Music Review: Ekk Deewana Tha
Ekk Deewana Tha — the official Hindi remake of the 2010 Tamil-Telugu bilingual romance drama, Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa/ Ye Maaya Chesave — finds A. R. Rahman retaining most of the tunes from the original. After all, why fix something that isn't broken?
Hosanna is the same balmy, bouncy melody, while Clinton Cerejo is no match for Benny Dayal in Phoolon Jaisi (Omana Penne). Dost Hai (Girl I Loved You) incorporates just the violin bit and a small portion from Kannukkul Kannai but the track's all-round hip-hop makeover is more jarring than pleasing to the ears. Kya Hai Mohabbat sung by Rahman himself sees brilliant lyrical play, but tune-wise, passable just about sums it up.
Sharminda Hoon (Mannipaaya, no guesses there!) is screamingly schmaltzy and Madhushree's excessively sweet vocals doesn't seem to help the song either. Sunlo Zara (Anbil Avan) features energetic singing from Rashid Ali, Shreya Ghoshal and Timmy, and even in the arrangements Rahman swaps the Nadaswaram for Shehnai in the first interlude, lending it a fresh flavour over the archetype.
Jessie's Land (Megha) breaks into a hum that blends bits of Hosanna and Sharminda Hoon, Jessie's Driving Me Crazy (Sanjeev Thomas and Timmy) rides on a rock base that aptly conveys the feeling of feeling in love, and Moments in Kerala makes for a wonderful play of instruments and is a haunting listen.
Saving the best for the last, Zohra-Jabeen (the title track in Tamil) rendered beautifully by Javed Ali is as good as it gets, and Aromale (My Beloved), in two versions sung by Alphonse Joseph and Shreya Ghoshal respectively, leaves you spellbound with its predominant guitar strums, with Ghoshal scoring big time over a lovely strings-laden soundbed that's captivating. A. R. Rahman has an easy time adapting the songs to the Bollywood context, but with mixed results.
Hosanna is the same balmy, bouncy melody, while Clinton Cerejo is no match for Benny Dayal in Phoolon Jaisi (Omana Penne). Dost Hai (Girl I Loved You) incorporates just the violin bit and a small portion from Kannukkul Kannai but the track's all-round hip-hop makeover is more jarring than pleasing to the ears. Kya Hai Mohabbat sung by Rahman himself sees brilliant lyrical play, but tune-wise, passable just about sums it up.
Sharminda Hoon (Mannipaaya, no guesses there!) is screamingly schmaltzy and Madhushree's excessively sweet vocals doesn't seem to help the song either. Sunlo Zara (Anbil Avan) features energetic singing from Rashid Ali, Shreya Ghoshal and Timmy, and even in the arrangements Rahman swaps the Nadaswaram for Shehnai in the first interlude, lending it a fresh flavour over the archetype.
Jessie's Land (Megha) breaks into a hum that blends bits of Hosanna and Sharminda Hoon, Jessie's Driving Me Crazy (Sanjeev Thomas and Timmy) rides on a rock base that aptly conveys the feeling of feeling in love, and Moments in Kerala makes for a wonderful play of instruments and is a haunting listen.
Saving the best for the last, Zohra-Jabeen (the title track in Tamil) rendered beautifully by Javed Ali is as good as it gets, and Aromale (My Beloved), in two versions sung by Alphonse Joseph and Shreya Ghoshal respectively, leaves you spellbound with its predominant guitar strums, with Ghoshal scoring big time over a lovely strings-laden soundbed that's captivating. A. R. Rahman has an easy time adapting the songs to the Bollywood context, but with mixed results.