As I reached the shop on Saturday and looked at the CD, I loved the green colour in the front of the CD cover and the beautiful portrait of Hrithik and Aishwarya, along with the golden sun and the army in the background. As I paid the money for the CD, the person at the billing counter told me, ‘Excellentaa poatturkaar! Songs ellaam super!‘ I broke into a big smile. After all, when have I not been happy on hearing someone praise Rahman’s music? ;)

If I found the CD cover on the outside to be beautiful, the portraits of Hrithik and Aishwarya on the inside were even more stunning! What beautiful costumes, accessories and dark, deep, rich colours! I loved the stills from the movie on the lyrics book too. The one word that came to my mind on seeing the colours and the costumes was - GRAND - and that’s how the music is!

Before listening to the songs, I wanted to check out what was on the DVD and I was disappointed by what I saw. Couldn’t the DVD have had atleast all the trailers and stills from the movie? Anyway as my sister said, we got one more beautiful still from the movie on the CD cover because of this DVD. ;)

Moving on to the music, well, what can I say? First Lagaan, then Swades and now, Jodha Akbar – each and every song in all the three movies are brilliant compositions by Rahman! We can now confidently say that A.R.Rahman – Ashutosh Gowariker is a combination to look out for like A.R.Rahman-Mani Ratnam. :)

Azeem-O-Shaan Shahenshah - Mohammed Aslam, Bony Chakravarthy & Chorus

After seeing the stills of Aishwarya and Hrithik in royal costumes, listening to this song immediately, I was in awe of how brilliantly Rahman has captured the greatness and grandeur of the Mughal king and the era in his music! This is the song that I liked instantly. I loved the chorus going chan chana nana and the way the female voices join the male voices and the male voices with the female in the second part of the song, in a beautiful humming (is the beginning of the humming at around 2 min in Darbari?). With the wonderful beats throughout the song, this song becomes an aural treat. There is a line in this song about the greatness of Akbar - Jitna kahe hum, utna kam hai – I say the same about this song and the greatness of Rahman’s music! :D

Jashn-E-Bahaaraa - Javed Ali

This is a soft, lovely song that is completely in contrast to Azeem-O-Shaan. When I listened to this song first in the trailer, I didn’t like Javed Ali’s voice that much. Now, after listening to the full song so many times, my opinion has changed and I find his voice so well suited for this song.

Jashn-E-Bahaaraa (Instrumental - Flute)

I love the flute. I am so happy that Rahman chose to release the instrumental version of the full song. If you liked the lyrics of Jashn-E-Bahaara and felt that you were able to relate to the mood of the song all the more because of the lyrics and the rendition of it by Javed Ali, then listen to this one that is sans lyrics. Don’t you experience the magic of Rahman’s music right away? :) With music like this one, you need no lyrics.

Inn Lamhon Ke Daaman Mein - Sonu Nigam & Madhushree

Saathiya, Do Kadam, Des Ki Mitti, Kismat Se Tum - Rahman’s songs sung by Sonu Nigam that are my favourites. This one too has now got added to the list. Sonu Nigam’s voice always adds more beauty to a song, however good or bad it might be. The song starts with Sonu Nigam singing it so softly with soft beats and instruments in the background. You get completely immersed in it when all of a sudden you hear the chorus singing accompanied by some amazing percussion and then there is Sonu again! Wow! I loved the interlude between Sonu Nigam’s and Madhushree’s part. As Madhushree starts singing, I noticed that the lyrics didn’t have any (or many?) Urdu words. Since Jodha was a Rajput, there is no Urdu? If Madhushree’s voice sounded sweet when she sings those beautiful lines, what can you say about the part sung by Sonu Nigam that follows?!

Mere khwaabon ke iss gulistaan mein,
Tumse hee toh bahaar chhaayi hai,
Phoolon mein rang mere the lekin,
Inn mein Khushboo tumhee se aayi hain

I love these lines. Rahman’s music, Sonu Nigam’s voice or Javed Akhtar’s lyrics? You can’t pinpoint on one of these and say this is what makes these lines sound so lovely! :) I wouldn’t have minded if the song had ended right there but we are treated to the chorus and Sonu Nigam’s voice once again and by the time the song ends, I just can’t have enough of it and end up listening to the song in a loop. :D

Mann Mohanaa - Bela Shende

Like many others, I too initially didn’t like this song that much and felt it to be too sad and too long. But it always takes time for me to like such songs. And then I listened to it with full attention. There is tabla, there is some string instrument playing in the background, flute comes here and there and at one such instance, Bela’s voice follows it with the words, Bansi ban jaaungi - beautiful! My Urdu is poor compared to my Hindi. This is the only song in the movie that doesn’t use too much of Urdu & that was a plus point for me since I was able to enjoy the lyrics all the more & appreciate the intensity of devotion brought out by Bela’s voice and how well she has sung it with all the emotion needed for it. Now after so many listening, the opening lines are the only ones that I find a bit boring and I love every other part of the song.

Khwaja Mere Khwaja - A R Rahman

This was the song that I was waiting to listen to. If the 30-second trailer made me want to listen to it again and again and made me excitedly wait to listen to the full song soon, the nearly 7-minute full song has got me completely hooked to it. These days, A.R.Rahman – the singer, never fails to amaze me. If 2006 saw me bowled over by the way he had sung New York Nagaram and Jaage Hain, it was Athiradee in 2007 and this year this one – A very soulful rendition by Rahman. What I like in this song is that there is no voice other than Rahman’s in this. The rhythmic beats, Rahman singing swaras and humming here and there, the emotion with which he sings Khwajaji! Mind blowing! This one is a song to listen to when you want to be with just peace!

Khwaja Mere Khwaja (Instrumental - Oboe)
There couldn’t have been a better ending to a wonderful music album! Every minute of it had me mesmerized! Somehow the way this one started reminded me of the opening piano music in Thendrale, that comes in the background too in that song.

Thanks for such an excellent music album, Rahman! :) Looking forward to more and more wonderful creations from A.R.Rahman, Ashutosh Gowariker & Javed Akhtar!