Music of Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi

Ah, a Yash Raj album. One prepares oneself for sugary melodies, lilting themes, some traditional “desi aunty” chorus singers rendering “shaadi”-type songs and plenty of ethnic dhol work. Well, think again.

Picking Salim-Suleiman to drive YRF’s year closer, RNBDJ, was a rebellious move, because of their breakout sound and pattern, which is tangential to the traditional sound of Bollywood over the last few years.

And while the duo have maintained the historical convention of creating a trademark YRF melody-focussed album, they also succeed in terms of making this album edgy and mainstream – essentially bringing the sounds of YRF heritage to the evolved ears of today’s mainstream audiences, while maintaining their traditional atmosphere.

“Haule Haule” is a great example of this very amalgamation. Sukhwinder gives a subdued rendition, and the song itself is memorable and simple. Like all Bollywood albums, there are both hits and misses.

The evident theme of the film is “Tujhme Rab Dikhta Hai”. The melody is effortlessly catchy and grows on to haunt you in a very “Suraj Hua Maddham” kinda way. Definitely seems that this tune will be used in various segments throughout the movie, with the intention to make it stay with you for days after watching the film.

While the Roop Kumar Rathod version of the song is well arranged and rendered, the slow version is the one that really brings soul into this melody, sung without a single flaw by the inimitable Shreya Ghoshal.

“Phir Milenge Chalte Chalte” is a unique medley – a journey through Indian cinema with the incorporation of the names of classic songs and film names, interspersed throughout the track. Full marks to Jaideep Sahni for writing the lyrics as it must not have been easy to sum up nearly a hundred years of Bollywood in a single song. And no one else could have done justice to this attempt except Sonu Nigam.

And now to the misses. This title singlehandedly belongs to “Dance Pe Chance”. The song starts promisingly with a percussive sample, which sounds ridiculously similar to a Justin Timberlake track. The song’s Hinglish lyrics and monotonous pattern can also get a bit bothersome. Of all the songs in RNBDJ, this one has the shortest shelf life.

Balance sheet: With RNBDJ, Salim-Suleiman have created a balance between convention and cutting-edge, somewhat similar to what Shiv-Hari did during their stints with YRF (Lamhe, Darr). While the soundtrack cannot be placed in the same league as many of YRF’s classic musicals, it has a definite appeal and some of the tracks do have the ability to last. All that’s left to be seen is whether the film will break Yash Raj’s long dry spell and emerge a success.