Chandan's Surmise: RahMania – the Versatility of the Maestro

This is the 3rd installment of my tribute to Rahman’s versatility and we continue with the discussion on his romantic songs. I intend to include a few songs and end my list from the pre 2004 era (when Rahman was at his lows) today. Some might find today’s list of songs the weakest in the series but I was tempted to add them here because I believe that the greatness of an artist lies in the relativeness of his mediocrity – what was mediocre by Rahman’s scale, still made it to the charts against the best of other composers.

The pre 2004 era of Rahman’s music was characteristic of profound usage of the chorus ranting gibberish like “rolashasha” “shashasha”, etc. or occasionally combinations of the musical notes like “ga-re-re-sa”,”pa-ni-dha”, etc. to give an unusually melodious background rhythm. Many composers in bollywood inspired by Rahman’s work had experimented with the usage of this technique but none of them were as successful as Rahman – he was a master of this art. He knew how to use this chorus to enhance the quality of the music unlike the inspired who would rely on the chorus to carry most of the weight of the tune. I start today’s discussion with a song from a forgotten movie “Dil Hi Dil Mein” whose music was extremely popular. This song brilliantly rendered in the voice of Abhijit gradually “grows on you” (like mah people say it) – as is characteristic of most Rahman songs. Notice how the chorus sings gibberish like “sirayasha moriamo”, “orapisha reshasha pisha rolashapa “, etc. and how enchantingly Rahman uses the flute and the violin for the prelude and the interlude.

Ae Nazneen Suno Na – Dil Hi Dil Mein

The next on my list is a song from the national award winning movie Zubeidaa. During the 90s, Udit Narayan and Kavita Krishnamurthy were regulars in all Rahman albums unlike those in this decade where he has successfully experimented with various new singers with occasional appearance from his favorites. This is one of the compositions for a romantic ballad that he later used as a template for songs in Lagaan and Swades which had similar rural Indian setups with the usage of the Dhapli and flute gaining predominance in the song.

Dheeme Dheeme – Zubeidaa

Next is another song with deft vocals from Udit Narayan and Kavita Krishnamurthy that starts as a very simple melody with little to charm, and grows into an addictive soft number. Rahman uses poignant vocals by Swarnalatha along with the background cadence - another reason why the melody grows on you slowly, but surely and the flute provides the added flavour to this song to enhance its tenacity factor.

Sunta Hai Mera Khuda – Pukaar

Rarely does Rahman make songs that are likeable from the word go although they may not have too much worth mentioning about them. Like “Yeh Rishta” from Meenaxi, this song has nothing extraordinary to mention about but it’s the inherent sweetness in this song and the refined vocals by Anuradha Paudwal and M.G. Shreekumar (an S.P. Balasubramanian sound-alike) with traces of Rahman’s flute charm that make this song from the movie Doli Saja Ke Rakhna one worth listening.

Kissa Hum Likhenge - Doli Saja ke rakhna

The next composition is a lesser heard song from the critically acclaimed movie – The Legend of Bhagat Singh. Elegantly rendered by Alka Yagnik and Udit Narayan, this amazingly melodious song never made it to the big leagues (blame it on the marketing of the movie and its music). The flute in the opening and the fast paced dholak and chimes in the composition give the song a definite rural north Indian feel. Along with the flute, violins also layer the track on various levels increasing the likeability of the track. Rahman used similar compositions in Lagaan and Swades (similar tempo and usage of dholak and chimes) but I believe this one is much better than those.

Maahive Maahive - Legend of Bhagat Singh

Once in a while great composers put all their trust on their singers and relax knowing that they can carry the weight of the song with minimal help. My next is one of those songs where Rahman let’s the lead singers take away all the credit and rightly so – when you know you can rely on the vocal greatness of stalwarts like Asha Bhonsle and Yesudas, why would you not? Although, his signature bass strings provide apt support for rhythm to the amazing duo and the combination of flute and sitar during the interlude make this an immensely melodious joy ride.

O Bhanvre - Daud