Ekk Deewana Tha – Music Review

Two songs where the lyrics pretty much killed it for me were Sharminda Hoon and Phoolon Jaisi. The complexity of the former even in the Tamil version had taken some getting used to, but here it is back to square one, and Madhusree and Rahman on vocals also aren’t able to make up for the other factors. Phoolon Jaisi has Clinton Cerejo on vocals with Kalyani Menon retained from Tamil, with her original Malayalam lyrics. The references of naazuk and komal ladki seriously make it sound like Javed Akhtar penned some beauty product jingle! And a third place where the lyrics disappointed was the highlight of the original soundtrack, Aaromale, once again sung by Alphonse Joseph. I mean if they keep the lead hook in Malayalam, why not leave the rest of the song too as is? Well they don’t, and the resultant product doesn’t seem quite there. Shubh Shubh Ghadi.. in place of Swasthi
Swasthi.. is especially cringe-inducing. But overall if the song still retains some of its charm it is kudos to that truly God-level arrangement from ARR. Leon D’Souza sounds quite nice rendering Hosanna with Suzanne D’Mello doing a lovely job on chorus, but the decision to make Leon do the rapping is a bad move, his voice seems to be too mellow for rap. Rashid Ali and Shreya Ghoshal prove to be able replacements for Devan and Chinmayi singing the Hindi version of Anbil Avan, Sun Lo Zara. Almost every element of the arrangement is left untouched, except the transition from Mendelssohn’s Wedding March to a North Indian shehnai piece here instead of the South Indian wedding-based naadaswaram piece. And
that switch hurts, the juxtaposition was one of the highlights of the original.

The title song appears as Zohra Jabeen here, with Javed Ali replacing Karthik. Another commendable replacement, the man renders it beautifully, and the orchestration is the same guitar-led awesomeness that adorned the original. In Dost Hai Hum To Rahman goes for an almost complete makeover, making it a complete hip hop track but retains the violin hook that I had so loved in the original. Naresh Iyer leads the vocals with Jaspreet Jasz and Arya doing the rap. Interesting revamp, but not quite up to the original. And the last vocal track is the only original song specifically for the Hindi edition, Kya Hai Mohabbat, sung by the composer himself. Philosophical lyrics, melancholic tune, Rahman’s singing.
Works. And finally there are 4 instrumental tracks. Broken Promises is where Shreya Ghoshal builds on the Aaromale hook and delivers an ethereal Bageshri-based humming. Then there are two songs that, though they imply a Malayaliness in the title – Moments In Kerala and Jessie’s Land, don’t have anything Malayali about them. That said both are lovely listens – Moments In Kerala for its simplicity and the soulfulness in Prabhakar’s short violin solo; and Jessie’s Land for the breezy improv over the Hosanna lead hook, which is
rendered quite well by Megha. The final piece Jessie’s Driving Me Crazy by Sanjeev Thomas and Timmy is a regular rock song, nothing particularly memorable about it.

A soundtrack that will take much getting used to for people who are crazy about Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya, due mainly to Javed Akhtar. With a couple of songs which might
not work even then.

Music Aloud Rating – 7.25/10

Top Recos – Broken Promises, Zohra Jabeen, Moments In Kerala, Kya Hai Mohabbat