Review of Yuvvraaj songs

I'm back again with the review of another A.R.Rahman's album. This time it is the yet to be released Subhash Ghai's Yuvvraaj. This is expected to be a musical, so one thing you can be rest assured is the music quality would be top notch. Ghai is one of the directors (along with Mani Ratnam and Shankar) who constantly get the best out of A.R.Rahman.

Before I begin to dissect each song, a few general comments on the album itself. Rahman, after experimenting with various types of music comes back to his forte - fusion of Indian Classical and Western classical music, using the piano, violins, cello extensively in most of the songs. As for the singers, most of them are established. Not many new voices to look forward to, which is a bit of a dissapointment after JTYJN. And being a musical you can expect most of the songs to be exceeding the 5 min timeline. I was really not that impressed with the lyrics of the songs. Its definitely not even near the levels set by Gulzar saab. This might partly be attributed for the fact that there is intertwining with english lyrics written by different people.

Track Listing

01. Yuvvraaj - Main Hoon Yuvvraaj
02. Yuvvraaj - Tu Meri Dost Hain
03. Yuvvraaj - Shano Shano
04. Yuvvraaj - Tu Muskura
05. Yuvvraaj - Mastam Mastam
06. Yuvvraaj - Zindagi
07. Yuvvraaj - Dil Ka Rishta
08. Yuvvraaj - Manmohini Morey
09. Yuvvraaj - Shano Remix

The first track is by itself disappointing. Please dont judge the album by this track. It starts with Salman Khan (protagonist) introducing his character. Although he makes no attempt at singing, he still manages not to deliver the message and is as usual very confusing.

The next song Tu Meri Dost Hain is performed by Benny Dayal and Shreya Ghoshal. It is melodious from the word go. This was the song used for the promos, so the producers think that this is the most catchy song in the album. And they are dead right. It grabs your attention immediately, all the while being very simple. Benny Dayal starts of the song and Shreya completes it in a amazing way. Although Shreya is currently my favourite female singer, the way she intentionally takes deep breaths while singing is getting a bit irritating lately. In the end, its just an excellent song!

The next track is Shano Shano. Sung by Sonu, Srinivas, Karthik, Timmy, Sunaina, Vivienne Pocha & Tina. Its a real surprise. I never expected this kind of a song in a Ghai musical. The song starts with a discotheque music, and english rap. It feels weired for the first time. To be honest I skipped this track the first time I listend to it. Especially when I listened to the weired voice in the middle. A second hearing will make it bearable. Not a great song. But I think it is more of a situational song. I'm not sure how this song will fit in the film.

The next track is Tu Muskura. Sung by Alka and Javed Ali. It is one of those melodious situational songs, accompanied by excellent instrumentals. The song starts off well with Alka easing us into the song. This is the kind of song that goes well with both romantic and sad situations. It is really not that evident that it is the duet till the last minute of the song, when Javed Ali really comes alive with the swaras, which is used extensively in most of the songs.

The next song is Mastam Mastam. Performed by Alka and Sonu, its a soft romantic number. Its a typical Rahman melody. When you hear this song, you kind of get the feeling that you have heard similar tunes before. The claps and the percussions are very much tried and tested formula. But it still works and works really well.

The next song is Zindagi. Performed by Srinivas who is one of the main singers for Rahman in Tamil. As a keen listener of Tamil songs, I have to admit that this is a typical Srinivas song. Very melodious. But something makes me feel that Hariharn would have been the right choice for this song. It sometimes feels that Srinivas is trying too hard to make it more impressive than he should have. But the quality of the song is very good. The song although initially very slow, picks up after a minute with the beats.

The next song in the album is Dil Ka Rishta. One word for it. Awesome. It starts with just the piano. The music has a eerie feeling to it in the beginning. But once the drums starts, the pace picks up dramatically. The voice of Sonu Nigam is as ever refreshing. The lyrics easily blends the hindi and english pieces. The swara in the middle of the song is trademark Rahman. It reminds me of the music of 'Bombay'. This is also happens to be the lengthiest song of the album. And also my favourite song!

The next song is Manmohini Morey. This song is performed by Vijay Prakash. Some might not recognize him. He has sung in Tamil and Telugu, also in lot of Hindi films like Swadesh and Lakshya. Even as the song starts, it puts you in a comfort zone. It has all the touches of a perfect Indian Classical song. Again the swara in the middle is super.


It is a very good album. This is what I expected of a Subhash Ghai - Rahman musical. But while it is very good, what it lacks is a killer song to make it ranked among the best. And also couple of mediocre songs pull the album down. But kudos to Rahman for pleasing our ear again!