Tuesday, October 5, 2004
Swades
· 
aka Musical ramblings (Part 5/42)
After Lagaan, all eyes are now on Ashutosh Gowariker’s Swades. I for one, find the basic premise of the movie, quite interesting. The living-abroad desi returns home, wants to do something to give back to his desh, and the ‘even one person can make a difference’ theme is something ex-pats can find close to heart. Listened to its music over the weekend. Seven songs and two instrumental tracks. Here’s my thoughts on them.
Disclaimer: Opinions on most ARR soundtracks change on multiple listens, and since this review is being written after just a couple of listens, I might decide to contradict myself tomorrow.
(Music links on raaga.com)
Swades (Music: A R Rahman; Lyrics: Javed Akhtar) — The first thing that struck me was that ARR is in Lagaan mode here. By that I don’t mean the tunes are similar/identical to Lagaan, but the implementation is definitely more in that direction. More folk-influenced, more melody-based and tending to rely on the strength of the voice of the singers. His arrangements continue to remain his forte, but play more of a background role in the album, in my opinion. The lyrics by Javed Akhtar are nice and go well with the music, but none stand out as truly remarkable.
- ‘Ye tara woh tara‘ — Simple lyrics about the strength in unity make this song click for me, and the music is nice although nothing exceptional. I like the way the kiddie voices of Vignesh and Pooja join in the latter half to give Udit Narayan support. This is the kind of song that one cannot help sing along with!
- ‘Saanwariya saanwariya‘ — A really beautiful melody that would have sounded much better in a voice other than Alka Yagnik’s. She sounds so disinterested with the goings on in the song. Sadhana Sargam please?
- ‘Yun hi chala chal‘ — The longest song of the album, I like the level of enthusiasm that Rahman infuses in it. Will need to listen to it some more to come to any conclusions about it. The ‘allah ke bande‘ singer Kailash Kher resurfaces in this one after a while, with Udit and Hariharan for company.
- ‘Aahista aahista‘ — Minimal use of instruments and Sadhana and Udit’s singing makes this beautiful lorii a definite winner for me. Melody-wise this song reminds me of a mix of ‘o paalanhaare‘ and ‘mitwa‘ from Lagaan.
- ‘Yeh jo des hai tera‘ — The token ARR sung song on the track, this one is about asking the expatriates to return home. The not-too-preachy lyrics and the lilting background shehnaai makes this song come together beautifully. An instrumental version of this song on the shehnai appears later in the album.
- ‘Pal pal hai bhaari‘ — Sounds like a very situational song. The use of instruments reminds me of ‘radha kaise na jale‘ (I just cannot seem to stop making the Lagaan connections!) Am guessing this has a theatre/stage setting on screen, with the end of the Aranya kanda being enacted. An instrumental version of this song on the flute appears again in the album.
(Digression — The exchange between Sita and Ravana, when he asks her ‘If your Rama is so great, then where is he? Why don’t I see him around to come and save you?‘ and she replies ‘Rama is everywhere, he is in my heart, my soul, my breath, my life.. — is this in the end of the Aranya kanda or at the start of the Kishkindha kanda? My childhood Ramayana fundas are foggy.)
- ‘Dekho na‘ — Generic sweet romantic song, but didn’t really stand out for me, lyrically or musically. I was recently educated by a friend that Rahman reused his own tune for this track, from ‘baba kichchu tha‘ of the Rajnikanth Tamil movie Baba. Thanks Zaph!
Overall, this is a nice album that is worth multiple listens, but it has a distinct Lagaan hangover that is hard to ignore. But then again, I love Lagaan, so I guess I cannot complain.
My fave track in this is ‘Yeh jo des hai tera’ .Particularly when he raises the pitch at “Wahi Des Hain”.You forgot to mention the melodious humming in the background which was worth a honorable mention.
The next best is ‘Aahista aahista’ where the lyrics and music intertwine to give rise to a engaging track.
Finally ‘Saanwariya saanwariya’ is a teaser because it raises such expectations in the beginning and turns out to be a little mellow afterwards with some spikes in between.I didnt know what to make of it but if you keep listening probably the other songs also might get to you.
The worst song is ‘Dekho na’.If you watched Manisha and RajniKanth do this song its gonna scar you for the rest of the life whenever you hear this song.I am still reeling…
Tuesday, October 5, 2004 @ 5:56 PM
2 Mondays and 2 days later, Megs finally found the time :-p The last lines of ur post sum up exactly how i felt about the whole album…
Two chotu comments: Didn’t Yeh Jo Desh remind you a little bit of Vande Mataram, esp when AR hits the higher notes
Paddy, I take great offence at ur Rajini statements :-p Wasn’t his dancing awesome in that Baba number ? Megs, kindly disregard his comment - You haven’t lived life if you haven’t seen that song and jived to it.. Rajini rocks !!
Tuesday, October 5, 2004 @ 11:29 PM
‘Yeh Tara Woh Tara’ - everything was right with this song till the kiddy voices in the end - especially that of the little girl - it has a ***** texture/flawlessness about it which makes it sound very synthetic!
‘Pal Pal Hai Bhari’ - this is one song where the Lagaan connection surfaces at its strongest, especially the flute!!
‘Yeh Jo Des Hai Tera’ is my favorite for the moment - but as you’ve mentioned this being Rahman will take several hearings before the score (pun unintentional) is settled :)
Wednesday, October 6, 2004 @ 4:38 AM
Hey Megha !
nice post … i was just listening to the songs today and was thinking of writing a review on this. You captured almost all of what i thought ;). Ashutosh seems to be relying on his ARR magic of Lagaan probably here. My impression of this album r very low, and not near being impressed. Lately ARR hasnt given good compositions to keep up to his talent. And ofcourse, you have another valid point, its ARRs music !! opinions change as u listen to it … i remember when i heard Lagaan first … i said the same thing … “gosh .. how can ARR make such music” … and Lagaan s in now in one of my favs. so u never know.
For now, this doesnt impress me much and also Dekho Na being a totaly copy of Baba.
One other comment i had was that i didnt like the lyrics and found it more “trying-to-fit-in-music” types. This may change, but r my first impressions … :)
The other reason i say this didnt impress me is bcoz some of the tunes r very familiar ones, resembling Lagaan quite much, esp the Aahista one, is a lift-off of his own “O Paalanhaare”… is he out of tunes is what i tend to think ? No offense, ARR is one of my fav composers but ….
Wednesday, October 6, 2004 @ 4:51 PM
Jupe,
Megha’s quote says something about offence via style or substance.Now I see the reason.
Anyways I was talking about the song and not about personas. Would you kindly recollect the Visual Rendition of the Song (Manisha scares the heck out of me in it!).Either way one man’s food is another’s poison.I was thinking out loud there..
Thanks for letting me know,
-Paddy
Wednesday, October 6, 2004 @ 9:39 PM
First thing…Your disclaimer is irrelevant, well not completely atleast. :)
Mainly cos opinions on ARR soundtracks change from negative to positive after multiple listens, but never vice versa! Thats universally acknowledged. But this is more a informative post than a review per se, so I guess that makes your disclaimer irrelevant, atleast as of now! But again, this is just an opinion of a hard core ARR fan and a musically semi-literate individual.
For me, Yuhi chala and Yeh Jo Desh hit the mark immediately with Yeh Tara just immediately behind them. Mainly cos Hariharan is my fav singer and I simply love ARR’s voice and so songs like Vellai Pookal (from MR’s Kannathil Muthamittal), Piya Haji Ali instantly go/went to the top of my personal charts. Mebbe illogical, but I might be tuned in to the same frequency as those of these voices :D
As for Baba Kichu Tha, the whole movie was a mistake that I hope Thalaivar does not repeat. Not to say that I did not like the movie, but I totally understand the underlying reasons behind the movie. And Manisha was like melted candle in the movie :p So in a way I agree with Paddy, though nothing associated with Rajini can ever scar/scare me.
Jupe, there are a lot other songs that you can hold as evidence to Thalaivar’s dancing, not from Baba though :D
Thursday, October 7, 2004 @ 11:24 AM
Paddy chill mate !! Was jes kidding…
And yeah, aNTi, there is and will only be one Thalaivar and does he rock..Can’t wait for Chandramukhi - I am sure he will make a masala of even a classic like Manichitrathazhu :-)
Thursday, October 7, 2004 @ 11:25 PM
I feel its definitly a very low key ARR album than anytime before. The stress was more on melody than the background music. Frankly IMO,some of the songs would have sounded no different even without the background music. As Megha pointed out, most of the songs sounded very situational. Can’t help thinking that the songs would sound much better and aptly fit in while watching the movie than listening them seperatly.
BTW, did anyone feel “‘Saanwariya ” having lot of touches of Illayaraja and a bit of Eshan,Loy& Shankar or am I the only one.
I like this album just because of ARR’s attempt at melody. Looks like Ashutosh had very specific music requirements for ARR regarding this movie as if he wanted the music to be more supportive than dominate the storyline,if that make any sense. Can’t wait to watch this movie. Nice blog, can’t agree more with the review after listenting to the songs.
Friday, October 8, 2004 @ 12:26 AM
Hey before I go on, you need to know the kind of effort I put in to get this comment over here…
1. I move my ass after a hard day’s work to Music World Banjara Hills
2. Fight with a couple of Amir Baap ke Bigde Bachches over the last available CD of Swades
3. Get that CD home
4. Play it
5. Form my opinions on it
6. Search for your blogspot on the net through this site orkut that has a downtime of 99.99%
7. Reach your blogspot
8. Register in the site and for some reason it also forcibly gave me a blogsite
9. Didnt want to leave an empty site with no blog, so I put in something over there
10. Finaly reach your site and am ready to post my comments on your blog now!!
Comments:
One thing am really happy about Swades is both the Music and the Lyrics rock!! Rahman for some reason loves this dude called Mahboob?! (Dont know if I got his name right - but heez the lyricist of Yuva) Dont have to say more about him… Yuva says it all! The lyrics of Yuva are like on the spot extempory lyrics. Its like the time I was in this rock band and used to forget most of the lines of a song… So kinda made it up myself ;) You would know the difference if you understand say a Tamil or a Telugu version of Yuva songs and compare it with the Hindi Yuva songs. Alritey, so this is when the Mahboob bashing stops.
Back to Javed Bhai and Rahman Bhai… they simplee rock together! Nothin is as soothing as listening to “Yuhi Chala Chal” and sit outside in the balcony overlooking the Hussain Sagar lake in Hyderabad… If at this point you are trying to figure out what has a balcony overlooking the Hussain Sagar to do with Swades… Its simple. My point was to simplee boast about my apartment again ;) But seriosly speakin… its kinda soothing! very very soothing! Actually have an interesting real life experience to add here. About a year back after 3+ long years in Phoenix I returned home to India for good. And one of the things I wanted to do and did was to make a backpack trip. And I got into this Unreserved compartment. And I sat next to this Saint who does nothing but travel in unreserved compartments to all holy places in Tamil Nadu. It was very difficult to carry on a conversation with this Saint. Thought I suffered from “Random firing of neurons”, But this saint I tell you people, is probably 10 times me and 100 times of Balaji, an ex roomie of mine coz of whom I got this highly contagious disease of “Random firing neurons”. No two lines he speaks are on the same subject… But each line has a deep meaning attached to it and perfectly makes sense. Now retracking back to Swades… The point I am trying to make here is the Saint character in this song is pretty much like this!! Lost in his own world… and totally in contrast with what Shahrukh Khan is singing and saying :))
Hmm… I just read whatever I have written till now and this seems like a blog in itself and not a comment to Yum and Yumz post :D
But tell ya what… I totally agree with Megz… This is a superlative album on the same lines as Lagaan and its worth fighting with people over the last copy in a music store ;)
Peace Mates,
Cheers,
V
PS: Hey Megz… Mebbe u want to look into masterix.blogspot.com to check out muh 1st blog ;) Would appreciate if you post your comments on that :D
Wednesday, October 13, 2004 @ 1:16 PM
Lots of long comments on this blog. Guess music can do that to you! Here are my random observations based on people’s comments on this blog as well as general word of mouth —
1. Swades has a Lagaan hangover, but nobody’s really complaining.
2. Ye jo desh hai tera and yun hi chala chal are everyone’s favorites.
3. Reusing a tune from Baba for dekho na is frowned upon, especially considering the magnitude of this venture.
4. Watching Rajnikanth dance in Baba can give you nightmares.
5. Watching Rajnikanth in Baba (dance or otherwise) can also inspire you to try your luck at being the next beedi-flicking superstar.
6. Manisha’s dance skills remind people of molten candles. While I am not sure exactly how to interpret this, it sure conjures up some interesting visuals.
Finally Vignesh deserves special mention for writing, what is possibly, the longest blog comment ever known to mankind. In doing so, he has singlehandedly ensured that I never feel guilty about the length of my posts, ever again. <evil laugh> Thanks Viggy!
Thursday, October 14, 2004 @ 9:45 AM
This post has been removed by the author.
Sunday, January 2, 2005 @ 11:00 PM
OK - I wanted to ask you what you thought of the movie. Now I have seen it (.5 hour) and it doesn’t really matter :-)
Tuesday, February 22, 2005 @ 12:09 PM
Swades is really a nice movie. I am in US, and I think thats the reason I can relate to it so much!! Liked Shahrukh after a long time!! Infact the last movie was ‘Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na’.
Wednesday, February 23, 2005 @ 8:27 PM
[tilotamma] If I start to write about what I thought of the movie, I’ll end up with enough to warrant two blog posts. Do you really want that? :) If you do, let me know, and I’ll be happy to share my thoughts! But for now, here’s the less-than-50-words version. I liked the movie, but I do have some issues with it. It’s far from a perfect movie, or even a perfect entertainer for that matter. But having said that, it’s a movie that seems from-the-heart, and that works in its favor (at least for me). Oops, I reached my word limit :)
[Venkateshwar] Yeah, the target audience for this movie is definitely the expatriate Indian community. And yes, when SRK is not being his usual hamming self, he is actually quite enjoyable to watch :)
Saturday, February 26, 2005 @ 6:15 PM
Anyone know WHO played the flute version of “Pal Pal Hai Bhari”?
Saturday, August 20, 2005 @ 5:24 AM
i love the humming of the tune in the train when sharukh is touched by the state of poverty of the little kid who sells a glass of water, when the train halts at a railway station. the humming is sooo beautifully made that anyone who hears it once can actually grasp the meaning and essence of what the song is trying to say…
Wednesday, November 1, 2006 @ 11:20 PM
Isn’t this her problem in several of her recent songs? The biggest example being the new Umrao Jaan’s score!
Saturday, May 26, 2007 @ 11:35 PM
so cheap from you people. i consider sawariya the best song in the film swades because alka sung it and alka yagnik is the best singer in the bollywood industry. her voice is so melodious. sweet . ALKA YAGNIK IS THE BEST>>>>>>>>> PERHAPS YOU HAVE SOME PROBLEM IN YOUR EARS DO CHECK IT
Monday, May 28, 2007 @ 2:55 PM
i would like the lyrics of ‘Yeh jo des hai tera‘
i am so connected to the divine by listening to this
i hope to know what it means in english
thank you
Monday, July 9, 2007 @ 2:10 PM