Kurbaan – Music Review

In spite of that heard-before feel that Shukran Allah carries about it, there is something about Salim-Sulaiman’s score (I read in some places that this one is done by SEL, and the song does have a SEL signature all over it, but not sure if the news is true) that would get you hooked to it. May be it is the mellow arrangement, may be it’s the sweet rendition by Sonu and Shreya with a superb backing from Salim – which, I am not exactly sure. What I am sure of though is that the song provides the ideal opening to a soundtrack that gets better as it goes along. Dua which comes up next, with its rhythm template a la songs like Yun Hi Chala Chal and similarly oriented lyrics, has a travelogue-ish mood. The composers do a delectable infusion of sufi elements into the song and the choice of vocals couldn’t have been better, Kailash Kher and Sukhwinder Singh carrying out their part with relish, plus Aiman’s wonderful cameo at the sargam in the second interlude. Marianne D’Cruz’s English portion could have been done without though.

Salim Merchant gets to centrestage with the devotional Ali Maula, and does a decent job of rendering the dolefully tuned track. Though not exactly a tune you would be humming around much, the haunting effect of the arrangement would have you come back to this song. The impact is kind of ruined in the remix however. But the mindblowing track that follows next more than makes up for that foible. The first and indeed the best instance I remember of hearing an erotic track with heavy classical elements in it is ARR’s spellbounding Hai Rama set in raag Puriya Dhanasri (Panthuvarali in Carnatic), and it is probably the similarity in the raag (is it the same raag, I wonder) and the selection of a classical arrangement that brought to my mind this track while listening to the sensuous Rasiya. While Hai Rama was characterized by a frenetic usage of the instruments, Salim-Sulaiman choose to take the opposite path for Rasiya, giving minimal instrumentation for most part, and the effect is, quite simply put, goosebumps. And the rendition by Shruti Pathak as if in an undertone, what singing! And the composers’ parting shot comes in the form of the rip-roaring rock number Kurbaan Hua sung by – you guessed it – Vishal Dadlani! The fleeting resemblance to 8×10 Tasveer‘s Nazaara Hai notwithstanding, Vishal’s fervid rendition and Salim-Sulaiman’s clever orchestration make for a gripping four-odd minutes.
With an outstanding score encompassing an eclectic mix of genres, Salim Merchant and Sulaiman Merchant once again prove that they are a force to be reckoned with in the composing arena. If only they were more consistent in their compositions..

Music Aloud’s rating – 8/10

Recommended tracks – Rasiya, Dua, Kurbaan Hua