Rfak, Arijit Singh And Atif Aslam: Romantic Ballads

I like this song, "Tum Hi Ho" from Aashiqui 2.



Tera mera rishta hai kaisa
Ek pal door gavara nahi
Tere liye har roz hain jeete
Tujhko diya mera waqt sabhi
Koi lamha mera na ho tere bina
Har saans pe naam tera...

 

With the recent surge in musical threads, I would have unscrupulously shoehorned the song into irrelevant theme. Incidentally, this thread is the lightning rod for my preferential sparks as the song not only happens to be sung by Atif but also already extensively and foremost covered.

Declaration of entwined love in [you are -I am] stock melodies is not unfamiliar in Bollywood. Just that the inventive similes in the past were amusing with the coy lovers cementing their love over radish and mango in a duet.

Main to hoon chhoraa
Tu to hai bhaam
Khet ki mooli baag ko aam​

Oldies like me may still identify romance laced in radish and mango but the finicky ears of the attentive love in youngistan deserve better comparable, more striking and intoxicating for the times. There are songs which strike you and whack you out of whatever you had been doing on hearing a burst so intense jolting you of what you are to each other in love. One such song is ...

Main Rang Sharbaton Ka
Tu Meethe Ghaat Ka Paani
Mujhe Khud Mein Ghol De Toh
Mere Yaar Baat Bann Jaani​

You hurriedly jump over from that mooli khet and plonk on the sweetness of the juicy tune. The song tends to become a sticky on the tongue and hidebound to the ears...Main Rang Sharbaton Ka ...Tu Meethe Ghaat Ka Paani. Glad again of the enabling times in which songs, not just movies, have associated wikipedia entries. On reading about the song here, discovered the jhik-jhik musical accompaniment in the song is a maraca. [Maraca , sometimes called rumba shaker, chac-chac, and various other names, is a rattle which appears in many genres of Caribbean and Latin music. It is shaken by a handle, and usually played as part of a pair.] Call it a chac-chac, but the sound in the song is definitely jhik-jhik.



When snapped out of the melody, pay attention to the visuals styled in the spirit of Antoni Gaudi's bold and colorful fixtures. Songs either endear you in sound or visual but the rare compositions which endear in both senses deserve encore and multiple mentions.



Back in India, I would have hunted for songs for their unusual or distinctive rendition. These days, I just switch on auto-play in YouTube and wait for a flickering song to wash over me to pause and inquire the song.

This particular well-crafted thread eases that task as a pointer for aesthetic in the atif- and aslam-recognized tunes. The song is one of my favorites too! The nostalgic arc from mooli khet to meetha sharbat may be tedious to follow, but the song pulsing across the colored spectrum induces such sweeping enthusiasm.

 

A distinctive sheet-flapping sound in the background attracted me to the song, despite other pleasant elements in music. Don't recognize the musical instrument at 0:57 but it heats up the music to a brass or cymbal-styled pitch.

I detest pensive songs ...I (absolutely) detest them ...but the smooth melancholy in the song has a hopeful tilt ...the voice rises to a cheerful ponder

Aa jao na, aa jao na
Aa jao itna bhi kya sochna
Aa jao na, aa jao na
Aa jao itna bhi kya sochna​

... that you almost sense a soft chuckle to erupt from that drawl but Arjit further teases you with only a beguiling throat to reconcile. Still ...I am unable to classify the song as melancholy. Beats me! Doleful songs to gratify are supposed to be annoyingly plaintive ... (arey yaar go and find someone else if she does not cede) ... many put me to early slumber ...yet this song with minimal orchestral music has an uncanny cheer that the lover isn't ceding from desperation but from care. I care enough for you to reconcile.

(How Arijit insinuates that in the voice only Arijit knows but you cannot help feeling it.)

The track listing credits Shashwat Sachdev also as the co-singer, not sure, is the (aaah) soft yodel in the background his finery. Barely piano and some synth and that metallic sheet too, the song heavily relies on just Arijit's vocals to fashion the brooding tune from being 'oh no another sad song' to 'but wait this is different' shift.

 

The Arijit Singh song in M.S. Dhoni film is Phir Kabhi.

But I am not gung-ho about that song as I like Armaan Malik's Jab Tak more. The music album intrigued me when a song in it was listed as 'redux'. I had heard of 'reprise' and 'remix' in music till then, but this 'redux' was unfamiliar to me. Searched online on the difference between 'reprise' and 'redux' in music. No two heads agreed which r-term is faithful to the original score and the other being enhanced. Even with no solid grasp of 'redux', I enjoyed the reduxed and perkier version to the original song from the same album.

Jab tak teri aanch mein
Boond boond main jal na lun
Jab tak tere saath mein
Chand tak main chal na lun
Haan mere paas tum raho
Jaane ki baat na karo
Mere sath tum raho
Jaane ki baat na karo​

A dreamy guy crooning such togetherness would instigate you to beat the wits out of your man ...'seekho, isse kuch seekho, mere sath tum raho , jaane ki baath na karo' is how you are supposed to regale me on my millionth threaten to wriggle out of your silly embrace. But you ...

Oh oh oh​

The persuasive 'oh oh oh' by Armaan in the song does not match with his mocking 'oh oh oh'.

Many songs are cute for finite reasons but the cuter songs tend to get cutish by the day on each play. You build altercations on the song. You dispute trivia of the song. You handpick certain phrases from the song to toss amongst. But above all, you create your personalized redux of the song which turns out to be the contentious ballad of your own romance tugging in Mere sath tum raho, Jaane ki baat na karo.

 

To identify a song from the milli-start of a piano key, or to slide the song edgewise in random threads is a telltale sign of how maniacal one could be about a song. I am not fervent about any other song. But this exceeds and violates all known behaviorism in me.

Kehte Hain Khuda Ne Iss Jahan Mein Sabhi Ke Liye
Kisi Na Kisi Ko Hai Banaya Har Kisi Ke Liye
Tera Milna Hai Uss Rab Ka Ishaara Maanu
Mujhko Banaya Tere Jaise Hi Kisi Ke Liye​

If calligraphy could sing that it would have sounded like this song. The lyrics are just too sensuous!

More than the percussion or the sufi-dosed words, the conviction in the song of meeting a doppelganger regardless of the askance or oddity or impossibility is charming — does not matter how deviant one is from the common notion of attraction — you would meet your match. You could be ugly or stinky or unruly or stubborn but to that some person out there you are the wondrous gasp — there he/she is!

Don't know if the message would have sounded as alluring if the words were altered or shuffled.

Kisi Na Kisi Ko Hai Banaya Har Kisi Ke Liye​

But the harmonics in that kisi stack suffuses the aspirant with emphatic credence in meeting that Raabta. (Someone is out there for everyone!)

For the first time in my life, I posted this Arijit Singh sung melody in the relevant thread.

 

Gerua has already been noted. Still I want to reiterate the song for its otherwordly cinematography and middle-earth lyrics. Since the unprecedented acclamation for Suraj hua Madham, any filmmaker would have not aspired for another of that magical recreation with Shah Rukh and Kajol but Rohit Shetty did and so we have the song Gerua.

Nikli hai dilse ye duaa
Rang de tu mohe gerua
Ranjhe ki dil se hai duaa
Rang de tu mohe gerua​

Suraj Hua was predominantly shot in Giza, Egypt. Comparisons are bound to arise. No wonder Gerua was shot a continent away from any desert in frosty Iceland to dissipate the murmurs of comparison that could emerge from similar backdrop. Knowing how covalently bonded Shah Rukh and Kajol sizzle in any video in their consistent onscreen chemistry, yet, this song not just asserts that sentiment but also brings to the fore the creativity and thoughtfulness of the crew to conjure up that reckoning between the artists.

The valleys, the caverns, beaches, the icebergs ...including a deserted plane ...fill the musical landscape with inventive and romantic tropes. The song, dense in visuals, beautifully transitions between one captivating sequence into another that the impermanence of the former is not begrudged in the following, even greater artistic shot.

Though unfair to narrow down the best of the song into just two pictures, the below scenic poses had intrigued me more than the rest.



A lot could have been meticulously orchestrated to appear natural or harnessed phenomenally to capture the natural, or a lot could have been granted of waking up at the right time and spot (ref: rainbow visual) from the deigned nature yet the hardship of the crew to film an amazing video to behold the audience for 4 minutes amidst uncertain climate with drones and installed dollies is massive -- which is retold in the making of the video linked below. I won't be surprised if the Iceland Tourism purposed this video to promote its wild landscape. Suraj Hua Madham set a hyped threshold for the next venture. Gerua not only exceeds Suraj Hua in breathtaking visuals but also thrashes the age-old dread that youthful charm cannot be reenacted. Shah Rukh and Kajol just overturned that myth!

 

Now playing in my ears... suits my mood so well...



Apna Naam Badal Doon...
Ya Tera Naam Chhupa Loon...
Ya Chhod Ke Saari Yaad Main Bairaag Utha Loon...
Bas Ek Rahe Mera Kaam Ishq...
Mera Kaam Ishq, Mera Kaam Ishq...

 

"Jo Bheji Thi Duaa" from Shanghai...



Saanson Ne Kahaan Rukh Mod Liya
Koi Raah Nazar Mein Na Aaye
Dhadkan Ne Kaha Dil Chhod Diya
Kahaan Chhode In Jismon Ne Saaye...

Yahi Baar Baar Sochta Hoon Tanha Main Yahaan…
Mere Saath Saath Chal Raha Hai Yaadon Ka Dhuaan…

Jo Bheji Thi Dua, Woh Jaake Aasmaan
Se Yun Takra Gayi, Ke Aa Gayi, Hai Laut Ke Sadaa…

 

"Judaai" from Badlapur...



Gair Sa Hua Khud Se Bhi,
Na Koi Mera
Dard Se Kar Le Chal Yaari,
Dil Ye Keh Raha
Kholun Jo Baahein…
Bas Gham Yeh Simat Rahe Hai...
Aankhon Ke Aage…
Lamhe Yeh Kyun Ghat Rahe Hai...
Jaane Kaise Koi Sehta Judaaiyaan...