Raavan (soundtrack)

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Raavan is the soundtrack to the upcoming 2010 film Raavan, directed by Mani Ratnam. It was released on April 24, 2010 by the label T-Series in India and internationally. The songs were composed by A. R. Rahman with lyrics penned Gulzar. The same soundtrack was used for the Tamil version of the film, titled Raavanan with a new song added.

Album information

The soundtrack was highly anticipated following the success of previous album by Rahman and following this, several songs claimed to be songs from Raavan like Pairon Pe Jannat Hain, Kaadhale etc and another set of fake tracklists were spread through internet. The audio release was scheduled on March 2010 but since the release date of the film was changed, the audio release was changed to April last week. The tracklist was officially published on 21 April and the music was launched officially on 24 April by Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan. However, CDs were available in some stores on 23 April itself.

The soundtrack features 6 songs composed by A.R.Rahman with lyrics penned by Gulzar. But on the eve of audio release, an additional track was performed by A.R.Rahman, titled Jaare Ud Jaare, which was not included in the CD. According to close sources, this song was an absolutely last minute inclusion and even the director of the film was unaware of the song. Also, this song was an instant composition by Rahman, "The night before the launch, Rahman closeted himself in his Mumbai studio and worked through the night to compose the song", the source adds. This song is believed to be included in the later stages or in the Tamil version.

There have been reports that the song, Kata Kata Bechara Bakra was shot with 1000 dancers in Orchha, Madhya Pradesh. "A huge set was created in Orchha to shoot this song which took four days to wrap up and has been choreographed by Ganesh Acharya," says a Unit hand.

Overview

The soundtrack is especially noted for the use of rich instruments, Indian as well as Middle Eastern. Several new singers are introduced through this film. Rahman as usuall, brings some experimental tracks like Beera Beera and Thod De Killi. There are some folk songs like Ranjha Ranjha and Kata Kata as well as hardcore melodies like Behene De and Khilli Re in the hugely acclaimed soundtrack.

The album kicks off with Beera Beera, that was premiered on the official teaser of the film. It was sung by Vijay Prakash and it begins with an African chant that was sung by Mustafa Kutoane. This track was picturised on the lead pairs and the scenes are believed to be symbolic to the epic Ramayana. Behene De, sung by Karthik is the highlight of the album and is a typical inspirable melody by the composer. The song takes many fascinating turns mid-way. The next track Thok De Killi is sung by Rahman's most trusted singer Sukhwinder Singh and is a fast and peppy number. Guitar is the major instrument used and it ends in a frenzy and uses Arabic esque phases here and there. Ranjha Ranjha is a folk song and is sung by Javed Ali and Rekha Bhardwaj, who is noted for the rendering of another folk song Genda Phool from Delhi-6 by Rahman. The lyrics of the opening lines of the song is adapted from Sufi poet Bulleh Shah's Ranjha Ranjha Kardi. Khilli Re is a romantic melody and is sung by Reena Bhardwaj. The track got much appreciations but it had mere similarities to old compositions of Rahman. Its instrumentation is based on flute and sitar. Kata Kata is a situational song that is rich in percussions and it is believed to be shot as a festival song and will be the most expensive song in Indian flm. It is a perfect blende of traditional Indian music and Middle Eastern music. It also uses Oud and Shehnai in the interludes. The additional track Jaare Ud Jaare was performed by Rahman and is almost a 4 minute long song.

Reception

The soundtrack for the movie has received positive reviews, with most reviewers hailing the album to be one of Rahman's best recent works. A review on Bollywood Hungama said, "There are number of gems in the album, most notably being 'Ranjha Ranjha', 'Beera Beera' and 'Thok De Killi'. Go for it, this one is not to be missed as it has Rahman coming up with one of his best soundtracks in recent times." PlanetBollywood.com said, "Raavan is a fascinating and diverse soundtrack that deserves repeated listening to be fully appreciated. Forget anything else this year, you owe it to yourself to discover the music on offer here. There is a lot of experimentation as heard in “Beera” and “Thok Di Killi”. Also that experimentation extends to the singers- just check out the amazing talent and fresh faces on show here, most of whom we have never heard before! Elsewhere you will find other reasons to rejoice in the music (“Ranjha Ranjha” and “Behene De”) and although arguably it never consistently reaches Rahman’s best (the music doesn't always have multiple layers to peel away), Raavan is still his most varied, folksy and interesting soundtrack in a long while. Mani Ratnam is surely happy and so should you be. A strong contender for soundtrack of the year!" According to Rediff's Sukanya Verma, "A. R. Rahman stays true to the element of Ratnam's vision as there's never any attempt to show off or introduce unnecessary elements. The outcome is exquisite. Or should I say expected."

Tracklisting

Track #	Song	Artist(s)	Length	Notes
1	Beera Beera	Vijay Prakash, Mustafa Kutoane	3:15	Additional vocals by Keerthi Sargathia, A. R. Rahman (uncredited)
2	Behene De	Karthik, Mohammed Irfan	6:04
3	Thok De Killi	Sukhwinder Singh, Am'Nico	4:58
4	Ranjha Ranjha	Rekha Bhardwaj, Javed Ali	5:54	Additional vocals by Anuradha Sriram
5	Khilli Re	Reena Bhardwaj	4:11	Additional vocals by Dr. Narayanan, Naresh Iyer, M. Kuldeep, Shweta Mohan, Gopika Purnima, Subhiksha, Sri Madhumita
6	Kata Kata	Ila Arun, Sapna Awasthi, Kunal Ganjawala	5:11	Additional vocals by Suzanne D'Mello, Sujatha Majumdar, Nikitha Nigam, Dilshad Shaikh, R. N. Iyer, Arun Ingle, Chintamani Sohoni, Gowtham Bharadwaj
7	Jaare Ud Jaare	A. R. Rahman	Around 4 minutes	Additional song, Not included in the CD or in the official tracklist. Song not released officially.

Album credits

Personnel

• Navin Kumar – flute
• Deepak P. A. - oud, guitar
• Seenu– oud
• Balesh – shehnai
• Asad khan - sitar
• T. Raja, Kumar, Vedachalam, Neelakandan, Lakshminarayanan, Chinna Prasad - percussions

Production

• Producers: A. R. Rahman
• Engineers: Deepak P. A., T. R. Krishna Chetan, Hentry Kuruvilla, Vivianne Chaix, Suresh Perumal, Srinidhi Venkatesh, S. Sivakumar, Kannan Ganpat, Pradeep
• String engineer: V. J. Srinivasamurthy
• Mixing: K. J. Singh, Deepak P. A.
• Mastering: S. Sivakumar
• Programming: T. R. Krishna Chetan, Deepak P. A., Hentry Kuruvilla