Rock On!!

I know I've already written about this movie, but its music definitely deserves to be written about as well. Farhan Akhtar has shown the world that he is, without a doubt, one of the most talented guys in the Indian film industry. He's been there, done that. After the disastrous attempts that people like Sonu Nigam and Himesh Reshammiya made to diversify their field, here is a guy who can do just about anything and can do it well.

I am not into rock music in general. As a matter of fact, for the first couple of weeks or so after I laid my hands on the music of Rock On!!, I was constantly listening to the non-rock tracks that it features, namely Ye Tumhari Meri Baatein by Dominique Cerejo and Phir Dekhiye by Caralisa Monteiro. I'd heard Caralisa's voice in a remixed track from Salaam Namaste and Dominique's in a couple of tracks from Neal 'N' Nikki. I liked both of their voices in the first instance. They have this freshness, this energy, a quality that I cannot describe that makes me feel connected to whatever is being sung about. Even though the actual words of Ye Tumhari Meri Baatein are rather arbitrary, they seem to convey a deep meaning that all of us can connect to. It carries a hope, a hope for a happy, successful relationship where communication is at the forefront. That is something a lot of us want, need, would like to have. And Phir Dekhiye is beautifully worded and carries a beautiful thought at the core of it. And it is beautifully sung. It tells us that we all need to have a dream, something to love for, something that we are extremely passionate about, something we care deeply for. It is this something that gives us the happiness we need, that defines who we are.

In all the music reviews I've read online, people generally talk about the tracks in the order in which they are featured in the album. But of course, Random Musings are, well, random.

It took me a couple of weeks or so of intermittent listening before I grew to like the other tracks in this album. The title track and Sinbad The Sailor continue to focus on the general theme of the movie, which is about following your dreams, no matter what the rest of the world thinks or says about them. No matter how crazy the world deems you for dreaming your dream. It is never stupid or crazy to follow your dreams. And Farhan has done a terrific job, rendering all the tracks which he has sung for his film.

And then there are the whimsically worded Socha Hai and Pichle Saat Dinon Mein which do not seem to have any particular meaning, any particular rhyme or reason for existing in the first place, but they give the movie its flavour. I think the movie would have been grossly incomplete without Pichle Saat... The live version that actually features in the movie is a version that makes you connect to the characters, to the band, to the movie. It makes you feel involved, part of whatever is happening.

And then there is the loveliest track of them all. As the members of Magik themselves stated during the movie, this is the track that gives the album its depth. Tum ho toh hai sab haasil, Tum nahin toh kya hai yahan... Beautiful. Just beautiful. And the way this song is featured in the movie is so... well, emotionally stirring. But I'm not going to repeat stuff that I already wrote.

And there is one track which I didn't like too much, but even this one is very hummable. I've been humming Zehreelay Zehreelay intermittently over the last couple of weeks whenever I've needed a break from Pichle Saat... and Tum Ho Toh. As Akash says, "the music and lyrics of this song make a perfect combination for this song to be called the most stupid song of recent past." It's given us a lot of laughs over the past few days. Especially when Akash was traversing the length and breadth of our floor, making sincere attempts to popularise this ridiculous number.

As they say when the closing credits roll, "Don’t download the music, buy the CD." It's most certainly worth it.