Rahman's Rustic Raavan

'Rustic' is the word which kept ringing in my head while listening to all the tracks offered by A R Rahman in Mani Ratnam's Raavan.

The album as a whole, I should say Raavan has a typical Mani Ratnam-Rahman sound to it. Six excellent tracks emanating from this combination for Raavan are more towards being script-dependent, than making the album self-sufficient by itself . Like in every album by ARR, all the tracks have something to brag about, with some ingenious lyrics by Gulzar :-)

1.Beera: Almost has a tribal sound to it, as if it were composed in an attempt to emulate the tribes of Eastern India. The lyrics are full of praises to the protagonist, with a feel of vanity to it.
2.Behene de: Another excellent collaboration between ARR and Karthik in this song. This is that one song of every AR album which would keep resonating in your head. You actually feel the 'flow' this song is about.
3.Thok di Killi: This is the most interesting song with a good tempo all along, with some intriguing lyric in it. I am yet to decipher the entire context and implication of these radical lines in the song. Sukhwinder sing takes the song effortlessly through it's phases, making it another good track in the album.
4.Ranjha Ranjha: Surprise track of the album. Superb vocals by Rekha Bharadwaj complimented well by Javed Ali.Every time she sings 'Ranjha Ranjha', the song penetrates deeper and deeper into you.
5.Khilli re: Slow and soothing track of the likes of 'Saanwariya saanwariya' from Swades. Will catch on in the later stages of my album-listening routines.
6.Katta katta: Cheeky track with funny lyric. Genre of vocals used in this track are real good, and it culminates into a new kind of a song from the house of AR :)

One major disappointment for a die-hard fan of AR like me, is that AR hasn't sung any of the tracks. Remember 'Tere Bina' from Guru? :)
Nevetheless, second album of AR for the year after VTV will stand out as a good one as well:) Still waiting for the Tamil version-Expecting some crackling lyric by Vairamuthu.