Rahman's Ada - Aada. Review on Ada Songs

It is well known that with given adequate time Rahman delivers his best, but when you give him six years to make a soundtrack for a movie, ‘Ada’ is what we get. Though a composer tries to put his best for a movie and I am sure Rahman does it for every movie, if he comes to know that the movie may not see the light of the day, obviously he will loose some interest and that is acceptable and understandable.

I am not saying music of Ada is bad. It is just that it is not Rahman’s best. Music of Ada is anything but instantly likeable but likeable nevertheless. The soundtrack with 10 different songs isn’t consistent throughout, by consistence I mean the level of interest it generates in a listener and the engaging power of each song is different from the other.

A good example of what this soundtrack could have been if Rahman’s interest hadn’t faded is the orchestration of ‘Gum Sum’ song. When I first heard the song with just vocals (which was released earlier for the remix contest), I had great expectations, the melody sounded great and I was eagerly waiting to get surprised by Rahman’s arrangements to the melody. But it turned out to be a very conventional song with done-to-death beats, not-so-in-synch guitar layers and too much of Santoor interludes. But I still listen to the song and like it for its melody, because I know how Rahman can make a ‘Baba kichu kichu tha’ from Baba into a gorgeous ‘Dekho Na’ in Swades.

‘Gulfisha’ has too many shifts in rhythm and fragmented phrases of melody; it just doesn’t hold our attention in our first few attempts at listening to the song. But once you know that it is how the structure of the song is meant to be and get use to the shifts, you start to like it. ‘Hawa Sun Hawa’ is breezy in every sense of the word with a free flowing melody, soft synth beats, and the windy flute interludes and not to forget the sweet laid back rendition of Sonu nigam and Alka Yagnik.

‘Isha Ada’ is the only instantly catchy and it is obvious considering it is set in a waltz rhythm. Though it swings on a simple melody, the charming alaap, the lazy harmonium piece, Rashid Ali’s rendition makes it less monotonous. Female version with totally different arrangements is equally appealing and Parul Mishra’s unique voice and rendition makes it a different song.

Milo Wahan Wahan - The full length version of background score piece from Kannathil Muthamittal with long tedious interludes sounds too far fetched and slow paced but for those who have patience there are some delightful portions in this song. But I don’t know why Rahman chose Alka Yagnik for this song? As she moves to higher octaves, our ears ache. ‘Tu Mera Hai’ and ‘Hai Dard’ are difficult to listen through. No matter, how much I try to like it, it doesn’t reach me. But still I have some hopes on ‘Tu Mera hai’, let me wait and see if it grows.

As always Rahman reserves the best song of the soundtrack, ‘Meherbaan’ for him. Rahman delivers the song with such calm and soothing texture of his voice, it instantly makes us feel pleasant. Initially I thought the song after catchy hook lines and promising starting, randomly wander in between but after few more listening, realized that the song is pure delight. The instrumental version is equally haunting with acoustic guitar replacing the vocals.