Director : Rahul Dholakia
Music : Ram Sampath
Lyrics : Javed Akhtar
Starring : Shahrukh Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Mahira Khan and Atul Kulkarni

Two premier production houses, Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment and Ritesh Sidhwani’s Excel Entertainment join hands for an all-out masala fare, a crime thriller , RAEES, starring the badshah himself. So expectations from its audio score, which is helmed by Ram Sampath and his music production house Om Grown Music, do reach sky high. Can Ram deliver and hit big?

Ram Sampath gets the opportunity of a lifetime to recreate a cult classic club dance number ‘Laila Main Laila‘ (Kalyanji Anandji and lyricist Indeevar) from Feroz Khan’s super hit QURBANI and he does it with elan. Veteran lyricist Javed Akhtar adds class to this classy number with some absolutely delightful added lyrics. Pawni Pandey does a lovely job with some spirited and uninhibited singing. And with smoking hot Sunny Leone grooving to the number with handsome SRK, the song is already scorching the charts.

Another song that has caught the fancy is the superb ‘dandiya‘ number, ‘Udi Udi Jaaye‘. Composed by Ram Sampath the song carries just the right tune to make one swing to its beats in a ‘garba’/ navratra festival or any other occasion for celebration. Since the film has a Gujarat backdrop, the song fits in perfectly and the choreography reveals the rich culture of Gujarat, including the famous kite festival as well. Sukhwinder Singh warms hearts with a joyous rendition with Bhoomi Trivedi providing a perfect match. Karan Sagathia puts in the desired local Gujarati touch.

Arijit aces yet again with another chartbusting effort with the lovely romantic number, ‘Zaalima’ (composed by JAM8) which boasts of a superb fresh and easy on the lips tune, excellent lyrics (by Amitabh Bhattacharya) and catchy in sync arrangements. Harshdeep Kaur does a good job, although her diction is faulty at places but she covers that with her emotive rendition.

Dhingana‘ (composed by Aheer JAM 8), a retro style, totally situational and in-sync with the story number, which glorifies the illegal ‘dhandha‘ (profession) of the lead. Banking on Mika’s robust vocals and energetic singing, adrenalin pumping beats with the catchy signature tune of RAEES in the background, this male camaraderie ‘tapori’ (but not Mumbai but Gujarati style) number entertains.

The title track, ‘Enu Naam Che Raees‘ Ram Sampath), meaning ‘His name is Raees’, is a true ode to the larger than life character of the male protagonist, Raees. It’s in almost the same corridor as ‘Dhingana’ as it introduces the lead and etches out his colourful but very strong character and also eulogises his (dark) profession. Lyrics (Ram Sampath and Hiral Brahmbhatt) are good mix of simple Gujarati and Hindi and put to good use the by now famous tagline, ‘baniye ka dimaag, miyabhai ki daring‘.

A semi-philosophical , soul searching number, ‘Saanson Ke‘ composed by Aheer (JAM 8) maybe pensive in its texture but it’s not morose as the tune and arrangements (lovely acoustic and electric guitars, clarinet, flute perk up mood) are good. KK renders the number superbly (well aided by a lovely chorus) and it’s a joy to see him back after quite a while. Lyrics by Manoj Yadav are apt where the lead is at a loss of understanding life and its twists and turns.

A totally Gujarati folk based festival/ celebration number, ‘Ghammar Ghammar‘ is truly rooted number with traditional Gujarati lyrics, but the tune has a nice universal appeal. Sung by Roshan Rathod, it is devotional in nature praising Lord Krishna.

Summing up, variety is the spice of life and the album of RAEES is a complete one, in fact with bouquet garni as they say, and is a mass-plus-class fare with chartbusting and entertaining numbers which should aid the proceedings in this edge of the seat crime thriller. Ram Sampath and his music production house (Om Grown music) deliver as per expectations. Our picks- ‘Udi Udi Jaaye‘, ‘Zaalima‘ and ‘Laila Main Laila‘. Songs are already getting popular and should help the film open to packed houses when it releases all over on 25th January.

 

(source: glamsham)