Ghajini

Ghajini (tamil) is among my most favorite tamil albums. Though it had bad songs like Ragathulla and X-machi, the remaining 3 songs more than made up for it. In Ghajini (hindi), director A R Murugadoss plays it safe by having A R Rahman (note the initials!) for the music. Probably because he thought Harris didn't have enough experience in Bollywood, his only album being Rehna hai tere dil mein (Minnale remake).

ARR, being Harris's former guru, rightly rectifies the 2 mistakes Harris made in the original Ghajini and gives 5 amazing songs. Well, almost!

1. Guzarish : Javed Ali, ARR's current favorite, continues his great run in 2008(he had earlier sung Jashn-E-Bahaara & Tu Muskura, both for ARR) with this hindi version of Oru Maalai, using his slightly husky voice to his fullest advantage. He structures the song well, but the soul of the song is provided by Sonu Nigam(surprise guest vocals!), who keeps soulfully humming in the background periodically and together, both the singers make this song a perfect package.

2. Hey bachu : Being a solo female song, this song has to be either the Ragathulla or the X-machi equivalent. At the beginning, it sounded like it's the X-machi equivalent due to the fact that it didn't exactly sound like a fun song, ruling out the possibility that it could be Ragathulla. But then P. Adithya confused me; he said, "Dei can't you see that the title says "Bachu"? Don't you remember Asin dancing with kids in Ragathulla? ". I was stumped. I would have agreed with him, but song no:5 is not letting me do that!

3. Kaise Mujhe : A very intense romantic number, this song will mostly make an appearance in the second half of the film. Probably it's the Suttum Vizhi equivalent. It also marks the pairing up of Benny Dayal & Shreya Ghoshal for the second time this year, after Tu meri dost hai(Yuvvraaj). There's also an instrumental version of this song later in the album,which is good too.

4. Behka : This song is so weird that you might even hate it the first time you hear it. It sounds really bad the first time. From weird mode ,all of a sudden it goes to rock mode in the middle and gets back to weird mode after that. But you'll gradually like it as you keep hearing it. Karthik just about saves the song from being put into the "Among ARR's worst" category.

5. Latoo : Songs like this are generally sung by Sunidhi Chauhan. Hence, it is indeed a pleasant surprise when you hear Shreya Ghoshal singing it. And we've all been thinking been thinking she excels only in soft, melodious songs! She does such a fabulous job in this new avatar of hers! This song, being much more youthful, is my candidate for the Ragathulla equivalent. But I'm not sure, it's just a calculated guess. Also, you can excuse yourself if you're reminded of Mpumelelo Mbangwa/Robert Mugabe when you listen to this song!


A R Rahman has had a great 2008 and he signs off the year in great style too!