Lyricist: Prasoon Joshi,
Music Director: A R Rahman,
Music Label: T-Series,
Rating: 4/5
In Dilli 6, Rahman teams up with Rakyesh Omprakash Mehra – do you remember the enchanting score of Rang de Basanti? Well, Dilli 6 has an equally colourful footing on sufi, pop, hip-hop, classical, devotional and folk genres. Undoubtedly, Rahman delivers what is expected – anything more than this will sound jaded.
Here’s the bottom line – simply add Dilli 6 to your collection with your eyes closed and make merry.
The devotional colour
The album brings us two devotional numbers – the Sufi ‘Arziyan’ and ‘Tumre Bhavan Mein’. Arziyan is most likely done for a Dargah setting There cannot be anybody else other that Rahman doing justice to the sufi genre – probably, because Rahman has been living a sufi life himself. We have heard Rahman deliver similar tracks with much assurance, for example ‘Piya Haji Ali’ (Fiza), ‘O Palan Hare’ (Lagaan) and ‘Khwaja mere Khwaja’ (Jodha-Akbar). ‘Tumre Bhavan Mein’ sung by Rekha Bharadwaj, Kishori Gowariker, Shraddha Pandit and Sujata Mazumdar is an enchanting ‘aarti’ with minimal arrangements – a welcome change.
The classical/ folksy hue
‘Bhor Bhaye’ is based on the raaga Gujari Todi and it’s interesting the way the old track of Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan was reworked with Shreya Ghoshal’s vocals on it. According to the movie trailer which showed Sonam singing doing Riyaaz, this possibly seems like a requirement of the script. Shreya’s vocals might be hard to identify at first, that’s because it has been mixed keeping in mind the era in which the original was recorded.
Rekha Bhardwaj’s sings the generic wedding track ‘Genda Phool’ and is cleverly backed by Shraddha Pandit and Sujata Mazumdar. The electronic groove after the first few minutes takes one by surprise – instantly making you bob your head. Kudos to the vocal gang for imitating that earthy village diction so well
Experimental
The title track ‘Dilli 6 ‘ by Blaaze, Benny Dayal, Vivienne Pocha, Tanvi Shah and Claire is average. This maybe one of those tailor made intro tracks in the film – wait till you watch it onscreen. ‘Hey Kala Bandar’ is a song with crazy lyrics. You must have certainly not heard lines like ‘Chu-se Chu-se life ki manle’ – courtesy Prasoon Joshi. Again, it’s an average track and not something you’d repeat over and over again.
Archetypical Rahman
Ash King and Chinmayee sing the spellbinding ‘Dil Gira Dafatan’. The soothing track progresses ahead as though it has a life of its own. This is Ash King’s first song in Hindi Many know Chinmayee for her vocals in ‘Kannathil Muthamittal’. By now, Prasoon Joshi has surely got used to Rahman’s unstructured working style – atleast the free-flowing words suggest that.
‘Rehna Tu’ is a song with a cosmic feel. Rahman sings along with Benny Dayal and Tanvi Shah. Rahman’s echoing vocals on many occasions give goose bumps. The track has some wah guitar fillers for effect. Prasoon Joshi is just right with words. Not all about this song can be expressed, so see it for yourself.
The Rage
‘Masakali’ opens with some easy words, the good old accordion and some fabulous percussion. Mohit Chauhan of Silk Route has sung this careless song with as much carelessness and ease. Besides the fact that it has been brilliantly picturised, I am not sure how many know what ‘Masakali’ means, however, the whole country has been humming the mysterious word. Apparently ‘masakali’ is the name of Sonam’s pet dove in Dilli 6 This is not the first time that words like this have created rage, remember Mukkala Mukabla?
After this album, be ready to hear more of folk and classical numbers in bollwood– that’s the next trend. However, it will always be challenging for the rest to do it as tastefully as Rahman. Period.
