Mohenjo Daro Music Review : Magical

Hrithik Roshan returns to the silver screen after a gap of nearly two years (his last release Bang Bang was way back in 2014) with Ashutosh Gowariker directedMohenjo Daro. Set in the era of the Indus Valley Civilization, the film stars newcomer Pooja Hegde opposite Roshan and has its music composed by A. R. Rahman with the lyrics penned by Javed Akhtar. The combination of Gowariker and Rahman has always been lapped up my music lovers all around. Naturally, expectations are high from the soundtrack of Mohenjo Daro too. So let's see whether this director-composer combination is able to spin their magic this time around too.

The soundtrack's first track happens to be the title track, Mohenjo Daro, and also serves as an introduction to the Indus Valley period. Though not much is known about the music in that era, Composer A. R. Rahman takes the help of tribal and folk sounds for giving an energetic vibe to the song. And the end result is pretty catchy and can serve as an exotic theme track for the album. Also, the singers Arijit Singh and Bela Shinde (well supported by Sanah Moidutty and a host of backup vocalists) do a stupendous job behind the mike making this song a repeat listen.

Sindhu Maa is a tribute to the river Sindhu and Sanah Moidutty's vocals waft through your senses giving a sense of tranquility. Composer Rahman (who incidentally goes behind the mike as well for this one), uses unusual sounds, especially in the beginning of the song which piques our curiosity about this composition, though later on, he manages to neatly segue into the romantic track Tu Hai. It sure would be interesting to see how the director uses this track in the film since it seems to be both a tribute to the river Sindhu as well as a borderline romantic number.

The composer experiments with Sarsariya mixing tribal, folk and other alluring sounds and gets Shashaa Tirupati to sing this romantic yet playful number. The non-Hindi lyrics are intriguing (though not really discernible) but spirited yet old-world romance is very much on play in Akhtar's lyrics. Though there is a hint ofBarso Re (Guru) in this one, the composer needs to be complemented for the novelty he has brought in this number. And of course, Shashaa Tirupati is a promising find and she manages to outdo her co-singer, Shaswat Singh in this one.

ARR reserves the best track of the album for himself and renders Tu Hai in his own inimitable way along with Sanah Moidutty and the result is just intoxicating! The sweeping melody is Rahman at his best and the icing on the cake is that it sounds so simple yet the effect is just magical. Surefire chartbuster!

There is a sense of mystery in the enigmatic sounding instrumental tracks – Whispers of the mind and Whispers of the heart. Arjun Chandy 'whispers' the chants in both the tracks which seem to have an inspiration from world music as well. The orchestration is slightly heavier in the latter though I personally preferred the jungle-like feel in Whispers of the Mind. Nevertheless, both the instrumental versions sound tailor- made for that bygone era and that in itself is a victory for the composer.

The Shimmer of Sindhu is the third instrumental track in this album and is essentially an instrumental version of the melodic Tu Hai. Keba Jeremiah and Kareem Kamalakar set up a serene atmosphere with their guitar and flute, respectively and re-create the magic of Tu Hai all over again.

Lakh Lakh Thora is the final instrumental track in this album and is based on Sarsariya. Tapas Roy keeps the instrumentation faithful to the original track and the result is yet another beautiful composition.

To sum up, the soundtrack of Mohenjo Daro is a classic from A. R. Rahman. The maestro has proved himself time and again with his work. And now by venturing into literally an unknown territory and coming up trumps is nothing but a signature of a master at work. Kudos to the genius yet again!

• Release Date : 12 August 2016

• Banner : UTV Motion Pictures, Ashutosh Gowariker Productions

• Producer : Siddharth Roy Kapur, Sunita A. Gowariker

• Director : Ashutosh Gowariker

• Cast : Hrithik Roshan, Pooja Hegde, Kabir Bedi, Arunoday Singh, Suhasini Mulay, Nitish Bharadwaj, Kishori Shahane Vij, Sharad Kelkar, Manish Chaudhari, Narendra Jha, Shaji Choudhary, Diganta Hazarika, Naina Trivedi

• Music Director : A. R. Rahman

• Lyricist : Javed Akhtar

• Singers : Arijit Singh, Shaswat Singh, Shashaa Tirupati, Bela Shinde, Sanah Moidutty

• Genre : Period

#MohenjoDaro #Bollywood #Movie #HotNews