The passion of Subhash Ghai. Review on Taal Songs

The passion of Subhash Ghai, the magic of A.R Rahman and the poetry of Anand Bakshi – Taal!!! Taal is undoubtedly the most eagerly awaited Hindi film album of the year. Taal is the first time A. R. Rahman has set tunes to Anand Bakshi's https://lyrics. Taal is the first time ‘showman’ Subhash Ghai has worked with A. R. Rahman. Ghai has said numerous times that Taal has the best music than any of his previous films. And that is a true statement. As the title says, ‘Taal – the beat of passion’, Rahman has given music which is steeped in rhythm and heavy of North Indian touches. The album begins with Anuradha Sriram singing ‘Ishq Bina’ along with Sujatha, Sonu Nigam and A.R Rahman himself. Anuradha Sriram was the surprise package of this excellent number, which constantly has a very catchy and techno-based bass guitar going on in the song. Sonu Nigam and A.R Raman both provide excellent singing, which according to me is the best part of the song. The song has excellently used the bass guitar and tabla to provide the fantastic beats of this song. A perfect start to the beat of passion.

The next is the title track with Alka Yagnik and Udit coming together singing ‘Taal Se Taal Mila’. The song, starts with Sukhvinder Singh brilliantly singing in the background closely followed by Alka Yagnik’s voice. This song has great singing by both the lead singers. And is all about great melody. Excellent stuff! The next track has Harhiharan and Sukhvinder coming together in ‘Nahin Saamne Tu’. The highlight of the song is the orchestration and the use of the sitar and as usual good singing by Hariharan (Sukhvinder has very little to do in the song). This song is a slow song but still very good, showing Rahman’s versatility.

The next song is a very Punjabi number ‘Ramta Jogi’, with Sukhvinder and Alka Yagnik. This song has a very haunting beat to it, which keeps on persisting throughout, and stays in your mind long after. One can literally feel the beat of passion in this one and Sukhvinder’s singing helps a lot. Rahman experimenting again with a lot of innovative instrumentation which as usual sounds great.

The next track is a title music interlude – called the beat of passion. The beginning, very African. This piece has good percussion. Rahman does have the art and talent to mix a lot of stuff together, which makes him definitely the best we have today.

The next track, ‘Kariye na ‘, by Sukhvinder and Alka Yagnik has a lilting ‘pahaadi’ feel to it, and great singing by Sukhvinder and Alka Yagnik. Sukhvinder sounds different as compared to his usual Punjabi self. A very melodious number.

‘Ni Main Samajh Gayi’ has Sukhvinder and the husky voice of Richa Sharma. A great dance number with a lot of Punjabi folk influence. The interesting thing about the song is that Rahman has used just one beat throughout out the song, which leaves a little extra load on the singers' part. And both the singers have again shown their talent superbly. Another good song. Two thumbs up to AR Rahman. The man is talented, adventurous with his music and very versatile. There are no two ways about this.

The next piece is a musical piece called Raga Dance. It starts off with opera-like violins closely followed by beats. This one for sure is Aishwarya Rai showing her dancing prowess. Once again great usage of the rhythm by AR Rahman with good interlude of violin depicting the passion.

The next one has Asha Bhosle and Richa Sharma with the annoying Aditya Narayan. ‘Kahin Aag Lage’ starts off promisingly and gets better. Asha Bhosle provides her vocals in this song, which has jungle like sounds coming from the background and as usual Rahman has been excellent with orchestration.

Next we have ‘Ishq Bina Ishq Bina’ repeated with Kavita and Sukhvinder providing the vocals. A slower version of the song but nonetheless sounds good with excellent vocals by the lead singers and the chorus in the background. In the middle there is a variation done in the tune followed by westernized with techno-based beats playing in the background. The song is a little long which gets monotonous.

The eleventh track has Madhu, Vaishali and Shoma singing to ‘Kya Dekh Rahe ho Tum’. This is a very brief song depicting ‘girl talk’. Nothing much to write about.

The album ends with the western version of the title song. Song starts of with techno beats with Sukhvinder following up with his classical dance beats vocally. Great fusion. A. R. Rahman rules.

Ghai, Rahman and Anand Bakshi have put in a lot of effort in this album and a must buy for everyone. A sure-fire hit. This is definitely Ghai’s best after Karz and that is saying a lot given his past track record.