Music From The Gutters |  2008-12-03

Will A R Rahman get the coveted Oscar for his soundtrack?

The Bitch has given up on A R Rahman? Not yet, not till she is done with Rahman‘s last work for the year. Nothing escapes her attention.



As a word of caution Danny said to Rahman, "No cellos please, no weeping on my film score."

So how is he faring this time with his Oscar worthy international soundtrack? Let‘s find out with the music review of ‘Slumdog Millionaire.‘

Aaj Ki Raat - Rehman mixing a Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy song? Back in the day Rahman started as a mixer. So Danny Boyle said, "We start from scratch Madras man, show me a demo," and here‘s why the track is first up. Rahman could have protested but...

Dreams on Fire - Suzanne D‘Mello does her routine ballad ‘act‘ on stage with this angrezi gaana in a desolated bar room filled with smoke and people with no desires. She could have sung about her bills in the pauses, nobody would have noticed. Dreams are expensive to cash on these days.



Gangsta Blues - Somewhere in this electronically equalized track, Blaaze, (that gratingly annoying Rahman pet rapper) trills, ‘Me no care, me no wanna wanna care,‘ I pipped in, ‘Me too, me too.‘ What enthu response no!

Jai Ho - This is Rahman ‘Que Sera Sera‘ territory. He knows what ingredients he wants to add to a rabble rousing anthem that is ‘Jai Ho‘. Who better than Sukhwinder Singh for the elaan call from the madrasa of music? I love how it starts but the minute Sukhwinder cackles, ‘Aaja aaja...‘ I get visions of those South Indian songs which are dubbed with Hindi lyrics because of which they look so funny on screen. Remember how odd the songs of ‘Thiruda Thiruda‘ looked on screen in Hindi, even though the music was spectacular. Rahman sir, kalyan ho!

Latika‘s Theme - I forgot to mention earlier, this is the prelude to ‘Dreams on Fire‘ where Suzanne just hums a hmmn-hmmn throughout, just so you know that you have time to place your order and take your seat for ‘Latika‘s Theme‘ to set fire to your pants...err...dreams.

Liquid Dance - Ha, ha, ha. Okay, how this track starts scatters my brains through the ear plugs in my head. The sounds fritter like liquid splash. Hear it out, am not kidding.The Madras Symphony sweeps in with their violins. It‘s reminiscent of ‘Rangeela‘s‘ theme, only slower in tempo.



Mausam And Escape - When John McLaughlin made music with Ravi Shankar, their lovechild Rahman was born. In this track, Rahman woefully marries the guitar-sitar fusion which is at once eclectic as it is going to leave us all spellbound at the speed with which the two instruments try to battle their wits with each other. Jaldi jaldi mein jhakaas jugalbandi!

Millionaire - The first one and half minutes of this 2 mins 46 seconds track is absolute fire cracking super ballistic groove thunder. What am I saying? I got seanced! Then the crescendo takes a dip into its murky underbelly and that‘s where I‘m waddling to make my way out of the heady trance trip. The track cracks into two different egg halves, otherwise pieced back in the Enigma style reverse end.

O...Saya - Move over ‘Chaiyya Chaiyya‘, this track on wheels is Rahman Express at its locomotive best. Fast Local I‘d say. Though I wish there was no singing, just yodelling as the train ran through thick woods.

Paper Planes - What utter churlish sounds! What is the girl singing on this track? Seems like they radio this at a paper plane factory outlet where assembly line workers are droned with this ‘We don‘t need no education‘ type brainwash song. Sound kum karo bhai!



Paper Planes (DFA Remix) - This version is for them to speed up at work! Go haywire people, run up the mill and about in Chaplinesque fashion.

Ringa Ringa - ‘Choli Ke Peeche‘ is reworked for laughs. You have to listen to this raunchy number about ‘khatiya‘ and ‘khatmal.‘ How the bedbug bugs! Ila Arun and Alka Yagnik get horny complaining. They should have used a spray to keep the studio clean when Rahman worked nights on them! Silly chorus going ringa-ringa roses, all fall down to bugged sleep.

Riots - Eerie and invocative of images that are going to slash up the screen with its hallucinating sounds. Deep, dark secrets uncovered, will open a can of worms on stage and make it look sinuously edible. Yikes, this is spooky!

The Bitch thinks this is his most experimental international soundtrack so far, considering that he had to learn a lot of ancient Chinese-Japanese instruments for his 2003 ‘Warriors of Heaven and Earth‘ album which gave it a more traditional quality, as compared to this, where he‘s got a free hand on various music forms to shoe horn according to his style.

An Oscar nod? Yes. A trophy? Wait!