Songs at the end.
Singing her fourth seventh song for A R Rahman (third this year), Shashaa Tirupati continues in fab form, acing the vocals on Sarsariya, joined by an equally effective Sashwat Singh in the second half. A R Rahman structures the song on the lines of such songs as Barso Re, key difference being of course the touch of exotic with the percussion, flute et al that lend well to the playful tone of the song. Wonder what language the non-Hindi lines are in. Tapas Roy who plays the first interlude of the song gets to lead with his oud (?) in the instrumental adaptation titled Lakh Lakh Thora and delivers brilliantly as he always does (really happy to see the man finally play for ARR!), with a cameo from flautist Naveen Kumar towards the end. The makers’ ode to Mohenjo Daro too is a high on energy and percussion-laden. The exotic elements don’t always work here though; what drives the song is the vocal department – Arijit Singh, Bela Shende (who incidentally sang in Gowariker-ARR’s Jodhaa Akbar too) and the chorus.
Tu Hai starts off with a beautiful prelude before settling into a familiar but likeable melody that is delivered by A R Rahman and his recent debutant Sanah Moidutty. Some excellent work in the background, particularly Kamalakar’s flute. Sindhu Maa starts off sounding like a new song before for some reason seguing back into Tu Hai and retracing the entire song with no discernible change. It does however serve the purpose of making you look at Tu Hai as perhaps an ode to Indus instead of a romantic piece between the lead actors that it comes across as in its original form. Composer also adapts the tune into a tranquil instrumental track called Shimmer of Sindhu, and it works beautifully in this slower form. Guitarist Keba Jeremiah and flautist Kamalakar are credited on the track, though the main instrument sounds more like a harp. Whispers of the Mind and Whispers of the Heart are the two tracks most conformant with what one might expect from a movie titled Mohenjo Daro. The former has nothing much happening, just Arjun Chandy engaged in a wordless chant (a melody that seems to carry shades of abheri/bhimplasi raga) with the occasional backing vocals, to a jungle-like ambience. And yet the whole thing so splendidly done the track is sure to give you goosebumps! Whispers of the Heart too is built around the same tune and nature sounds but features richer orchestration – percussion, a bigger chorus et al, all of which add well to the haunting feel. I find the minimalism of Whispers of the Mind more appealing, nevertheless.
Mohenjo Daro. A R Rahman and Ashutosh Gowariker coming together after over seven years, so naturally hopes were riding high on this one. And ARR does deliver an engaging soundtrack that however wouldn’t rate as high as their previous outings together.
Waiting to see complete credits, quite keen to know the instruments that have been used to produce all the intriguing sounds in the album.
Music Aloud Rating: 8/10
Top Recos: Sarsariya, Whispers of the Mind, Tu Hai
