUCK is rock in Rockstar OST??????

Sreejith says:

can’t stop listening to it!

Sunil says:

Rockstar

Read at your own leisure as I’ve tried to express my feeling here. This is not a review of the album.

Who am I to decide which song is better or how to rate a particular song? Every time I hear each song, it feels like a new experience all together.

The quality in all songs is so exuberant to say the least and even with an average pair of headphones as a listener I don’t need to decipher what sound is being put fourth thanks to the mastering and re-recording. Rahman ji and his team certainly knock socks off as usual, but the sound quality this time round is tremendously glaring. Even though it depends on each listener’s own audible skills, I believe with Rockstar everyone can generally hear every nuance placed forward in the songs and Dear H. Sridhar sir must be smiling down upon his brother and our Rahman ji as I feel post his dismissal this album has one of the finest sound engineering ever to be delivered out of Rahman ji’s discography.

As far as I’m aware I think the biggest gadget buff in the Indian film industry is our Rahman ji, critics often complain about his overuse of synthetic instruments and special effects and how the overall effect of the song has been killed. I’d like to stress who are they to know what Rahman ji’s intention is during the mastering and engineering process. All though many people are behind his creative team, it’s probably Rahman ji who always decides when to take the final cut so obviously whatever the outcome is, to an extent it is his conscious one.

Technology is always improving and Rahman ji has near enough always been at the helm with these updates and this has been evident even before he joined the industry thanks to his respected dad, the late R.K. Shekhar. He hasn’t used any synth effects in this album however there is certainly no lack of technological creativity possessed by this album. I read the reason for the delay behind the audio release was due to the audio mastering. But over the years as a Rahman ji bhagat the “patience is a virtue” line is truly apt for this situation and as always the result here is one that I suppose you can cherish for a life time. He has proved that not only musically does he have a parallel but even with respect to musical appliances, musical gadgets etc. no one can reach his level of calibre. He must have a dozen synthesizers in his studios but he always uses them within his limits but more importantly to enhance the beauty of his songs.

Apologies if you felt I stated the obvious above but the most vital thing I need to get out of my system is that I seriously can’t remember the last time I heard an album with my eyes open and be transported to the core of a song. Usually what happens is we close our eyes and then only realise the real beauty of the song but to cut a long story short, is it me or does everyone feel as if their sitting at a dargah when hearing Kun Faaya Kun, standing out in an open field watching the concert performance of Saadda haq, at the front row in an indoor stadium listening to Jo Bhi Mein/Naadaan Parindey, having fun at a carnival in Punjab (Kateya Karoon), in a studio during the recording of Shehar Mein, being invited to anglo-Indian wedding (The Dichotomy of Fame) or in a Latin country watching a street storyteller singing Hava Hava. I haven’t mentioned other songs but this doesn’t mean I have a lesser liking for them but the point I’m trying to put across is Rahman ji has certainly leaped on to a new territory with Rockstar as over the years he has proved his mastery over melody, he was one of the pivots to incorporate expansive audio effects i.e. surround sound, panning, stereo effects etc. and with respect to his former output here he delivers an experience which not only captivates your mind but your soul too with the output of his sound/quality reaching a new platform all together.

Lastly, but not the slightest of the being the least, hats off to Imtiaz Ali for extracting the bestest of tunes and most importantly Irshad Kamil as lyrically this album has already leaped to a high position in my list of Rahman ji’s Hindi albums.

Finally, I really see myself always enjoying this album no matter what time it is, what the weather is like or whether I’m in lazing, at the gym, revising, eating dinner or in a car.

I don’t know if others feel the same and apologies if anyone takes offence at my post. I respect everyone’s opinion.

Sunil Malhotra

prabshoney says:

Irshad Kamil deserves a special mention in this review for the outstanding lyrics in this godawesome album.

Vivaz says:

Best Album of the Decade. Surely Win 2011 FIlfare for Best Music DIrector/Lyrics/Male Playback SInger.