Songs and credits at the end.
Despite the outlandish screams that keep popping up through the song, Raakh Baaki is a captivating listen, largely for that pulsating rhythm punctuated with the intermittent guitar usage. Jonita Gandhi’s whispery rendition adds to the song’s intrigue, while also taking me back at times to the title song of Warriors of Heaven and Earth. Freaking Life starts off sounding like it might continue along the same lines, but instead turns out to be of a lighter kind. The umpteen repetitions of “freaking” can get annoying after a while, but the breezy nature of the song and the exuberant singing by Raja Kumari (who debuted for A R Rahman earlier this year with Kaatru Veliyidai), Rianjali and Suzanne D’Mello make the song worth your while. Kooke Kawn starts with a cawing sound, kind of like Rahman’s own Petta Rap (Patti Rap in Hindi) from 1994 did. The track unfortunately isn’t anywhere as interesting as that composition; following a middling Punjabi infused dance track format. Even Sukhwinder Singh’s singing does not help much in spite of the energy. Incidentally, even the last couple of party tracks from Rahman (both in Tamil – Achcham Yenbadhu Madamaiyada and 24) have been unimpressive.
Shashaa Tirupathi is the star of the lullaby O Sona Tere Liye, outperforming her fellow vocalist, composer Rahman. The song itself is reminiscent of ARR’s older tracks of similarly soothing nature, but the genre saves it from being a tedious listen. The composer’s best song from the soundtrack is Shashaa’s solo act. Chal Kahin rides on a fabulous melody that goes through multiple unexpected yet seamless turns, all of which the singer handles with finesse. The violins that dominate the backdrop add to the song’s allure, especially by conveying the exhilarating feel around the Chal Kahin Doora Chale refrain. Another fine vocal performance follows in Muafi Mushkil – Darshana KT the singer this time. One of the most interestingly constructed ARR songs in recent times, Muafi Mushkil has an a cappella style first half, and the backing vocalists give way to a piano in the latter segment. Final song of Mom is a traditional piece titled Be Nazaara. Once again the arrangement is very offbeat (T Series has missed crediting the arrangements for this one; but it is ARR as per a quote by the director) leading to a curiously interesting electronic-classical fusion. The classical part of the equation is presented by Sudeep Jaipurwale with an incredibly nuanced rendition set against the ambient backdrop.
Coming on the heels of a sports bio (Sachin: A Billion Dreams) and a mostly remade soundtrack (OK Jaanu) before that, Mom is the best that A R Rahman has sounded this year. The unorthodox arrangement in some of the songs is an especial standout.
Music Aloud Rating: 3.5/5
Top Recos: Chal Kahin, Be Nazaara, Muafi Mushkil
This review first appeared in the Mumbai edition of The Hindu.
Musician Credits
Song: – O Sona
Singers: – AR Rahman, Shashaa Tirupati
Music Director: – AR Rahman
Lyrics: – Irshad Kamil
Music Label:- T-Series
Song :-Kooke Kawn
Singer :- Sukhwinder Singh
Rap By Blaaze
Backing Vocals By Suzanne D’mello
Music Director :- Ar Rahman
Lyrics :- Irshad Kamil, Traditional
Music Label:- T-Series
Song:- Raakh Baakhi
Singer Name:- Jonita Gandhi
Music Director:- A.R. Rahman
Lyricist:- Irshad Kamil,
Music Label:- T-Series
Song:- Freaking Life
Singers :- Riyanjali, Rajakumari & Suzanne D’mello
Music Director:- A.R. Rahman
Backing Vocals By Darshana Kt
Lyrics:-Riyanjali, Rajakumari & A.R. Rahman
Music Label:- T-Series
Song:- Chal Kahin Door
Singer:- Shaasha Tirupati
Music:- AR Rahman
Lyrics:- Irshad Kamil
Music Label:- T-Series
Song:- Muafi Mushkil
Singer:- Darshana Kt
Music:-AR Rahman
Lyrics:- Irshad Kamil
Music Label:- T-Series
Song:- Be Nazaara
Singer Name:- Sudeep Jaipurwala
Music Director:- Traditional
Lyricist:- Traditional
Music Label:- T-Series
Backing Vocals By Abhay Jodhpurkar, Nakul, Shenbajgaraj, Santosh Hariharan,Nivas, Deepak, Saicharan, Narayanan, Deepthi Suresh, Veena Murali, Maalavika, Soundarya, Anu Subhaiya, Aishwarya A Kumar
Musicians
Bass – Keith Peters
Guitar – Keba Jeremiah, Rashid Ali
Flute – Naveen Kumar, Kamalakar
Rhythm & Percussions – Taufiq Qureshi Feat. Arun Solanki, Deepak Bhatt, Dipesh Varma, Omkar Salunkhe, Gautam Sharma, Shikhar Naad Qureshi
Recorded At Enzy Studio, Mumbai, By Camille Alex Polycrap
Chennai Strings & Sunshine Orchestra – Conducted By Vj Srinivasamurthy, Recorded At Am Studios, Chennai
Additional Programming – Ishaan Chhabra, Jerry Vincent, Tr Krishna Chetan, Pawan Chilamkurthi, Parag Chhabra, Kumaran Sivamani, Gulraj Singh
Music Supervision By Rianjali, Srinidhi Venkatesh
Mixed By Ishaan Chhabra & Tr Krishna Chetan
Mastered By Suresh Permal
Sound Engineers
Panchathan Record Inn, Chennai
Suresh Permal, Ishaan Chhabra, Santhosh Dhayanidhi, Tr Krishna Chetan, Karthik Sekaran, Jerry Vincent, Pawan Chilamkurthi, Vinay Sridhar, Srinidhi Venkatesh
Ar Studios, Mumbai
Dilshaad Shaikh, R Nitish Kumar, Hari Krishna
Am Studios, Chennai
S.Sivakumar, Pradeep Menon, Kannan Ganpat, Manoj
Musicians Fixer – R Samidurai
Musician Coordinators – Vijay Iyer, Noel James, Tm Faizuddin
