SOTD #794: Naina from Omkara

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Song of the Day: Naina from Omkara.

http://www.dhool.com/sotd2/794.html



- Sung by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. Music by Vishal Bharatwaj. Lyrics by Gulzar.

- Omkara is one of the most highly anticipated Hindi films this year. It is releasing in a couple of days.

The film is directed by Vishal Bharatwaj, who has also composed the music (and has sung a wonderful duet with Shreya Ghoshal as well!). It stars Ajay Devgan, Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Vivek Oberoi, Bipasha Basu, Konkana Sen Sharma and Naseeruddin Shah.

Unless you've been under a rock, you would have probably read something about this film. The hype that it has created is unbelievable. It looks like Rediff movie section has turned into a virtual advertisement section for Omkara. Not a day goes by without some interview with a star associated with the movie, or a writeup on why the film will be good and why we should watch it. I can only imagine how much the hype is in the magazines and TV in India itself. I don't subscribe to any Hindi TV channels here to make a judgement.

The film has been based on Shakespeare's Othello. (Yes, Rediff has a writeup on "Know your Othello before you watch Omkara"). Ajay Devgan plays the character of Othello, the protagonist who is jealous about his wife Desdemona, played by Kareena Kapoor. Saif Ali Khan plays the deadly villain Iago. The age-old story of love and jealousy has been set in Uttar Pradesh (apparently, the actors have had a tough time with the dialect, so hopefully there will be subtitles).

Then there is the music.

The album has gotten rave reviews ( this blog post does a round of the reviews nicely). I listened to this album a couple of weeks back and have been hooked on it ever since.

The album is one of the best I've heard in recent times. It starts off with Sukhwinder Singh singing the title song, "Omkara". The song with its heavy beats and a powerful performance by Sukhwinder is sure to top the charts. I wonder if anyone other than Sukhwinder could have done justice to that song. The next track is a slow duet, "O Saathi Re" sung by Shreya Ghoshal and Vishal Bharatwaj himself. Some people have praised Vishal's singing, but I wasn't impressed. Shreya Ghoshal sounds very subdued, may be due to the situation that the song is set in.

"Bii.Dii" is an item number, probably filmed on Bipasha Basu, sung by Sukhwinder Singh and Sunithi Chauhan. It sustains my interest, thanks to the catchy pallavi. The SOTD, Naina, has Rahat Fateh Ali Khan singing with an electronic score that sounds quite different from the feel of the rest of the album. There is a slow lullaby by Suresh Wadkar, and a couple of songs by Rekha Bharatwaj. Rekha just rocks in laakad, she has a powerful voice. I could have picked any of these songs for the SOTD.

The soundtrack is sure to give Rang De Basanti a run for the album of the year.

With so much focus on the fact that this film is an adaptation of Othello, one thing that is not mentioned that it will have stiff competition to even become the best adaptaion of Othello *in an Indian film*. This is because of the great film by Jayaraj, Kaliyattam. Jayaraj adapted Othello in this complex film set among theyyam artistes. Suresh Gopi, Lal and Manju Warrior gave great performances (I think Suresh Gopi won a national best actor award for his role). If you haven't seen this film, it is a must-see. It will be interesting to see how Omkara measures up to Kaliyattam.

I will probably watch the film this weekend, if I get the tickets

[bb]

Song of the Day: Naina from Omkara.

http://www.dhool.com/sotd2/794.html



- Sung by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. Music by Vishal Bharatwaj. Lyrics by Gulzar.

- Omkara is one of the most highly anticipated Hindi films this year. It is releasing in a couple of days.

The film is directed by Vishal Bharatwaj, who has also composed the music (and has sung a wonderful duet with Shreya Ghoshal as well!). It stars Ajay Devgan, Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Vivek Oberoi, Bipasha Basu, Konkana Sen Sharma and Naseeruddin Shah.

Unless you've been under a rock, you would have probably read something about this film. The hype that it has created is unbelievable. It looks like Rediff movie section has turned into a virtual advertisement section for Omkara. Not a day goes by without some interview with a star associated with the movie, or a writeup on why the film will be good and why we should watch it. I can only imagine how much the hype is in the magazines and TV in India itself. I don't subscribe to any Hindi TV channels here to make a judgement.

The film has been based on Shakespeare's Othello. (Yes, Rediff has a writeup on "Know your Othello before you watch Omkara"). Ajay Devgan plays the character of Othello, the protagonist who is jealous about his wife Desdemona, played by Kareena Kapoor. Saif Ali Khan plays the deadly villain Iago. The age-old story of love and jealousy has been set in Uttar Pradesh (apparently, the actors have had a tough time with the dialect, so hopefully there will be subtitles).

Then there is the music.

The album has gotten rave reviews ( this blog post does a round of the reviews nicely). I listened to this album a couple of weeks back and have been hooked on it ever since.

The album is one of the best I've heard in recent times. It starts off with Sukhwinder Singh singing the title song, "Omkara". The song with its heavy beats and a powerful performance by Sukhwinder is sure to top the charts. I wonder if anyone other than Sukhwinder could have done justice to that song. The next track is a slow duet, "O Saathi Re" sung by Shreya Ghoshal and Vishal Bharatwaj himself. Some people have praised Vishal's singing, but I wasn't impressed. Shreya Ghoshal sounds very subdued, may be due to the situation that the song is set in.

"Bii.Dii" is an item number, probably filmed on Bipasha Basu, sung by Sukhwinder Singh and Sunithi Chauhan. It sustains my interest, thanks to the catchy pallavi. The SOTD, Naina, has Rahat Fateh Ali Khan singing with an electronic score that sounds quite different from the feel of the rest of the album. There is a slow lullaby by Suresh Wadkar, and a couple of songs by Rekha Bharatwaj. Rekha just rocks in laakad, she has a powerful voice. I could have picked any of these songs for the SOTD.

The soundtrack is sure to give Rang De Basanti a run for the album of the year.

With so much focus on the fact that this film is an adaptation of Othello, one thing that is not mentioned that it will have stiff competition to even become the best adaptaion of Othello *in an Indian film*. This is because of the great film by Jayaraj, Kaliyattam. Jayaraj adapted Othello in this complex film set among theyyam artistes. Suresh Gopi, Lal and Manju Warrior gave great performances (I think Suresh Gopi won a national best actor award for his role). If you haven't seen this film, it is a must-see. It will be interesting to see how Omkara measures up to Kaliyattam.

I will probably watch the film this weekend, if I get the tickets

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The official site for the film is: http://www.omkarathefilm.com/

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The official site for the film is: http://www.omkarathefilm.com/

[ThirdParty]

Padal Ok!

Anal Sorry BB sir, indha pudhu Hindi Paadalgal appreciate panna enakku periya "Mental BlocK" ulladhu.

Hindi padalal ennai porutha muttm, Mid-80s leye lost its charm..

But anyway thanks for hosting the song and intorducing it to us

bala

[vijay]

Havent listened to this one yet but Vishal is one of the few who shows some promise. His earlier film Maqbool was also an adaptation of Macbeth if I remember right and one of his albums as a MD, Paanch, had a strong rock flavor and different from the other albums at that time.

bb, try digging up some new TFM songs as well of the last 10 years from time to time, as I get the feeling that at times the SOTD becomes a strictly golden oldies kind of feature with too much SPB and other 60s/70s MDs.

For instance, "thendral ennum ther yeri"(sung by Madhu Balakrishnan) from the forgettable recent movie paasa kiLigaL was a noteworthy light-classical song by Vidyasagar (with pre-written lyrics by MK I believe). Give it a shot if you havent yet.

[bb]

Vijay, I've been doing new songs from time to time (did two songs from PudhupEttai and some from Rahman's hindi works). I didn't find songs that I liked recently. None from Vettaiyaadu viLaiyaadu or the other recent films. Hits like "poi sollap pOrEn" sound like nursery rhymes.
I think I've heard the paasak kiLigaL song, but wasn't too impressed. Let me know if you find good ones among the latest releases.

[bb]

Vijay, I've been doing new songs from time to time (did two songs from PudhupEttai and some from Rahman's hindi works). I didn't find songs that I liked recently. None from Vettaiyaadu viLaiyaadu or the other recent films. Hits like "poi sollap pOrEn" sound like nursery rhymes.
I think I've heard the paasak kiLigaL song, but wasn't too impressed. Let me know if you find good ones among the latest releases.

[ThirdParty]

PAravaillai ragam than, irundhalum the best among the latest

Yen Swasathil (Jerry - Ramesh Vinayagam)
Intha Ulagail (Madhu - IR)
Mugilae (Aran - JS)

Do they interest u?

Bala

[Guest]

This Baradwaj is certainly better and by far one of the best in Bollywood today.ShankarEhsan are the other. Both have an uncomplicated style and genuine attempts to make the song sound fresh.VB originally ,i thought wanted to be Bhupen Hazarika II.But Ramgopal varma moved him into the mainstream.

All the songs in this album sound nice except the Bipasha item number.I liked VB's ,choada hey hum,chappa chappa and sapne me milthi hei. (However Lata's "pani Pani" for Tabu poured "garam pani" in your ears)There was another good song in a diaster movie from Chandrachur by Baradwaj.

From chorus "national songs" in DD Baradwaj has come a long way. His voice is ok.Shreya is certainly the singer for the future.

Movie- once you put the hype for any bollywood movie to acid test if 5% remains that is a great success.Macbeth,Othello ...ada pongappa Haven't these people made RomeoJuliet 25000 times

OISG

[Murali Venkatraman]

Very nice song. I love Rahat' voice. Orchestration is too synthetic and nothing great to write about but the singing and composition are very good. Rahat has a 100% hit rate with his songs in bollywood. A strong voice amazingly sintered by his uncle's rigorous sufi classical training. If he is going to be a regular in bollywood, I will not be surprised if he is accorded a legend status in the future. The greatness of rahat is in his range and clear delivery. Vishal proves he knows his music.
_________________
MS (Murali Venkatraman)

envazi isaivazi
email - cfdmodeler-dhool@yahoo.com
site - http://swara.blogspot.com

[Murali Venkatraman]

Very nice song. I love Rahat' voice. Orchestration is too synthetic and nothing great to write about but the singing and composition are very good. Rahat has a 100% hit rate with his songs in bollywood. A strong voice amazingly sintered by his uncle's rigorous sufi classical training. If he is going to be a regular in bollywood, I will not be surprised if he is accorded a legend status in the future. The greatness of rahat is in his range and clear delivery. Vishal proves he knows his music.
_________________
MS (Murali Venkatraman)

envazi isaivazi
email - cfdmodeler-dhool@yahoo.com
site - http://swara.blogspot.com

[ssriram]

[Murali Venkatraman]

vijay and sriram:

we are indeed doing that as u can see with vaanaththu thaaragaiyo and poonkaatrile. If you like any song to be featured in SOTD you could send the mp3 along with a writeup to bb. we can feature that.

[Murali Venkatraman]

vijay and sriram:

we are indeed doing that as u can see with vaanaththu thaaragaiyo and poonkaatrile. If you like any song to be featured in SOTD you could send the mp3 along with a writeup to bb. we can feature that.

[KRISHNAN K]

Vijay,

You are very correct. Yes we have to really dig hard to find quality new songs. There is nothing wrong in SOTD being predominantly a oldies feature. Even programmes like Ragamaliga that focus in grooming new talent are dominated by the oldies to such an extent that they had to bring in a special " New song"round. Let us accept that there are not many singers of the calibre of TMS, Tiruchi Loganathan, CSJ, TR Mahalingam, SG,PBS, AMR, PS, LRE etc. Each one had his or her own style that was unique. We thus had a wide variety of songs. Despite passage of time we are easily able to pickup very good oldies each time whereas we are not able to do that with recent songs. Many temples, Churches etc. are being constructed now-a-days but none of them can be equated to the oldies. Nothing wrong in accepting "Old as Gold" and giving it more importance, until we reach a stage where the new songs reach that class in good numbers.