I’ll begin by referring back to
my own review of Mr. Bhansali’s first full-fledged solo composition in the name
of Guzaarish. I left a post script requesting for SLB of ‘Hum Dil…’ to be back.
Looks like he read it and took it seriously (pun intended) and now he’s back
for good, in the form of ‘Ram Leela’. Voila!
The album sounds and feels heavily
inspired by Mr. Bhansali’s HDDCS. It’s the Gujrati plot in both cases that's obvious.
But, Ram Leela does not stop there. It gets inspired by pretty much all of
SLB’s works so far including Saawariya, Guzaarish and Devdas. Having said that,
it comes on its own and stands out as another masterpiece (like all its
predecessors). If you thought it’s a copy, well no. It’s what we call a
pattern!
SLB choses his favourite Shail Hada
(who debuted with Saawariya) for couple of songs and calls back his prodigy Shreya
Ghoshal, replacing Sunidhi (from Guzaarish) to sing 2 other solo. And he even (re)introduces
the melody king of 90’s Udit Narayan’s son, Aditya Narayan who rocks 2 of the
peppy numbers. Then there’s singer of the year, Arijit Singh who pours soul
into ‘Laal Ishq’. What a year he’s had with Aashiqui 2, Yeh Jawaani…, Chennai
Express and now Ram Leela. We even get to hear Bhoomi Trivedi (of the Indian
Idol fame) on the raunchy title track which is a chartbuster ever since it was
aired. Aditi Paul sings a soft flowing melody and joins Osman Mir on a gujrati
folk. When was the last time we heard a folk song in mainstream Bollywood!
Everything works here - the melody,
the singers, the lyrics and just enough (nothing over the top) beats. And most
importantly, the soul!
SLB maintains his style that he
discovered since Saawariya (his first composition) and the album as a whole
feels fresh despite its references. It’s a melody that will stay for long and
join the list of timeless classics.
P.S. 20 years from now, play Saawariya and Ram Leela along with Mera Saaya. Chances are they would sound like coming from the same times. Timeless… Truly!
P.S. 20 years from now, play Saawariya and Ram Leela along with Mera Saaya. Chances are they would sound like coming from the same times. Timeless… Truly!
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