The Background score of Lajja
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Posted by tmrrmt on September 29, 2001 at 03:32:08:
LAJJA - Review of the Background Score
By: T. Madhan Raghavan, India. I just cannot understnad as to how none of the critics bothered to mention anything about the background score of Lajja (or for that matter even HEY RAM, which had shades of Wagnerian elements, hitherto not seen in Indian films) The main title score was awesome! The title cards begin with a red saree flying and then getting trampled by a dozen feet, gets torn by a fence and then burnt by fire - this is followed by the titles against the backdrop of the skyline of New York! - the use of opera style chorus for the saree scenes followed by the beautiful seamless merging of the chorus into a poignant, richly layered Western Classical Music piece for the titles, with subtle manoeuvres that only Maestro Ilayaraaja is capable of - amazing score!!
There are a number of scenes where you can see a genius in full flow/form - when Madhuri is ditched by her boyfriend, changes in her expression are matched frame by frame by Maestro's score, the flow is just brilliant, the scene where Manisha goes to meet Jackie Shroff on a riverbank, followed by a carnage and then a shocked Jackie Shroff looking at the water, the scene introducing Ajay Devgan (no Indian movie has had such a grand opulent Western classical score for a scene introducing a character), the scene where Ajay Devgan bids adieu to Manisha against the backdrop of a waterfall, the final scene showing an aerial view of the Brooklyn bridge in New York with Manisha and Jackie's voices fading away and the music takes over - a not-to-be-missed for any lover/admirer/student of music and specifically for those young composers with big dreams! The background is a treat to any upcoming composer.
The sore points - sometimes, when the expressions on the actors/actresses faces do not match the dialogues, you can see the indecisiveness on Maestro's part to choose the kind of music for the expressions and dialogues, but, nevertheless, handles it with the deftness of a skilled craftsman, a Michelangelo sprucing up the shabby work of a blind man. The narration was hopelessly jarring at many places, thereby making it a difficult task for Maestro Ilayaraaja to maintain his tempo - but still, the film's weaker moments are solely salvaged by Maestro's score!
The use of cellos, oboe, piccolo, and violins in the multi-layered Background Music score is too much for a film like this - the film's narration is often hackneyed that it would appear that the Background Music and the scenes do not match - all in all, LAJJA not to be missed for the handiwork of a genius composer's inspired score.
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