Album Review: Rahman Again Fails to Impress With 'Dil Bechara'

While some songs of the film hit the right notes, some don't.

There is just no way around it. We have to talk about the elephant in the room when we talk about the soundtrack of Dil Bechara. We are, of course, referring to the sound of A.R. Rahman’s work over the years. When A.R. Rahman graced the Hindi film scene, his music was touted as "too complex but being perceived as simple" in the film industry. I know of one music reviewer who still doesn’t talk to his real uncle because the latter was too disrespectful and dismissive of A.R. Rahman’s work, 25 years ago. A.R. Rahman got new singers, new lyricists, ‘rich’ instruments and changed Hindi film music forever.

Most of us waited for his new albums to find something to celebrate. There were too many changes in music, the way we make and consume music since his arrival. The gradual depreciation in the quality of A.R. Rahman’s output is well documented, and especially since the last few years it looks like Rahman has put everything on auto pilot, composing wise.

I wasn’t expecting much from Dil Bechara, but the collaboration of powerhouses like Amitabh Bhattacharya and Rahman gave me a sense of hope. I thought maybe they won’t do a ‘Lekar Hum Deewana Dil’ again.

Let me discuss what happened next.

Dil Bechara Title Track

The title track has an easy-on-ears vibe and a beat progression that is loopy. The circular hook is a bit unusual for A.R. Rahman and ‘normal’ for Hindi film music listeners. Rahman sounds boyish and at times he tries too hard to fit in, largely due to the 1990s-like lyrics by Amitabh Bhattacharya. It is always difficult to pull off Hinglish in a song and here Amitabh has failed. Make no mistake, the song is hummable but largely due to the hook. The bass line in the song is delicious and the arrangement tight.

Taare Ginn

The song literally means business the moment you hit play. Rahman has treated vocals the way he used to when he began his career in Hindi Film music. At least this is the impression you get in the first minute of the song. As the song progresses, you will be forced to notice the smart voice overplay that should have been a bug and not a feature, ideally. It becomes tiring because in a song that is less than 4:17 minutes, there is way too much of it. Mohit Chauhan and Shreya Ghosal try to do their best and succeed, mostly. Where vocal management puts you off, the instruments lift you. The string section has melody and atmosphere weaved into it, in A.R. Rahman style and it sounds grand. A theatrical song that will end up playing on screens which aren’t big enough and sound systems that aren’t good enough.

Khulke Jeene Ka

The brilliant duo of Shashaa Tirupati and Arijit Singh remind you of the latter's parts in ‘Agar Tum Saath Ho’ when they sing together in varying pitches. You might not hum the song immediately but you will not skip it either. There is a lot of Rahman experimentation here which is relatively easy on the ears when compared to 'Taare Ginn'. The lyrics are okay and the mood is searching for a ‘Yaaro Sun Lo Zara’ from Rangeela.

Main Tumhara

Hriday Gattani has a great voice and it is only fitting that he starts the song with a fantastic bunch of back-up singers. There is a lot of breathy flute in here to calm the moment. You feel that Jonita Gandhi is not prominent in the setting, but she makes her presence felt just at the right moment in the song. Still, lyrics in this fabulously arranged song are average at best and they dull the proceeding overall.

Maskhari

Hriday Gattani gets another song and this time he teams up with Sunidhi Chauhan. While the tune sounds tighter in this song, the lyrics are a big let down. People have got to stop thinking that a Jumla word hook will always work. There are moments where Sunidhi Chauhan sounds out of tune; I didn’t think this was possible. Hriday sounds good. There is absolutely nothing that stands out in this song except the fact that it is all of 3:11 minutes and it sounds longer, feels longer.

Afreeda

Sanaa Moussa and Raja Kumari make their appearance in the ‘mandatory rap yet very mayya mayya hungover song of the album. The alaaps in the song are disturbingly bad and the song doesn’t deliver a fraction of what you’d expect when a stellar artist like Raja Kumari is in credits. You really don’t need a PhD in Music or any other stream to understand how bad this song has come out.

Mera Naam Kizie

Poorvi Koutish gets a song and that is good news. She teams up with Aditya Narayan. Aditya complements Poorvi well in this Clarinet dominated track that is Jazzy in treatment and lyrically Tapori. Amitabh Bhattacharya and A.R. Rahman light up the background with their excellent work, where a confident Poorvi Shines.

Friendzone

It is just the Dil Bechara title song with more thump and more of those ‘rich’ instruments which A.R. Rahman makes mainstream by bringing them in pop culture. There isn’t much to the song because it loses the hook ‘Dil Bechara’, which was the only good thing to look out for. The easy vibe is lost in thump, the emotion, swiped to the left.

The Horizon of Saudade-

The opening notes of this instrumental track fall like raindrops on senses. In comes a string section that just plays you like a piano. See what I did there? Maybe it is a statement on the poor lyrics of this album that an instrumental track steals the honours and makes you reach out for that repeat button. The track is heartbreaking even if you listen to it in the morning. Trust me, I have tried.

There hasn’t been a good album from A.R. Rahman in a while and Dil Bechara doesn’t break that sorry pattern. The curse of competitive populism and the craze of being present in the constant gaze of ‘clickers’ has spoiled a lot of good artists. There is so much talk about good music but there is very little to show for it. Sadly, with every album Rahman's music now sounds too simple but is perceived as complex. Let us not talk about music, let us focus on music and make music?

Picks - The Horizon of Saudade and Mera Naam Kizie

(The author is always whining and generally blogs at almostareview.wordpress.com. He has no branches and no social media presence, thankfully.)