| In a word - one can describe the music of Hey
Ram as "different." Kamal Haasan's "Experiment with
Truth" as he calls the movie (picking on M K Gandhi's autobiography of the same name)
is the ideal platform also for Ilaiyaraja's experiment with music. Experiment in music,
and different in many ways, is how I can describe the non-Hindi numbers in the album.
Non-Hindi says as much, for I would'nt say with confidence if the language is Tamil,
Telugu, or Sanksrit. The album includes vedic or religious chants - Sanyaas
Mantra, by Kamal Haasan; and Vaishnav Jana To
by Vibha Sharma and chorus. Perhaps most effective as background tracks
in the movie - but they are not reasons to buy the music.
The experimentation continues with Har Koi Samjhe, a
classical number sung by Ajay Chakraborty. The singing is the highlight
of this song, and the tune and the orchestration leave it to the singer to bring life into
the number.
On the other hand, Prem Bann by Preeti Uttam,
and Asa Ga Madan Ban (Marathi) by Preeti Uttam with Anupama
Deshpande are instinctively catchy tunes with a characteristic Marathi flavor.
Both songs have the same tune, one in Hindi while the other starts with Marathi, and
closes with a few lines of Hindi.
The album gets more in the normal run of movie music, with Chahe Pandit Ho,
by Hariharan, Kamal Haasan, and Jolly Mukherjee - a
party song with a cheerful tone. Hariharan sings another love duet, a conventional soft
song if I could call it that - but certainly a very lovely one at that. Asha
Bhosle's seductive voice compliments Hariharan's soft vocals in Janmon
Ki Jwala Thi Tan Mein. This song has Bengali poetry rendition by
Rani Mukherjee as a prelude.
The best part of the album however is the title track by Kamal Haasan and Shruthi
Haasan. It has an upbeat rhythm and ear-catching orchestration that makes it an
instant winner, and a good reason to get the album; with the other folks numbers making it
a charming album in all. The songs looks more effective in the trailors, with the scenes
to back them - and for sure would come across even better in the movie. However, Hey Ram
is not a great musical by the music alone - though it is perhaps a most effective musical
movie. |
out of 
Comments!