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20 Jan, 2008

Jodhaa Akbar (Hindi - A R Rahman)

Posted by: Karthik In: Hindi OST

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Azeem-o-shaan has Rahman playing with orchestral opulence truly fit for an emperor, in a fragmented, rhythm-dominated context. The most interesting part is the blend of very Indian pieces amidst grand Mughal splendor, perhaps fittingly mirroring the relative importance of the film’s two protagonists. In lamhon ke daaman mein, for most parts, is serenely beautiful and even those intermittent high points in chorus harmonize delectably with the main melody. Sonu Nigam and Madhushree’s vocals are, as usual, delightful. Javed Ali gets a cracker of a tune in Jashn-e-bahaaraa and he handles the solo responsibly – since the song literally rests on his rendition – and fabulously. Rahman seems to be enjoying himself thoroughly, singing Khwaja mere khwaja, even as he, as the composer, elevates the sufi strains expertly within a reasonably modern orchestral license. Bela Shende is spectacular in the princely, semi-Bhajan Man mohana, where Javed Akhtar evokes - quite interestingly - lord Krishna’s separation from his beloved, for Jodhaa’s pangs of separation from a Mughal emperor! Truly secular and touchingly imaginative! The creative freedom Rahman and Ashutosh have sought in this soundtrack may not necessarily reflect the appropriate period in Indian history but makes up by being lavishly inventive and tremendously sweeping!

Keywords: Jodha Akbar, Akbar Jodha, Ashutosh Gowariker, Hrithik Roshan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, A.R.Rahman

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34 Responses to "Jodhaa Akbar (Hindi - A R Rahman)"

1 | Abr7862

January 20th, 2008 at 8:54 pm

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I have been watching snippets of jashne bahaare on the tele for some time now and i swear it sounds like sonu and not javed ali

2 | yaju

January 20th, 2008 at 10:20 pm

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Karthik,

Had I been in your place, I wouldn’t have written 200 words just to emphasize the magnificence of the album.

My review would have been

–>

“BUY THE CD!”

Honestly speaking, this is ARR’s best album after many years because you don’t need to listen to the songs repeatedly so that they’ll get over you. I found all the songs catchy and the first hearing was enough to place them a prominent place in my memory bank of best tunes.

On the ARR Community on Orkut, a few people have mentioned that Man Mohana is inspired by a devotional song, of which ARR has made minor contributions. If that is indeed the case, then the original deserves a special mention.

So the music of 2008 has got a kick-start courtesy ARR, and how!

3 | catchgops

January 20th, 2008 at 10:40 pm

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The person who made that assertion about Mann Mohana withdrew it saying he wasn’t sure

4 | shouvik

January 20th, 2008 at 11:35 pm

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ya i only made it …. i purchased the cd and heard it in the car { cldn’t wait !1 } so i guess while eharing man mohana i thot it is some hindu bhajan .. the lyrics and all sounded like that , i guess i was wrong when i heard it in my Pc .The song really rocks , but it takes some time to grow on you. nice one otherwise

5 | Rishi

January 21st, 2008 at 4:27 am

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Oh my God… beautiful album.

I miss Rahman.

7 | Littlemaster

January 21st, 2008 at 11:08 am

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First 200 words review for an ARR album. The review captures the essence of the album excellently. Kudos, Karthik.

8 | rakesh

January 21st, 2008 at 11:45 am

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i cant believe joginder tuteja has given 2 stars for jodha akbar… he calls “In lamhon ke daman boring… wht’s wrong with people..

9 | Karthik

January 21st, 2008 at 12:08 pm

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2 stars??? Whoa…and I’m thinking this is one of Rahman’s best albums - up there with Dil Se and Roja types! Lemme read his review!

10 | Karthik

January 21st, 2008 at 12:16 pm

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Read it. Not sure what he was smoking, but I sure hope he gets to eat his words shortly. Even though I do not give a damn about commercial success as a yardstick for quality, that could be the only thing that can turn Joginder around.

11 | rakesh

January 21st, 2008 at 4:06 pm

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We all know u give a damn about commercial success as a yardstick… otherwise nobody would ve heard of albums like ammuvagiya naan n stuff….

12 | aiyer.ravi

January 21st, 2008 at 5:59 pm

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joginder tuneja says the music of lagaan was good but with a qualifier - ‘on more after the film’s success’!!
i totally go with ur comments - almost on par with dil se..

13 | yaju

January 22nd, 2008 at 10:28 pm

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Karthik,

Jodha Akbar, though it does rake up along with Dil Se and Roja, isn’t the one that you can listen on and on if you are used to listening dhinchaak and fast-paced songs. This is because the songs were intended to be that way. More than half of the people of our country who buy original CD’s and Cassettes don’t listen to the kind of music that is in JA.

Given a chance, I’d have liked to ask Joginder, which kind of music should have been in the album? This is the most innovative period score ever in the history of not only Indian but World Music. ARR has indeed balanced between commercial and class elements, for which he deserves a really huge pat on the back. He can’t do anything if a large part of the Indian population doesn’t insist on buying albums having such sound.

The bottomline is, don’t buy the album if you are more into albums like Partner, Aap Kaa Surroor, Om Shanti Om, etc..

14 | yaju

January 22nd, 2008 at 11:22 pm

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I was going through Sukanya’s review on rediff, who gave JA 4/5. I went through reader’s comments, and found out that the opinions of most of the people matched that of Joginder’s.

Either Joginder understands the mindset of most of the people extremely well or people were writing these just to criticize rediff. When he says that “Jodhaa Akbar would work with a miniscule segment of audience and that too only in certain big cities. It is expected to take a good start at the stands due to high credentials involved but a sustained stay at the charts may only be possible only if the film is a success.” - he does have a point if you look from the perspective of an average listener who isn’t too much into Classy Stuff.

15 | Karthik

January 23rd, 2008 at 8:39 am

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Yaju,

Actually, I don’t classify music that way. For me, its something you either like or do not like. That could explain why a Tu cheez badi hai was as successful as Pehla nasha or even last year’s Labon ko.

Anu Malik was given a chance to redo to redo the period score template with Umrao Jaan and look at what he did. What JA has is simple, very good tunes - the tunes are the backbone, IMO - orchestration is just the outer layer.

I instinctively sing along every time I hear, “Kaise kahen kya hai sitam” para in Jashn-e-bahara or “Beqaso ki taqdeer, tune hai sawari” in Khwaja mere khwaja. The tunes in JA are absolutely delightful and I just hope that works towards reaching this to more people.

16 | Karthik

January 23rd, 2008 at 9:19 am

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While I usually stay away from commenting on other reviews (since I try my hand at reviews myself), the one posted in GlamSham by Satyajit is a complete shocker.

http://www.glamsham.com/music/reviews/22-music-review-jodha-akbar-010815.asp

Sample this,

“Bonny Chakravarty and Mohammad Aslam outrageous vocal outburst collage effectively in rendering out Javed Akhtar’s thematically conceived wordings but the track is entirely situational work”
– What is this ’situational’ thingy? Aren’t most songs supposedly based on some situation within the movie? So, why single a few tracks you do not like as ’situational’?

“This mellifluous track has contours of mellowed stringed instrumental flows (guitar, vibraphone, jal-tarang) collaging brilliantly in rendering out a soulful backdrop for a perfect rhythm-divine track”
– I give up…there are so many collaging and melli-something here that this sentence is incomprehensible. And ‘*rhythm*-divine’? For Jash-e-bahara? C’mon!

“Bela Shende’s mellifluously driven vocals fails to find the optimum combination of compatible wordings and binding musical works that could have surely made it a worthy situational track.”
– Should I even say something here?

“Javed Ali’s “Jashn-E-Baharaa” is the only chartbusting surprise element in the album while rest of the tracks is classy but situational or mediocre in terms of compositions or presentations”
– Classy, but situational or mediocre? What does that even mean?

“The album is expected to drawing major attention for its magnanimous appeal and hi-profile face value but won’t be able to convert its big hype into grand commercial success”
– Magnanimous appeal? Just what does that really mean?

And, in particular, why this mega-sized obsession to guess or predict the commercial success of a film or soundtrack in a review? Isn’t a review meant to communicate the reviewers’ opinion on a piece of work? Why are Joginder and Satyajit bent on mixing the past/ present/ future successes of Ashutosh with the OST of JA?

17 | rakesh

January 23rd, 2008 at 10:09 am

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In rahman’s yahoo fan club .. the review by joginder tuteja has created a huge ruckus with people comin up with ideas like suing him et all… i personally dont think he has a bias aganinst rahman coz when he reviewed BOSE: the forgotten hero…he did not sound as idiotic as he is soundin now.. that was a soundtrack which i consider as a classic but did not translate into units sold http://www.indiafm.com/movies/musicreview/12458/index.html

18 | Karthik

January 23rd, 2008 at 10:19 am

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I have nothing against reasonably well written explanations on why someone doesn’t like a song or a soundtrack - its a personal opinion and I respect that.

But the following are definitely strange and beyond the scope of a music review,
a. Prediction of the OST’s success
b. Guessing which songs will be situational
c. Guessing which songs will become ‘hit’
d. Tagging the film’s success/ film maker’s past success with the music
e. Guessing how the lead actors will/ may look/ dress in a particular song
f. Guessing which actor would have suited a particular song than the one acting in that film

Joginder’s review is shocking but is fair, since its his point of view. But Satyajit’s is pedantic to the core and is full of meaningless jargons.

19 | mumbaiRamki

January 23rd, 2008 at 3:05 pm

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Karthik,
Unlike you, they have a commercial compulsion to add few things in their review.

They are paid to write reviews and they need to make sure that the reviews result in maximum hits .The easiest way to do is to find an audience and write reviews for them than writing a review that caters to ur musical sense. The review in glamsham is just horrendous!

Reviews in glamsham,sify are not be taken seriously! rediff is better,though

I haven’t heard JA yet , but i have a (damn) policy of buying only 1-2 sound tracks a year. Last year it was mozhi, hope this year it is JA :)

-Ramki

20 | mumbaiRamki

January 23rd, 2008 at 3:10 pm

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Karthik,
Unlike you, they have a commercial compulsion to add few things in their review.

They are paid to write reviews and they need to make sure that the reviews result in maximum hits .The easiest way to do is to find an audience and write reviews for them than writing a review that caters to ur musical sense. The review in glamsham is just horrendous!

I haven’t heard JA yet , but i have a (damn) policy of buying only 1-2 sound tracks a year. Last year it was mozhi, hope this year it is JA :)

-Ramki

21 | yaju

January 23rd, 2008 at 10:18 pm

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But Karthik, you yourself have used the situational thingy :: http://itwofs.com/milliblog/2006/03/15/banaras/ .

22 | Karthik

January 24th, 2008 at 5:41 am

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I know. And I’ve kept it without editing it to remind me never to get influenced from mainstream reviews like IndiaFM - recall using that word in a couple of other reviews too! Stupid me.

23 | Arun

January 24th, 2008 at 8:06 am

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“Joginder’s review is shocking but is fair, since its his point of view”

In fact, it is not quite shocking because that is how he has been reviewing for all these years. Atleast he is consistent in that sense. He always looks at the album with its commercial viability in mind. In that case, its pretty fair. I really don’t think this is a massy album, neither will it be one of Rahman’s top-selling albums.

Mind you, I disagree with his take on J-A but wanted to make this point.

24 | yeshwanth

January 24th, 2008 at 11:08 am

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Karthik,
Reviewers IMHO should review any piece of music from a musical standpoint…(novelty freshness in instruments, harmonies, vocals, tune, amount of detailing etc… )
and not worry about commercial success or mass appeal or sitautional stuff etc…
Also they should hear it a few time in very high quality headphones….

Khwaja…has stunning synchornization b/w ARRs voice and harmonium…the claps…the subtle tabla rhythm changes and the shear dedication with which he has sung is something superb.

Just listen to In Lahmon Mein chorus and how it beautifully reaches a peak and subsides….and the main tune begins…isn’t this a great creativity?

Jashn-e is such a soothing number…the string arrangements and subtle use of flute is just too good…

Azeem…has anyone heard swords making beautiful rhythms earlier?

Man mohana has superb violin/cello pieces throughout….and totally fits the Bhajan theme 110%

Both instrumental versions have been very carefully crafted…

Tunes do not just come like that time and again for a composer. Only a genius like ARR can conceive an album like this even after doing so many superb period films.

I just wonder how a reviewer could just dismiss a masterpiece like that citing some stupid commercial reasons….without giving any thoughts to what I’ve just said above.

For me at the end of the day…ARR has put in his heart and soul in creating an album like this…and these stupid reviewers do not even write a cohesive review correctly and talk about India’s most talented and creative people and comment on their art…

It is sick…..to read such reviews eventhough it is his/her personal opinion.

25 | Arun

January 24th, 2008 at 5:44 pm

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btw Karthik, KK’s new album ‘Humsafar’ is out. Check it out!

26 | yaju

January 24th, 2008 at 6:30 pm

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Karthik,

Please don’t call yourself stupid. A lot of us look to your writing style as a source of inspiration, and if you were stupid we wouldn’t have learned so many things from you.

One thing is about JA, it isn’t of the level of Mughal-e-Azam. But then, if you want to enjoy an album, you should listen to it as if it is the only album that you’ve ever heard. Also, another thing about JA is that say if you have a playlist of 10 songs, you can’t insert one JA song in-between, you’ll have to listen to the whole album only in order to enjoy the songs. But this won’t affect those who buy original Audio CD’s instead of downloading MP3’s.

27 | Karthik

January 25th, 2008 at 9:45 am

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Fair enough. The point I was making is that I make mistakes too but am willing to learn from it :-)

BTW, I was wondering how many Milliblog visitors read the music magazine RAVE? Every time I see a new issue, I feel woefully small - there’s so much to listen and explore that I feel I need to get into music exploration full time.

28 | yaju

January 25th, 2008 at 1:13 pm

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I once read RAVE, and after reading it, felt that I am better off listening to only Hindi and Punjabi music. Reasons being similar to “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” and “it is better to be the king of hell than the gatekeeper of heaven”.

Actually, the thing is, even though I like listening to things like Tibetan Chants and Latin Riffs, I can’t listen to them on and on, they are good for a change but not when I want to listen to music repeatedly. And then it does happen that initially I like an album a lot but soon after don’t feel like listening to it, Insomniac being an example among the recent ones.

I wonder if there are more music blogs on other varieties of Music, it’ll make the process of exploration much easier.

29 | Karthik

January 25th, 2008 at 5:14 pm

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Arun: I’ve Humsafar, Atif’s Meri kahani for the weekend!

30 | yaju

January 25th, 2008 at 11:17 pm

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Did anyone see News 24 tonight? They were showing that Jodha Akbar’s music isn’t upto the mark and were asking people about their opinions. Most of them said that they hadn’t heard the songs yet.

The channel voiced that Jashan-e-Bahara is the only song worth listening. They said that the reason why the music is selling well right now is because of the hype and because it is new.

Now, either a lot of people have actually felt that the music isn’t up to the mark, or UTV hasn’t paid the media any money for promotion.

31 | shouvik

January 26th, 2008 at 12:47 am

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hmm the hindi music industry needs all dinchak songs to survive. but who cares :) JA songs rock , really great album from rahman . something different and something better . talking about NDTV it gave indian of the award for music to arr and wrote a very good review of jodha akbar

http://www.ndtvmusic.com/Review.asp?category=hindi&id=138&albumname=Jodhaa+Akbar

and i speak a bit off topic , but do see the following video…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZ3Z7gnS9VQ

something that makes us really proud :)

32 | shouvik

January 26th, 2008 at 12:48 am

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my comments not showing up here ?

33 | tiya

February 8th, 2008 at 8:45 pm

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It’s a shame that Mithoon did not get the
Stardust award for Maula Mere…and Saawariya music director got the award…
These awards system is only to award the
BIG movies.

Also Roopkumar Rathod is not nominated for best singer for Maula Mere, neither at
Screen nor Filmfare…
infact Mithoon should have also been
nominated for best singer for Woh Ajnabee..

And as filmfare wants to award only BIG
movies and not deserving movies, i guess
the RD Burman award wil go to saawariya music director like last yr the winner was
Naresh Iyer n not Mithoon…

Disgusting

34 | gokulpai

July 31st, 2008 at 5:07 pm

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[ 4/5 ]…He’s at his best in “period” films…!

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  • Arun: There's also Bombay and Kolkata as part of the series. Definitely, a commendable effort by Saregama!
  • shriramece: "Thajam thajam" is outstanding! A blend of many raagas, I feel.... I can find traces of Reetigowlai, then Bhageshri & later Sriranjani! Wow... a g
  • Satissh: Karthik, I think this guy's albums don't deserve a review from you. There has never been a decent effort from him ever! Cheers! Satissh

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