Raajneeti - Music Review

Cast :: Nana Patekar, Ajay Devgan, Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Manoj Bajpai,Naseeruddin Shah, Arjun Rampal

Quite opposite to once expectations and Prakash Jha’s image, Raajneeti seems to be a full fledged musical once you read the names of composers and singers on the cover of this album. And most of them succeed in doing it to quite an extent. Yes, Raajneeti has it’s fare share of good music.

Raajneeti is genuinely one of the most eagerly awaited movies of the year (unlike over-hyped and over-rated trash such as the recent “Housefull”). With a director like Prakash Jha at the helm who has a strong pedigree in this genre and a stellar cast (including the director’s favourite Ajay Devgan and Nana Patekar) to befit several movies let alone one, Raajneeti is expected to portray the reality of politics in a way that has never been seen before. But what about the music? Apart from the background score (by Wayne Sharpe) which will be important, can the songs promote or add any value to such a movie? Based on Prakash Jha’s previous films the answer must be a resounding no and this theory is further compelled by the late arrival of this soundtrack (the movie is released in a few weeks!) but regardless of expectations.

The album starts with Bheegi si, bhaagi si, which is a peppy, foot-tapping, Pritam type song sung by Mohit Chauhan with a relatively very new Antara Mitra who sounds something like Shreya Ghoshal. A good one to say the least. Catchy. Not long term, but not bad certainly.

Next comes Aadesh Srivastava’s already hit composition Mora Piya mose bolat naahi. The song is definitely good, but the first complete line in the song comes after almost one and a half minutes into the song, so we definitely have a slow start at the song. Still, the song is worth listening to. Kudos to Aadesh for creating and then singing the awesome song too.

Ishq Barse is a pure item song by Shantanu Moitra who I don’t remember creating any such song before. Still, the favorite of VVC and Shyam Benegal makes this one quite fine and the Indian-rap sung by Hamsika Iyer is something worth listening to. The atkan-matkan-pigeonwa you know. Between, the song has something called a Bombay Bounce mix too, not that I got to know the difference I heard it the first time.

Dhan Dhan Dharti re, or Vande Mataram song as they are calling it, is the watch-it thing of the album. Sung by Shankar Mahadevan, and by Sonu Nigam in another version called ‘Call of the Soil’ (apne desh ki mitti ki khushboo?), the song is a poetic-patriotic feat by Gulzar and American composer Wayne Sharpe creates good enough surroundings with his Indian-Western fusion. I wonder if Rahman was asking for more money and so Prakash Jha went to an American composer for a version of Vande Mataram, but then, whatever be his reasons, the composer does his work darn good and I’m in love with this song. Read more about the song on the separate post below.

So the songs are over, but then there is a surprise. The surprise is that we have one more version of Mora Piya. This one is a Trance Mix, sung by our very own Kavita Seth. No, we don’t get her in a regular version (Does Aadesh Srivastava feel insecure??) but her voice is welcome in any version and she does the best she can in her limits.

In short, Raajneeti is worth a try, and actually worth a buy album. Prakash Jha seems to have been doing more than making just a good film this time, with some great pairings, oh-my-mouth-was-open trailers and some not-baaaad music. I just hope the movie is still as good as I hope it to be. For now, the music is above expectations, to say the least.

Download MP3 Songs
01 - Bheegi Si Bhaagi Si@review-of-movies.blogspot.com
02 - Mora Piya@review-of-movies.blogspot.com
03 - Ishq Barse@review-of-movies.blogspot.com
04 - Dhan Dhan Dharti@review-of-movies.blogspot.com
05 - Mora Piya Mo Se Bolat Naahin (Trance Mix)@review-of-movies.blogspot.com
06 - Ishq Barse (The Bombay Bounce Club Mix)@review-of-movies.blogspot.com
07 - Mora Piya (Twilight Mix)@review-of-movies.blogspot.com
08 - Dhan Dhan Dharti Reprise (Call Of The Soil)@review-of-movies.blogspot.com




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