Music Review – Jab Tak Hai Jaan (Hindi) – Welcome to RahMANIA!!

Here’s great news to music lovers. The biggest album of the decade is finally out to cast its romantic spell. As Yash ji announced his retirement, the movie Jab Tak Hai Jaan will be the last one in the list of Yash Chopra’s romances. It’s saddening to digest that there will be no more honey-laced love stories such as Silsila, Kabhi Kabhi, Dil Tho Pagal Hai etc. from him.

Heard of clash of titans, Jab Tak Hai Jaan is a combo of titans. The film marks the first and last time collaboration of heavy-weights - Yash Chopra, A.R. Rahman and Gulzar. I really wonder why it took so long for these geniuses to come together for a project. Had they done it much earlier in their careers, we would have witnessed many more gems from this deadly combination. 

Let’s walk though the album and taste every bit of RahMANIA. As we know Challa has taken the nation by storm raising the expectations of musicphiles across the globe. People were eagerly waiting for this album’s launch like they did for the launch of next version of an Apple iPhone/iPad. Now the wait is over and the most awaited album is waiting for us to be listened and savored.

The album opens with an addictive guitar interlude that we have heard in the movie’s teaser. Challa is an extended version of that and transforms into a complete lover’s chant.

That’s poetic. Challa ki labda phiren means What is the lover searching for? The song was sung by Rabbi Shergill (of Bulla ki Jaana fame). A perfect selection by ARR as the song needs the voice of a Sufi singer who can add a tinge of Punjabi, and Rabbi proves his mettle.

One can’t imagine a Yash Chopra film without a track replete with romance. Here’s the scintillating Saans with heavy dose of strings that creates magic. The song opens with heavy string arrangements, taken from ‘Oscar Sangamam’ – Rahman’s collaboration with Hans Zimmer, and Shreya Ghoshal’s voice takes over slowly. Ghoshal has shown sheer brilliance in her rendition and her voice emanates spirit of joy.

Only complaint with the song is Mohit Chauhan singing along with Shreya Ghoshal. Mohit is charming as a standalone singer, but with Shreya he seemed to be overshadowed. That raises my eyebrow for his inclusion, and don’t know how others take it. After riding on the success wave for being the poster boy of Rockstar, it’s sad to listen to him only once in the entire album.

There’s a much sadder Saans - Reprise version sung again by Shreya Ghoshal. The song is mesmerizing and it’s arguably this era’s version of Rahman’s Kehna hi Kya from Bombay.  

Then there’s Ishq Shava - a club song - that may soon find its place in all the dancing parties and loads of dance based talent shows on TV. I am waiting to watch it on screen for its choreography – Hope SRK and Katrina has put in some nice moves. The song has the voices of Raghav Mathur and Shilpa Rao. Raghav’s voice has a close resemblance to that of SRK and oh boy, Shilpa’s voice is so husky and the way she keeps up the momentum of the song qualifies her as a modern day singer. 

Harshdeep Kaur who sang Kathiya Karu in Rockstar makes her presence felt with the Punjabi number Heer. Though I could not understand a major part of its lyrics, the melody made me spellbound. Harshdeep’s singing awakens poignancy and highlights the scattered remains of gloom in her voice. Albeit the song is simple, it soars high on melody – a typical ARR touch.

After giving much intensity in the earlier numbers of the album, ARR chills us with a breeze – Jiya Re. It’s sung by Neeti Mohan (winner of Channel V’s Popstars who subsequently became a member of pop group Aasma). With Neeti’s fresh voice, the song is peppy and interesting to hear. Pay attention to different flute patterns in both the interludes; it’s a dash of Indian meets western. My guess – this can be the introductory song for Anushka Sharma, fingers crossed.

Now let’s make way for the title track Jab Tak Hai Jaan sung by Javed Ali and Shakthishree Gopalan. The song is a mélange of numerous single tracks. This number takes off with Javed Ali’s frenzied croons and flies onto hardcore Indian beats. Shakthishree comes in with her heavy-duty voice and takes the flight (read it as song) to another altitude, and then both join to sing it. This must be the most sought after song that’s extensively shot in Switzerland under the direction of Aditya Chopra!!

Ishq Dance is a a dance-worthy, bizarre instrumental track loaded with relentless drum beats. Alongside there are intermittent shouts of Hey Hey by the chorus. But will it be as successful as The Dance of Envy from Dil Tho Pagal Hai, Raga Dance from Taal, Dancing Jodi from Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, or even Tango for Taj from Rockstar. Fingers crossed again. I relished hearing it and now I am looking forward to watch it on screen.  

Every good thing comes to an end, so as this album. The culmination point witnesses the famous poetry that’s making waves all over. Shah Rukh Khan recites the poem Jab Tak Hai Jaan to the tunes of ARR. The poem is a stunner with its lyrical loveliness and it breathes life into the movie’s first theatrical trailer. But the poem’s orchestration pattern has a striking similarity to theme of The Motorcycle Diaries by Gustavo Santaolalla. The poem, last in the album, is placed aptly thus giving an appropriate end to Yash Chopra’s legacy which’s spanned across decades.

Bottom-line: The album is definitely not ARR’s best work, but in a way it’s his best experimentation till date. You should listen to it with an open mind and the songs take their time to grow on you. Rahman’s melodious music and Gulzar’s poetic lyrics make the album scale new heights. Rather than calling this piece of writing as a music review, I prefer calling it a musicALL journey with a magicALL experience. Or simply, RahMANIA!!

My favorite songs: Challa, Saans, Jab Tak Hai Jaan.

My Rating: Expectation – 10/10; Reality – 8/10