Swades ( Hindi Film Songs ) - Music Album, Movie Review


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Swades ( Hindi Film Songs , )

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Album Review

By Nitika Desai

A R Rahman’s skill and talent as a music composer comes to fore in Ashutosh Gowarikar’s Swades. The beautifully composed melodies, set to thought-provoking lyrics by Javed Akhtar, make the songs of Swades stand apart from other humdrum scores from Bollywood.

The movie, starring Shah Rukh Khan and newcomer Gayatri Joshi, tells the story of an Indian scientist at NASA who returns to his motherland to trace his roots. He travels across the country and is enchanted by the simplicity and honesty of the people he meets.

The music of the film goes along well with its theme. The album begins with the frothy number Yeh Tara Woh Tara, which the hero in the movie sings before a crowd of villagers and children. Akhtar’s words talk about the beauty and enormity of the sky and its celestial wonders in this number sung by Udit Narayan along with child artistes Vignesh and Pooja. The song is slow in tempo and has a nocturnal feel.

The album then nudges into romantic mood with Saanwariya Saanwariya. Singer Alka Yagnik brings out the right emotive appeal in her voice to convey the depth in Akhtar’s words. The use of musical instruments and their arrangement in the song is quite simple, thereby making the song more appealing after repeated hearings.

Then follows the eight-minute ‘road’ song Yun Hi Chala Chal, which is among Rahman’s best compositions in the album. The song, sung by Udit Narayan, Hariharan and Kailash Kher, has a dominant use of percussions – an arrangement that sounds quite fresh and appealing because the accompanying melody is set more by the singers than by the musical instruments. The words in the song are quite plain but they carry some good messages inside.

Aahista Aahista resets the loving mood with Udit Narayan and Sadhna Sargam crooning together.

A R Rahman takes the microphone and shows that he is no less impressive a singer in Yeh Jo Des Hai Tera which is a song about love for one’s own country. Some of lines by Akhtar in the song are quite moving. An instrumental version of the song appears later in the album.

Then follows Pal Pal Hai Bhari, which is a depiction of a scene from Ramayana when Sita is in Raavana’s captivity and longs to be reunited with her Lord Ram. The song has a folksy feel and is sung by Madhushree, Vijay Prakash and Ashutosh Gowarikar. The album also has an instrumental version (in flute) of this song.

The album concludes with the love duet Dekho Na by Udit Narayan and Alka Yagnik. A lilting number with touching lyrics, the song does leave an impression on a listener.

On the whole, Swades is rich in melodies that are pleasing to ears. But one thing needs to be mentioned for an objective appraisal of Rahman’s work. It becomes apparent after listening his compositions that he lays the main stress on melodies and later fit in the words to his work. That is why sometimes the vocal expression by the singers falls short of gelling completely with the spirit of the song. It is something that great composers like Naushad, Ghulam Mohammad, R D Burman and Laxmikant Pyarelal were able to do with amazing subtlety. It is something that Rahman, the music wizard, still has to master.
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