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By Joginder Tuteja, June 17, 2008 - 17:03 IST
 2008
has been a great year for Rahman fans. While the
maestro works on one or at most two Bollywood
projects every year, 2008 has already seen the
arrival of Jodhaa Akbar, Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Naa and
now Ada...A Way Of Life.
However, not many are aware that the music of Ada...A
Way Of Life was actually composed for a different
project immediately after Rahman was through with
Lagaan. Though the project never saw the light of
the day, director Tanvir Ahmed came up with a new
subject and launched Ada...A Way Of Life while
retaining the same soundtrack that has lyrics by
Raqueeb Alam and Nusrat Badr.
Rashid Ali - Now does the name ring the bell? Well,
if you have been singing 'Kabhi Kabhi Aditi Zindagi'
[Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Naa] then you know that who is
the man behind the brilliant rendition. In Ada…,
Rashid opens the album with 'Ishq Ada', which comes
with a trademark Rahman sound that has a Middle East
feel to it.
Moving at a moderate pace with a slight haunting
feel to it, the number hails the beauty of 'Ishq',
as penned by Raqueeb Alam. Surprisingly though,
Rashid sounds quite different from 'Kabhi Kabhi
Aditi Zindagi' which by the way would still stay on
to be the preferred choice. There is another version
of 'Ishq Ada' heard a little later in the day and
this time around it has newcomer Parul Mishra at the
helm of affairs. She is fine with her rendition in
this song, which does have shades of Rahman's 'Tu Hi
Tu' [Dil Se].
Sonu Nigam and Alka Yagnik, a pair which one would
like to hear any time around, come together for 'Hawa
Sun Hawa' which turns out to be a very good hear
within first minute of hearing itself. In fact one
doesn't quite feel like hearing a Rahman composition
since it carries the kind of sound which is now
associated with Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, especially after
their score in Kal Ho Na Ho, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna
and Salaam-E-Ishq. Coming back to Nusrat Badr
written 'Hawa Sun Hawa', it is indeed a pleasant
sounding melodious number, which goes well with the
serene mood and environment, as required by the
song.
The singing pair returns with Nusrat Badr written
'Gum Sum', which continues to take the graph higher
up for Ada… This time around, Rahman attaches a lot
of rhythm to the song, which carries an overall
happy feel to it. By this time one starts looking at
the composer in awe because of the timeless feel
that his songs have managed to carry in Ada… so far.
One wonders about the fresh feel of the song without
looking dated even as the soundtrack was created 5-6
years back!
Sonu Nigam makes it three in a row with 'Gulfisha',
which has all the making of a dance number with a
lounge setting. In fact, the song does remind of 'Fanaa'
[Yuva] that did have a faster pace to it but still
carried a similar sound when one takes the
club/lounge setting into consideration. In spite of
Western arrangements, Indian melody is kept intact
for this Sonu Nigam-Sunidhi Chauhan duet, which is
written by Nusrat Badr and continues to grow further
and further after repeated hearing.
 As
always, there is quite some excitement in store the
moment Rahman himself decides to come behind the
mike. A mushy love song set in an Indi-pop mode that
has Rahman dominating the proceedings with just a
couple odd instruments in the background, 'Meherbaan'
is easily the best of the enterprise so far and
deserves full marks for the way it has been
composed, arranged, sung, and overall packaged. You
would love to carry this Raqueeb Alam written track
in your iPod while on a move as it does carry a feel
similar to that of Rahman's non-film single - 'Pray
For Me Brother'! No wonder, you don't mind it at all
when Sanjeev Thomas' created instrumental is
included as the last track of the album. A very good
move since it results in the album ending on a very
high note.
Now this song takes you in the times when Rahman had
started making a mark in his early days. 'Tu Mera
Hai', a love song, is a kind of composition, which
Rahman used to create during the early 90's. With a
South Indian classical music touch to it, this
number crooned by Chitra and Sukhwinder Singh does
carry a trademark Rahman feel it to but is mainly
for those in hunt of some nostalgia.
For the first time in the album, Udit Narayan
arrives on the scene with 'Hai Dard', a sad number
written by Nusrat Badr. Arrangements belong to the
kind which one can associate only with Rahman while
the tune belongs to the era of the 50's/60's when
Mohd. Rafi or Mukesh sung songs belonging to this
genre. Of course, the number is quite difficult to
sing but overall the feel is quite situational and
one can expect some visibility for it only if the
film is a success.
A love song about revisiting the old times, 'Milo
Wahan Wahan' has a haunting feel to it due to its
intrinsic sad setting. Rendered by Alka Yagnik and
Jayachandran, it is again a situational number,
which has an extremely slow pace with minimal
instruments in the background.
While 'Hawa Sun Hawa', 'Gum Sum', 'Gulfisha' and 'Meherbaan
turn out to be the best of the lot, 'Tu Mera Hai', 'Hai
Dard' and 'Milo Wahan Wahan' do not match up to the
same scale due to their setting. Meanwhile the title
song 'Ishq Ada' falls somewhere in between. Though
there isn't song in the album which can be
considered below the mark, there is indeed a stark
difference between the way Ada...A Way Of Life opens
and ends.
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