29 Nov, 2008
Music review: Slumdog Millionaire (A. R. Rahman and others)
Posted by: Karthik In: Non-Indian
It’s one thing to Sitar’ize everything going Westward and entirely something else to infuse drama with violins so beautifully in a maniacally racy, Sitar-driven track – the strangely titled Mausam & Escape perhaps offers the best example of what Rahman sets out to achieve with the soundtrack of Slumdog Millionaire. The predominantly instrumental pieces – the moody, North African sound in Riots; the superb jadhi-meets Middle East, Liquid Dance; Suzanne’s magical humming in the heart wrenching Latika’s Theme; the TV them’ish techno ditty, Millionaire – work amazingly well. Not to be outdone, the actual songs are even better! Starting with the Rahman-M.I.A combination in the rousing O…Saya to the crowd pleasing Jai Ho – which in all honesty is dilettantish – the soundtrack literally sizzles. Suzanne has another ace in Dreams on fire, built like an engaging ballad while M.I.A’s Paper Planes and its DFA remix just add to the soundtrack’s eclecticism. Shankar Ehsaan Loy’s Aaj ki raat sticks out annoyingly, as much as the imaginative, but completely filmi Choli ke peeche reworking, Ringa Ringa and the very tame Gangsta Blues. Shorn of the customary Indian’ness, Slumdog’s soundtrack is extremely accessible and engaging. And Rahman’s best international work to date!
Keywords: Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Anil Kapoor, Irrfan Khan, A. R. Rahman, Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy, Vikas Swarup, M.I.A
View Comments to "Music review: Slumdog Millionaire (A. R. Rahman and others)"
1 | Sriram
November 29th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
Oh great!
Have you heard his other International works?!
Hopefully he’d bag an Oscar or two this time around atleast.
..
Waiting for people to come up with ridiculous accusation of plagiarism.
2 | Milliblog music review: Slumdog Millionaire : NAACHGAANA
November 30th, 2008 at 10:31 am
[...] More here [...]
3 | arunm
November 30th, 2008 at 10:56 am
Amazing scores..Latika’s theme is my pick..:)
4 | ananth
November 30th, 2008 at 11:47 am
Awesome OST… makes up for the disappointment that is ghajini… Surprised you didnt like Gangsta blues though.. typical fragmented rahman track
5 | ravihno
November 30th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
That’s a great review.BTW how did u get the soundtrack? Amazon?
6 | SureshS
November 30th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Hi Karthik,
I am surprised by all the ‘hulla-gulla’ about the ‘Jai Ho’ song. Honestly it doesn’t stand up to the songs Rahman himself has given in the beat driven genre earlier like ‘Chaiyya Chaiyya’. The melody and the use of violins in the song reminds me more of LP’s work in the 80s.
I have seen you use words like ‘kiddish’ and ‘nursery rhyme’ to describe some songs earlier. I guess that applies very aptly to the jathis in appear in the ‘Liquid Dance’ song. Especially when the female singer comes on. Similarly I was not too impressed by the violin usage in ‘Mausam and Escape’ which was too simplistic.
The music is nothing pathbreaking. Maybe it is what the film wanted. I certainly don’t think it deserves 200 words. But as you say, to each his own. I am happy you liked it. Time to move on
7 | Dhruv
November 30th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
O Saya.. is my favorite song in the album. Rahman creates magic with train sounds.. None of his recent numbers have had so much ‘exhilaration quotient’ in them.. It’s as if this song was composed along with the ‘Chikubuku raile’s, the ‘Hello Doctor’s and the ‘Chaiyya Chaiyya’s.. the songs we loved and danced to as kids.. Rahman’s return to the 96-98 form! (atleast for a song)
8 | Karthik
November 30th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Sriram: I was referring to Bombay Dreams and Warriors of heaven and earth, which I was not impressed with.
ravihno: Got this a friend in the US, who downloaded it from iTunes and sent it to me – his effort is wasted however, since its out on torrents yesterday and is being downloaded by the hundreds!
SureshS: I get your point of view. But, for me, this was indeed a revelation – but yes, time to move on!
9 | arunm
November 30th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
The movie version of ‘Jai Ho’ is smaller than the CD version and it has Rahman trademark clap , its more joyous.
10 | Sanjeevi
December 1st, 2008 at 4:30 pm
The paper planes has been already used for Pinapple express red-bond trailor?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pineapple_Express_(film)
11 | mumbaiRamki
December 1st, 2008 at 10:57 pm
Well, gajini worked out with 3 songs – this one is OK , nothing sticked in teh first listen
12 | Sriram
December 2nd, 2008 at 12:20 am
Kathik, have you heard his LOTR Musical, the Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Provoked or Water (canadian Movie – possibly?) and even the single from Al Risalah.
13 | Rishi
December 2nd, 2008 at 12:35 am
Spot on review, Karthik. I thought it was a very nice soundtrack. I saw the movie last night and his background score really brings the movie to another level.
O Saya is an innovative number – I love it. Jai Ho is catchy in a modern Bollywood sort of way. The background music, though, really is what makes this soundtrack so great. Listen to Latika’s theme – so sweet, so reflective of Jamal’s love for Latika.
I’m curious as to whether you’ve seen the movie yet. I give it a 9/10 for now.
As for Rahman’s other non-Indian efforts, Water is technically an Indian movie, if I’m not mistaken. I thought Bombay Dreams was a great score set back by insipid and uninspiring lyrics. Warriors of Heaven and Earth was good, but not great (except for the one Hindi song). I would agree that this is probably his best – very reminscient of some of the great scores we’ve seen in similar cross-cultured movies (think Namesake by Nitin Sawhney or Monsoon Wedding by Michael Dynna).
14 | ashcoounter
December 2nd, 2008 at 8:04 am
The last one minute of emotion-stirring strings that come in Jai Ho is alone enough reason to buy this album.
That one minute sums up all the emotions in the movie and when I saw the watermark on the screen when that piece came on, I couldnt help myself but say -’How Lovely!’
Ofcourse the silky sheen-like AR’s voice that sings O… Saya that accompanies some stunning cinematography in the intro of the movie just sets things about just right
15 | ashcoounter
December 2nd, 2008 at 8:06 am
By the way, the album has released in iTunes and I wonder why people are still confused as to where you can get it
16 | naag
December 2nd, 2008 at 11:04 am
hi folks….legend striked it again,but this time it has a million impact..wat a music dudes…o saya is realy ice breaking…..riots has truly something to say…..Mausam & escape is an excellent fusion of indian hindusthani and western…..jai ho rocks….blazee killed it with gangsta blues…..oh god wat can i say its A R RAHMAN…njoy the legend’s legendry
17 | tejas
December 2nd, 2008 at 7:11 pm
High time you review M.I.A.’s Kala. It’s interestingly good album..
18 | nma83
December 2nd, 2008 at 9:46 pm
‘Dreams on fire’ does seem to be an offshoot of ‘Kahin to’ from ‘Jaane tu…’. Overall, great variety from the Maestro.
19 | jaydeep
December 6th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
I’ll double on your tweet Karthik. If this doesn’t win Rahman an Oscar, what will?
Awesome, mesmerising, true genius..words are not enough for this album.
Rahman has been ruling for years now when it comes to innovation and thats y he is one of greatest talent India has ever seen. With this album gives he scores yet another decades lead over his contemporaries.
O saaya, Latika’s theme & Jai ho are my favs.
20 | tejas
December 9th, 2008 at 2:56 am
This is absofuckinglutely amazing album!! I have not been so hooked up to a Rahman album in ages (probably first time after Dil Se or Saathiya), and since Rock On!!
When you think he has lost it, or other have gained the same amount of novelty as he has – he comes back with SDM, redeems himself for that somewhat lack of sheer force and energy from recent albums; whether due to the storyline or something else and delivers this.
Mausam and Ecstacy, when the first song I heard, in the beginning gave me a feeling that Rahman was continuing from Manmohini of Yuvraaj. When I had heard Manmohini, I thought ‘well, nice work, but Midival Punditz have been doing this for years.’ But Mausam and Ecstacy is something no one has ever done before, and probably no one will do again in a long time, even ARR himself.
‘O Saya’ and ‘Jai Ho’ are amazing, the latter sounding more like song from Guru. ‘Dreams on Fire’ is okay, specially since I don’t always like slow songs, but that flute sound in that is the Rahman stamp in all trueness. I even loved Gangsta Blues, with very clear distinction from typical Gangsta rap songs. ‘Ringa Ringa’ I just took as an ode to that 90′s sleezefest.
21 | fazy
December 10th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards– Awarded Best Music Score as A. R. Rahman for slumdog millionaire … I hope this will win also OSCAR !
http://www.lafca.net/years/2008.html
22 | arunm
December 11th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Rahman Gets GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS NOMINATION for Best Score but misses for the song.
Full list here..
http://www.goldenglobes.org/news/id/104
Courtesy : from ARR Yahoo Grp
23 | kasyap90
December 15th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
i dont see anything in the album for all the hoopla created here……i found it decent but surely not rahman’s best….RDB was much better and still his best work in recent years….
And this is not a score which u can listen to again and again on your ipods…it is just goes beautifully with the film[background] thats all..
24 | arunm
December 16th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
The Oscar Round table :
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3i728e28adf80ba3aae5c37a6bd621de8e
A.R. Rahman , Howard Shore , Danny Elfman , Alexandre Desplat and Kaczmarek together.
25 | Sendhil
December 17th, 2008 at 8:26 am
“Oh Saya” has shades of Boney M’s Nightflight to Venus, “Millionaire” is clearly inspired by “Oxygene Pt 11″ by Jean Michel Jarre and “Riots”sounds similar to “Curfew” by Vangelis(found in album Themes 2).
Sadly these are the tracks that standout in the album.So what are we left with?.
A R Rahman is a genius no doubt about it.We have brilliant directors too in India.BUT unless they strive to be 100% original & innovative,they are not going to win an Oscar or a Grammy.
26 | arunm
December 17th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
@Sendhil,
Who cares he wins Oscar or Grammy.He has already won many hearts.thats enough.
27 | Arumugam
December 18th, 2008 at 12:03 am
49 songs competing for Oscar’s song including ‘O Saya’ and ‘Jai Ho’ from Slumdog Millionaire.
http://www.oscars.org/press/pressreleases/2008/08.12.16.html
28 | Sendhil
December 18th, 2008 at 6:55 am
@Arunm,
May be he has won many ignorant hearts.Thats not gud enuf.Rahman can do better.If Indian artists dont care abt Oscars or Grammys,why send in ur nominations?.Be content with the National awards.
29 | arunm
December 20th, 2008 at 8:19 am
@Sendhil,
ha ha ha, i got ur problem. But i am helpless.
30 | Arumugam
January 9th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
Rahman gets Critics Choice Award for Best Music:
http://www.vh1.com/video/play.jhtml?id=1602193&vid=330087
“This is for India….”
31 | vinayderock
January 22nd, 2009 at 9:46 pm
Yes.. Yes… he has been nominated for Oscars
32 | arunm
January 28th, 2009 at 9:28 am
Shekhar Kapoor on AR.Rhaman from his blog..
http://www.shekharkapur.com/blog/archives/2009/01/rahman_and_the.htm
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