Music Composer: Vishal Shekhar
Artistes: Sukhwinder, Akon, Hamsika Iyer, Clinton Cerejo, Vishal Dadlani, Shekhar Ravijani, Shafqat Amanat Ali Khan, Shruti Phatak, Nandini Shrikar, Rekha Bhardawaj, Richa Sharma and Shilpa Rao
Label: T-Series
Ra.One is finally loaded…. the exhilaration for Ra.One music reached its par when the news of Senegalese American singer Akon’s collaborative track fled media rooms. The techno-friendly magnum opus music composed by duo Vishal-Shekhar lives up to the hype, but the reliability of songs differentiates a good soundtrack to be a great album.
SRK who is known for picking astounding sound has well-planned the outline of the album by permitting Akon to lead the tracks in support of talented singers. The album is contrived of 15 Hinglish tracks fuelled heavily with five remixes, three instrumentals and seven originals which are situational and catchy.
The curtain raiser of the album, â€?Chamak Chalo’ has become an entity in itself with a brilliant combo of middle-eastern, Indian and contemporary music. The composition of varying genres and instrumental beats blends well with the oomph and attitude of Akon. The singer’s Hindi verses which are precise and orderly astounds listeners when it interacts aptly with sultry voice of Hamsika Iyer. The high tempo beats by VS and peppy singing brings out the ubiquitously frolicsome feel to this dancing bonanza. Chamak Chalo has been remixed in four versions which includes Chamak Chalo remix, club mix, international version with Akon’s English vocals, and Punjabi mix.
From other versions of Chamak Chalo, Punjabi mix is the notable track as it delivers some pounding desi beats with the entr?©e of ethnical bhangra tuneful zest synchronizing with added disco-beat fillers and the drumming patterns.
Following the vivacious number is another groovy track Dildara (Stand by me), the number falls on the lines of SRK’s earlier Hinglish track â€?Pretty Woman’ and Ben E King’s immortal melody â€?Stand by Me.’ Vishal – Shekhar has played creatively with the number adding a Gospel music and finely balancing it with soul and R&B. The number grasps the impact and zeal with the inclusion of sufi rock at the latter part and creates magic when it becomes the part of Shafqat Amanat Ali Khan’s classically refined vocals. The track contributes to the zeal with the well nurtured alaaps rendered by Clinton Cerejo, Vishal Dadlani and Shekhar Ravijani.
Akon’s cult and euphoric singing immediately takes the lead with next situational number â€?Criminal’, which is a frisky boogie-woogie dancing feast. The track is balanced with Akon’s funky arrangements of hip-hop cum electronica feel, followed with Vishal Dadlani’s spirited vocals offering a musical fusion outlook. The loads of drumming and trance musical beats comes with a drawback as it masks the somber vocals of Shruti Pathak.
Since the original version of â€?Criminal’ is already filled with thumping beats, the club mix of the number is pointless as the further inclusion just makes the remix a total write-off.
The collage of Indian classical and Gospel music re-enters with the track â€?Bhare Naina’. The melodramatic soundtrack conceives a fine finesse of Indian classical singing by talented Nandini Shrikar, Rekha Bhardawaj, Richa Sharma and Shilpa Rao, but the chorus vocals are incoherent for the track.
Coming up next is the campus-carpers track â€?Right by your side’ which walks on the line VS’s musical endeavors like â€?Jaane Kyon (Dostana).’ The buble-gum pop composition gets boyish singing charm of Siddarth Coutto delivering the hip lyrics of Anvita Dutt’s. The song is a typical situational number of SRK style bollywood flick.
Yuppie friendly number is abruptly followed by the enthralling thriller track â€?Raftaarein’ The ode seems like a tribute to RD Burman style of composing, as it mimics the deep hoarse vocal and loud baritones. The thriller track is again a circumstantional ditty which might be pivotal for the movie’s climax.
â€?Jiya More Gabraaye’ once again reminds the heavy international influence on the bollywood album. The music highly depicts the fusion of classical alaaps and techno-rock electronic beats which appears like a crisscross of Indian classical singers and Black-Eyed peas. The classical Sanskrit notes rendered by Sukhwinder Singh seem to be completely wasted in the out right rock song.
The album concludes with the line-up of instrumental songs â€?Comes the Light,’ â€?IM On’ and â€?Song of the End’ which can be termed as the film’s background score. The theme song illustrates the emotion and mood of the movie, â€?Comes the Light’ depicts sinister, powerful, sad, and victorious emotions while â€?Song of the End’ potrays the haunting musical pieces. The impressive piece amongst other is â€?IM On’ which begins with the bang and builds up to a brilliant crescendo leading to an impulsive end. The themes performed by Prague Philharmonic Orchestra are brilliantly composed which can also strike a chord as the background music of Ra.one’s action games.
Summarizing the whole album, Ra.One music is commercially affable as Vishal-Shekhar has materialized the golden opportunity of collaborating with international talents delivering a fine album. But if assessed as a whole, the album appears to be heavily influenced by international music. The album promises atleast two chartbuster Chammak Chalo and Dildara (Stand by me) while the rest falls on the same hard rock electronica beats which are situational and helps in intensifying the sci-fi aura for the movie.
