Raavan : Maoist Connection & Music Review

Have been listening to the music of Raavan non-stop. I had tweeted quite sometime back that rahman+gulzar = magic; and that's coming true again. The album has been an overwhelming experience with some fantastic and fresh sounds that haven't been heard before. Rahman's musical notes and Gulzar's thoughtful lyrics make for a great listening experience.

Let me start with the controversial topic of maoism/naxalism. Like Dil Se, Bombay and Roja, Mani Ratnam has picked up another socially relevant theme for the silverscreen. I loved his terror ravaged trilogy and this time around I am hoping that he has got it right again. The theme of naxalism is sprayed around by Gulzar in a strong yet poetic charm in two of the songs.

I shall first discuss the comical song Kata kata bechara bakra which is fun to begin with, but has the references to naxalites. The theme of the song is age-old, of a man getting married and hence being called 'bechara bakra' ready for the chopping block.

kata kata bechaara bakra kata kata bechaara
mana mana le khair maanale aakhari raat kuwaara

But soon after that follows these words :

dulhe miya dulhe miya dand-vand pelo
dulhe miya chhodo joru jhaarkhand le lo

The village folks ask the guy to do some body-building [dand-vand pelo]; forget about his wife and chase the cause of 'jharkhand'. Gulzar slips in the message with such subtlety. The song has a beautiful earthy feel with Sapna Avasthi and Ila Arun bringing the folk flavor. This is only the second time that Sapna Avasthi has sung for Rahman, 10 years after Chaiyya Chaiyya, and she still sounds as energetic as she was back then.

Since we all know that the movie is titled Raavan for a reason. And where there is Raavan, there has to be a Ram and Sita too. This melancholic song Behne De sounds like Ram's heart bleeding for Sita after she has been kidnapped by Raavan.

 

Umeed ko aag laga zara
Sehra ki pyaas bujha zara
Ghan itna baras ke galne lagoon
Mei paani ke upar tarne lagoon

A man missing his sweetheart very badly, that's what the song is about. It also speaks about the deep bonding and love between two inseparable beings. It has the feel of emptiness and is expressed beautifully in words.

Shart lagi hai mar jaane ki
Jeena hai toh pyaar mei
Dil kahin bhi ho mera
Jaan rakhi hai yaar mei
Behja behja hai saagar ka kehna
Behja behja hai nadiya ko behna

Coming back to the theme of naxalism, there is another song Thok De Killiwhich has been powerfully sung by Sukhwinder Singh. Its a scorn against the caste/class barrier, about the have's and have-nots. It first describes the condescending look that the upper caste/class people give to the downward trodden:

Sabko ghoore aankh dikhaye
Tanashahi kare daraye
Oh baakad billi hey

And then, the song goes on to say that no one has ever discussed the problems of people below poverty line.

Aaja milke baithe
Haal sunaave dil ka
Kela woh khaate hain
Humko phenke chilka chilka

The despair of being teased as 'backward' is brilliantly penned in the song. The instrumentation is fabulous and the drum beats are that of an uprising against this class/caste barrier.

Pichde pichde keh ke humko
Khoob udaye khilli dilli
Sehte sehte ab toh
Gardan ghar rakh kar jaate hai
Choti ho gayi kabren
Bin mundi hi mar jaate hain

The gross violence inflicted against the backward castes by the upper-caste is very well described in the last 3 lines of the above stanza. It speaks of the gruesome acts of terror where people are beheaded callously and the body being buried while heads are being tossed out. Such a painful act of violence has been put down so effectively. I am sure the movie will capture the essence of the song well.

sadiyon se chalata aaya hai
unch ninch ka lamba kissa
abb ki baar hisaab chuka le
chir ke le le apna hisaa
apna khun bhi laal hi hoga
khol ke dekh le gaal ki jhilli

And finally, the vengeful act of the maoist is spoken about. How they have decided to take law in their own hands and settle the score. The song will remain with you for long, that's for sure. This is one of the best songs of the movie, but unfortunately people will soon forget all the stanzas and only the start will be hummed.

Another song which will remain with you for long is Ranjha Ranjha Kardi Vey. A perfect song tailor-made for Rekha Bharadwaj to lend her vocals melodiously. Originally written and sung by Bulle Shah, we have had many versions of this including Abida Parveen's. Its a part of folk legends and this time Gulzar picks up this one.

Ranjha ranjha kardi vey mai
Aape ranjha hoyi

The song has a rustic rhythm and folksy feel to it. Rekha does complete justice to the song. Its a sad romantic song that describes the woes of love and the look out for that elusive lover who is nowhere to be seen.

Waqt katata bhi nahi
Waqt rukta bhi nahi
Dil hai sajde mei magar
Ishq jhukta bhi nahi

The pangs of separation is evident in the musical notes. And the soft singing adds to the sadness. Although I believe that Sonu could have done a better job because Khan has a hollow voice which does not emote much. There is no expression in his voice and that is one reason I have never been able to like Jashn-e-bahara song for Jodha-Akbar.

There is another romantic number Khili Re rendered by Renee Bharadwaj. That's the weakest song for me. Haven't liked it much until now.

Finally, I come to the new-age Raavan named Beera this time around. A naxalite out to fight against the system.

Beera ke dus maathe
Beera ke sau naam
Chhede jo beera ko
Dhama dham dham dham

The reference of dus-maathe could be about having a brilliant mind that does organizing, planning, plotting, communicating, executing the plan; all in one go. And the sau-naam would well be the many aliases that he is known by, just my guess of the interesting lyrics. The song has a lot of African drum-beats which gives it the much needed energy and aggression. At around 3 mins length, I felt it was short. I wished it was long 7-8 minute piece, but nope.

The album is a sure-shot success with great sounds, superb lyrics, fine instrumentation and some inspired singing. A great album indeed.

By the way, I got some clues on the storyline of the movie. If you can recall Khalnayak, its on those lines is what I can make of it. Madhuri Dixit aka Ganga is chsing Sanjay Dutt aka Ballu, while Ram is on the lookout for both. And when Ganga finally returns, she has to give her testimony in court to prove her innocence, much like Sita had to do after returning to Ayodhya. The difference is that, in Khalnayak , Ganga did not get kidnapped. In this movie, the leading lady gets nabbed by Beera. Another new addition is the presence of an emissary in the form of Govinda. This angle was not there in Khalnayak.

But I am sure it will not be this simple, Mani Ratnam definitely has some other plans; maybe a few twists in the storyline will make it interesting. Whatever it is, I am waiting for the movie to release. Desperate to watch it. Till then, let me immerse myself in the soundtrack of the movie.

raavan : first teasers are out

great news upfront. here's the first poster of mani ratnam's new movie 'raavan'. abhishek is looking ominous with the turmeric smeared look. i just tweeted him about how this reminds about bigB in 'agneepath' when he enters the slum in a white suite and has 'kichad' on his face.



the audio release is on 24th april, another fantastic news. the music is by ar rahman and lyrics by gulzar. the track list is as follows:

Behene De – Karthik
Beera Beera – Vijay Prakash
Kata Kata – Ila Arun, Sapna Awasthi & Kunal Ganjawala
Khilli Re – Reena Bhardwaj
Ranjha Ranjha – Rekha Bhardwaj & Javed Ali
Thok De Killi – Sukhwinder Singh



and finally, here's the trailer posted on youtube:

Ankhiyon Ke Jharokhon Se : 'Love Story' By Erich Segal

Its been exactly 40 years and 40 days since 'Love Story' was first published. The publication of this novel was more of an afterthought than a piece of original literary work. The movie 'Love Story' whose screenplay was written by Erich Segal, was later adapted it into a novel which would serve as a pre-cursor to the movie and help in promoting the film. Hence, the novel came out on 14th Feb, 1970 while the movie released later, in December of the same year.

The book went on to become a best-seller and the movie too was a huge hit, and some lines from the movie have achieved so much popularity that they are oft repeated in quotes and romantic write-ups, one of them being 'Love means never having to say sorry'. Although Erich Segal went on to write quite a few novels like 'Oliver's Story' [which was a sequel to 'Love Story'], 'Class' and 'Doctors' ; but none of them could match upto the success and fame of 'Love Story'. This is a book for keeps, the romance is so beautifully portrayed and with so much innocence and honesty.

As most of us have read the book or know the story, I shall not delve much into it. I would just like to pay a small tribute to writer, Erich Segal, who passed away earlier this year, on 17th Jan. It was a huge loss to the literary world. And people who have been affected by the book, directly or indirectly, must have sent a small wish up there; may his soul rest in peace.

Coming back to the post, when Rajshri Films decided to adapt the book into movie, Ankhiyon Ke Jharokhon Se was born. Keeping the tradition of family entertainers, this movie too matched the innocence and honest depiction of love. Sachin and Ranjeeta in lead roles excelled. And so did Madan Puri in a small cameo as Arun's dad. But the movie truly belonged to Sachin and Ravindra Jain; Sachin for his mature performance and Ravindra Jain for his wonderful music and lyrics.

With the backdrop of a college, the movie starts with a tiff/competition between Arun and Lily. This went on to become a formula for a whole lot of movies, where the guy-gal are up in arms against each other in first half hour and then coyly in love soon after they get to know each other well. Even to this day, movies have this formulaic approach.

Anyways, Arun is an extrovert guy with playful nature, and he is smart and intelligent. He happens to be rich and that also brings in a bit of arrogance. While Lily is a girl from a modest family, and they live with limited resources. When Lily tops the class, it hurts Arun's ego as he was the previous topper and now stands second in class; and this ego leads to the boy-gang ragging Lily with reference to her Christian background and lack of knowledge in Hindi literature.

Arun pushes her into a contest of sorts, in Hindi; that's when Lily matches wits with him in a doha duel where she chants dohas of Kabir and Rahim. The war of words, or should I say dohas is perfectly pitched where Lily makes Arun realise that arrogance is not a good quality and Arun ends the contest by saying that she should accept his friendship in all humility.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVNgOAS2M00&hl=en_US&fs=1&]

But this is just the beginning of the love story. Everything runs smoothly until the couple decide to marry. Arun informs his rich dad about his love interest, which has to now surmount cultural and religious differences. When Madan Puri visits Lily's house, I was scared it would be a repeat of the 'Bobby' scene of Pran embarrassing Premnath by talking of his riches, social status and cultural barriers. But this movie being a Rajshri Films, no such drama happens.

This is one of the most crucial and differentiating turning point in the novel 'Love Story'. While In the novel, Oliver's dad does not approve of the marriage ; Arun's dad  is more than happy to go with his son's choice. This juncture also marks the difference between the book and the movie. In the book, Oliver's dad disowns him. Oliver and Jennifer get married and settle down. But their days of hardship have just begun. When they decide to start a family and are unable to, they visit a doc who diagnoses Jennifer's condition.

But in the movie, when all things are running smoothly Lily suddenly takes to bed. She had fallen ill before too, but no one knew the severity of her suffering. She is finally diagnosed of blood cancer and she has very less time left. This concept was later picked up in many a movie, with variations in screenplay. Most memorable being Hrishi da's Mili and Mani Ratnam's Gitanjali. And Erich Segal should be credited with this sensitive love progression in which one of the partners is terminally ill. The true test of love is when we can accept someone for who they are and stay with them despite their inadequacies; take them 'in illness and in health'; and be with them till the end of their lives. The movie epitomises the sacrificial nature of love and shows what selfless love is all about.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqpIIaCJggY&hl=en_US&fs=1&]

Arun's dad is very supportive of him, but Lily does not wish Arun to go through the trauma when she learns of her own illness. This is where the movie was a welcome change from the novel. In the novel, Oliver and Jennifer are strapped for cash and so he requests financial assisstance from his dad for her treatment; he still does not mention to his dad about her illness.

How Arun and Oliver deal with this situation forms rest of the story. How they unselfishly decide to show happy and fulfilling days to their loved-ones, despite knowing their condition and how they cope-up with life is not just romantic but tear-jerkingly sweet.

While the book explores the heartlessness of a person, Oliver's dad; it also shows to what extent a person in love can go, Oliver. Its a beautiful story of love and difficult times that it can make us go through. But its all worth it, if love is all a person seeks. Its better to live a short life filled with love, than a long one without it.