Mangal Pandey / The Rising - Analysis

Music Review : Mangal Pandey / The Rising:

"By Joginder Tuteja, July 15, 2005 - 14:14 IST

A producer who believes in creating nothing BUT original....
A director, who brings alive a chapter from history NEVER told before on the silver screen....
A musician who is FAMED across the globe....
A lyricist who believes in delivering nothing BUT the best....
A distributor whose production house is the BUSIEST and MOST successful today.....
An actor who would be seen on BIG screen after 4 years.....
An actress who is at an enviable numero uno position this year....

And a movie that is touted to be the BIGGEST on this side of the millennium.

Mangal Pandey - The Rising.

One expects spectacular experience from the celluloid dream called 'Mangal Pandey - The Rising', a Bobby Bedi - Deepa Sahi production directed by Ketan Mehta and distributed by Yashraj Films. With Aamir Khan, Rani Mukherjee, Amisha Patel and Toby Stephens in the lead, 'Mangal Pandey - The Rising' has music by maestro A.R. Rehman and lyrics by Javed Akhtar saab. From a movie produced at such a large scale, one expects nothing but a grandeur musical score that would transcends all boundaries.

Kailash Kher begins the album with the explosive title song 'Mangal Mangal' that is played while the title sequence is on. A song picturised on a group of four men atop an elephant while chanting the song across the 'galis' and 'mohallas', it is a lively track that brings alive India of the 19th century. For this short track, Kailash Kher goes completely rustic in approach and renders with full conviction. Get ready for the 'taalis' and 'seetis' in the auditoriums when this number heralds the beginning of an Aamir Khan movie after an endless wait for years.

Kailash sings two more versions of this track - 'Agni' and 'Aatma'[with Sukhwinder Singh]. The rhythm and overall musical arrangements are still the same [with 'Aatma' being a slower version] but the lyrics are different. With the look of things one assumes that all these three versions would be picturised on the same set of men atop an elephant at different situations in the movie, hence taking the story forward.

In the first ever 'mujra' of her career, Rani Mukherjee appears in 'Main Vari Vari', a highly rhythmic track that is easy on ears and extremely foot tapping. Set as a 'private mujra' for the Englishmen during their rule, it is sung by Kavita Krishnamurthy and Reena Bharadwaj. Kavita, who is heard lesser and lesser these years, is good yet again in this 'mujra' that is choreographed more as a mischievous track rather than a class appealing one, a la 'Umrao Jaan'. Tantalizing and inviting, this track brings to screen yet another facet of Rani Mukherjee!

The opening music of 'Holi Re' appears to be an amalgamation of the base rhythm from the title songs of Rehman's own 'Daud' and Shankar Ehsaan Loy's 'Bunty Aur Babli'. Since the base color of the movie is 'yellow', the holi in this track too primarily revolves around the yellow color, unlike more traditional red and green. The song is picturised well but it doesn't appear to be of the kind that would add on to the list of most memorable holi tracks ever churned in Bollywood. Udit Narayan, Madhushree, Srinivas and Chinmaye sing the number with Aamir Khan too chipping in a little intermittently.

An item song set in the 19th century! Well don't be surprised as this is what you get in 'Rasiya', a song of 'seduction, love and wait' choreographed as a 'banjara' song on two women who leave nothing to imagination. Richa Sharma and Bonnie Chakraborty render this medium paced number that also has passing shots of passion getting ignited between Toby Stephens and Amisha Patel while Rani Mukerjee is shown dancing and falling all out in love in her own private world. All this while Aamir Khan looks on the dance while letting his hair down and joining the proceedings towards the end. Surprisingly, it is one of the most lukewarm tracks ever by Rehman as it neither excites, nor titillates with the visuals too being just about passable.

This world is a 'bazaar' where you have everything for a 'price'. This is the theme of the philosophical track 'Takey Takey', a brilliantly written song by Javed Akhtar saab that is sung with a punch by Sukhwinder Singh. There is an emphasis on the terms 'Takey Takey' throughout the song hence emphasizing on the fact that everything from friends to honesty to righteous virtues are available for just a 'taka'! Kailash Kher and Kartick Das Baul join in this rhythmic fast paced number set in the outdoors, but it is Sukhwinder who walks away with all the honors.

A.R.Rehman, Kailash Kher, Murtaza and Kadir get together for 'Al Maddath Maula', a situational track set in a mosque. While the track is on, Aamir Khan along with some other characters are shown exchanging glances with each other as if preparing to execute a plan. In the movie's narrative, it may sound exciting but as a standalone devotional track, it is hardly of a kind that one would want to play repeatedly either at home or on drive.

A different album by all means due to the demand of the subject, it obviously didn't require any love songs or any other typical situations that form the basis for a Bollywood music album. 'Main Vari Vari' is the only track that caters to all segments of audiences and hence succeeds the most. 'Takey Takey' is another track that could get popular, mainly with children. Rest of the numbers are mainly situational tracks that should take the story forward, but do not appear exciting enough while being just played on. Effort of A.R.Rehman and Javed Akhtar saab shows in each and every note and word, but the tracks are of the kind that appeal more with the visuals.

With just about four weeks to go before the movie hits the screens, extensive promotion of the album would be required to notch up good sales figures that otherwise appear only average for now. "