Raavan (soundtrack)
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''Raavan'' is the soundtrack composed by
A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967), also known by the initialism ARR, is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and philanthropist known for his works in Indian cinem ...
, who accompanied for the music and background score for the 2010 Hindi film of the same name, directed by
Mani Ratnam Gopalaratnam Subramaniam (born 2 June 1956), known professionally as Mani Ratnam, is an Indian film director, film producer and screenwriter who predominantly works in Tamil cinema and a few Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. H ...
. It stars Vikram,
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (; Rai; born 1 November 1973) is an Indian actress who is primarily known for her work in Hindi and Tamil language, Tamil films. Rai won the Miss World 1994 pageant and later established herself as one of the most-popu ...
, Abhishek Bacchan in the lead roles. In Tamil Version
Prithviraj Sukumaran Prithviraj Sukumaran (Help:IPA/Malayalam, /pr̩t̪ʰʋiɾaːd͡ʒ/; born 16 October 1982) is an Indian actor, producer, director, and playback singer who primarily works in Malayalam cinema, in addition to Tamil cinema, Tamil, Bollywood, Hin ...
reprise Vikram's role. It was released on 9 May 2010, by the label
T-Series T series or T-Series may refer to: Technology * Apple T series, a family of processors * Canon T series, a line of single lens reflex cameras * Juniper T series, a core router * Sony Ericsson T series, a series of cell phones * SPARC T series, ...
. The soundtrack features six songs, with four additional tracks included in the film were released later; the lyrics being penned by
Gulzar Gulzar (born Sampooran Singh Kalra; 18 August 1934) is an Indian Urdu poetry, Urdu poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, and film director known for his works in Hindi cinema. He is regarded as one of greatest Urdu poets of this era. He starte ...
. The same soundtrack was used for the Tamil version of the film, titled '' Raavanan'' as well as the Telugu dubbed version, titled ''Villain''.


Development

The soundtrack is especially noted for the use of rich instruments, Indian as well as Middle Eastern. Several new singers are introduced through this film. Rahman as usual, brought some experimental tracks like "Beera Beera" and "Thok De Killi". There is a
folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...
"Kata Kata", a kind of
Sufi Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...
song "Ranjha Ranjha" as well as melodies like "Behene De" and "Khilli Re" in the soundtrack. The choreography of the songs by Ganesh Acharya, Brinda,
Shobhana Shobana Chandrakumar Pillai (born 21 March 1970); known mononymously as Shobana, is an Indian actress and Bharatanatyam dancer, who works predominantly in Malayalam films, in addition to Tamil language, Tamil, Telugu language, Telugu, Hindi lan ...
and
Astad Deboo Astad Deboo (13 July 194710 December 2020) was an Indian contemporary dancer and choreographer. He was considered a pioneer of modern dance in India. Through his career he collaborated with artists including Pina Bausch, Alison Becker Chase an ...
is also considered the highlight of the songs. The album kicks off with "Beera Beera", that was premiered on the official teaser of the film. It was sung by
Vijay Prakash Vijay Prakash (born 21 February 1976) is an Indian Playback singer and Music director from Karnataka. He has given his voice for predominantly Kannada, Tamil, and Telugu language films, in addition to Hindi, Malayalam and Marathi language ...
and it begins with an African chant that was sung by Mustafa Kutoane. It describes the lead character played by
Abhishek Bachchan Abhishek Bachchan (; born 5 February 1976) is an Indian actor and film producer known for his work in Hindi films. Part of the Bachchan family, he is the son of actors Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan. From 2012 to 2016, Bachchan appeared in ...
. This track was picturised on the introduction scene of Bachchan. The African chant explains the wild character of him. The song continues throughout the opening credits. "Behene De", sung by Karthik and Mohammed Irfan was regarded as the highlight of the album by many reviewers. The song, which takes many fascinating turns mid way, was the first completely picturised song in the film. Its shot on the beauties of Athirapally waterfalls in
Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...
and features Abhishek Bachchan and
Aishwarya Rai Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (; Rai; born 1 November 1973) is an Indian actress who is primarily known for her work in Hindi and Tamil language, Tamil films. Rai won the Miss World 1994 pageant and later established herself as one of the most-popu ...
. The song is widely regarded as the biggest song in Karthik's musical career. He recorded the song in 2009 October from Rahman's Chennai studio and has performed it live in many programmes. The next track "Thok De Killi" is sung by one of Rahman's most trusted singers
Sukhwinder Singh Sukhwinder Singh (born 18 July 1971) is an Indian playback singer who primarily sings Bollywood songs. He sang " Jai Ho" in the film '' Slumdog Millionaire'', for which he won a Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Televisi ...
and is a fast and peppy number.
Guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...
is the major instrument used and it ends in a frenzy and uses Arabic esque phrases here and there. The song is picturised as a war dance by Abhishek Bachchan and his gang (consisting of
Ravi Kishan Ravindra Kishan Shukla (born 17 July 1969), popularly known as Ravi Kishan, is an Indian actor, politician, film producer and television personality. He currently serves as Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Gorakhpur. He received a ''Sansad ...
, Ajay Gehi etc.). Aishwarya Rai is also featured in the music video, as watching Beera dance from a distance. "Ranjha Ranjha" is a kind of
Sufi Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...
song, with a little folk instrumentation and is sung by
Javed Ali Javed Ali is an Indian playback singer who predominantly sings in Hindi. He has also sung in various Indian languages including Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Gujarati, Marathi, Odia, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. Early life Javed Ali was born as ...
and
Rekha Bhardwaj Rekha Bhardwaj is an Indian singer and live performer. She has received two Filmfare and one National Awards. In addition to Hindi, she has also sung in Bengali, Marathi, Punjabi and Malayalam languages. Personal life Bhardwaj was born ...
, who is noted for the rendering of another folk song " Genda Phool" from
Delhi-6 ''Delhi-6'' is a 2009 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Rakesh Omprakash Mehra. The film stars Abhishek Bachchan as an NRI who arrives in India with his ailing grandmother (played by Waheeda Rehman) and begins discovering his roots ...
by Rahman. The lyrics of the opening lines of the song is adapted from Sufi Saint and Poet Baba
Bulleh Shah Sayyid Abdullāh Shāh Qādrī (; ), popularly known as Baba Bulleh Shah and vocatively as Bulleya, was a Punjabi revolutionary philosopher, reformer and Chishti Sufi poet, regarded the 'Father of Punjabi Enlightenment'; and one of the g ...
's "Ranjha Ranjha Kardi". The song is used in the background of the movie only. "Khili Re" is a romantic song and is sung by
Reena Bhardwaj Reena Bhardwaj is a British singer, songwriter and recording artist best known for her collaborations with A. R. Rahman and Nitin Sawhney. Versatile to genre and language, her repertoire includes a variety of Indian Traditional, Bollywood, Wor ...
, who was replaced by
Shreya Ghoshal Shreya Ghoshal (; born 12 March 1984) is an Indian singer. Noted for her wide vocal range and versatility, she is one of the most prolific and influential singers of India. Often referred to as the "Queen of Dynamics'' for her remarkable voc ...
in the Tamil version. Its instrumentation is based on
flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...
and
sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in 19th-century India. Khusrau K ...
. Picturised on Aishwarya Rai and Vikram from
Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...
, the
alap The Alap (; ) is the opening section of a typical North Indian classical performance. It is a form of melodic improvisation that introduces and develops a raga. In dhrupad singing the alap is unmetered, improvised (within the raga) and unaccomp ...
portion of this song features a classical dance performance by Aishwarya Rai. The song was choreographed by well known actress and dancer
Shobhana Shobana Chandrakumar Pillai (born 21 March 1970); known mononymously as Shobana, is an Indian actress and Bharatanatyam dancer, who works predominantly in Malayalam films, in addition to Tamil language, Tamil, Telugu language, Telugu, Hindi lan ...
. "Kata Kata" is a situational song that is rich in
percussions A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...
and was shot as a wedding song. The song was based on traditional
Indian music Owing to India's vastness and diversity, Indian music encompasses numerous genres in multiple varieties and forms which include classical music, folk, rock, and pop. It has a history spanning several millennia and developed over several ...
and
Middle Eastern music The various nations of the region include the Arabic-speaking countries of the Middle East, the Iranian traditions of Persia, the Jewish music of Israel and the diaspora, Kurdish music, Armenian music. Azeri Music, the varied traditions of Cyp ...
, and had
oud The oud ( ; , ) is a Middle Eastern short-neck lute-type, pear-shaped, fretless stringed instrument (a chordophone in the Hornbostel–Sachs classification of instruments), usually with 11 strings grouped in six courses, but some models have ...
and
shehnai The ''shehnai'' is a type of oboe from the Indian subcontinent. It is made of wood, with a double reed at one end and a metal or wooden flared bell at the other end. It was one of the nine instruments found in the royal court. The shehnai is sim ...
are used in the interludes. This song was shot with 1000 dancers in
Orchha Orchha is a town, near the city of Niwari in the Niwari district of Madhya Pradesh state, India. The town was established by a Bundela Rajput ruler Rudra Pratap Singh some time after 1501, as the seat of an eponymous former princely state ...
, Madhya Pradesh. "A huge set was created in Orchha to shoot this song which took four days to wrap up and has been choreographed by Ganesh Acharya," says a Unit hand. This song may seem a little similar in picturisation and mood to "Rukmani Rukmani" (from Roja), both being wedding songs involving a group of singers, but if "Rukmani Rukmani" was a mischievous set-up for the nuptial night, this one's sung like a warning, but with equal amount of revelry and fanfare. "Kata Kata" is reportedly the most lavish song that
Mani Ratnam Gopalaratnam Subramaniam (born 2 June 1956), known professionally as Mani Ratnam, is an Indian film director, film producer and screenwriter who predominantly works in Tamil cinema and a few Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. H ...
has ever shot in his career. The only full song out of the four additional tracks "Jaare Ud Jaare" was performed by Rahman. According to Rahman, "The song was a very last minute addition. I saw the movie and felt like adding a song to a particular situation in the film. The lyrics of the song were ready for a while however I had to yet compose the tune." It was composed and recorded by Rahman in his Mumbai studio within a few hours. The song starts in the movie during the acclaimed climax scene of the movie and continues throughout the end-credits.


Release

As ''Raavan'' became a major anticipated project, following the success of Rahman's previous album, several false rumours about the soundtrack of the film were disseminated to websites and magazines. Many songs claimed to be songs from Raavan, like "Pairon Pe Jannat Hain", "Kaadhale" etc. and another set of fake track lists were spread through internet. The audio release was scheduled in March 2010, but since the release date of the film was changed, the audio release was changed to April last week. The track list was officially published on 3 May 2010 and the music was launched officially on 7 May 2010 by
Aishwarya Rai Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (; Rai; born 1 November 1973) is an Indian actress who is primarily known for her work in Hindi and Tamil language, Tamil films. Rai won the Miss World 1994 pageant and later established herself as one of the most-popu ...
and
Abhishek Bachchan Abhishek Bachchan (; born 5 February 1976) is an Indian actor and film producer known for his work in Hindi films. Part of the Bachchan family, he is the son of actors Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan. From 2012 to 2016, Bachchan appeared in ...
. However, CDs were available in some stores on 6 May 2010 itself. The soundtrack features 6 songs composed by A. R. Rahman with lyrics penned by Gulzar. During the audio release, an additional track was performed by Rahman, titled "Jaare Ud Jaare", which was not included in the CD. The song was cited to be an "instant composition" by Rahman, "The night before the launch, Rahman closeted himself in his Mumbai studio and worked through the night to compose the song", the source adds. This song is believed to be included in the later stages. The soundtrack also features three more additional songs that were featured in the movie. However the official track list has only 6 songs.


Reception

The soundtrack for the movie has received positive reviews, with most reviewers hailing the album to be one of Rahman's best recent works. ''
The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...
'' said, "Raavan is further proof that A.R. Rahman always saves some of his best stuff for old friend Mani Ratnam. There's no escaping Raavan. Or Rahman. They will get you." According to ''
The Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...
'', Raavan is an interesting audio track, although Rahman's earlier associations with Mani Ratnam remain unforgettable. A review on ''
Bollywood Hungama Bollywood Hungama (lit. "Bollywood Madness" in Hindi), previously known as IndiaFM (or IndiaFM.com), is an Indian entertainment website, owned by Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, which acquired the website in 2000. The website provides n ...
'' said, "There are number of gems in the album, most notably being "Ranjha Ranjha", "Beera Beera" and "Thok De Killi". Go for it, this one is not to be missed as it has Rahman coming up with one of his best soundtracks in recent times." A review by the ''
Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media Limited, an entity controlled by the Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia, the daughter o ...
'' said, The trio (Rahman, Gulzar and Mani) has brought out a lethal combination presenting a soundtrack that is fresh, high on energy and in tune with the soul of the movie. According to ''
Rediff Rediff.com, stylized as rediff.com, is an Indian news, information, entertainment, and shopping website. Founded by Ajit Balakrishnan in 1996, it was the first Indian website to become a mainstream news media organization. It is headquartered i ...
'''s Sukanya Verma, "
A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967), also known by the initialism ARR, is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and philanthropist known for his works in Indian cinem ...
stays true to the element of Ratnam's vision as there's never any attempt to show off or introduce unnecessary elements. The outcome is exquisite. Or should I say expected." A review by ''
NDTV New Delhi Television Ltd is an Indian news media company focusing on broadcast and digital news publication. It was founded in 1984 by economist Prannoy Roy and journalist Radhika Roy. NDTV began as a production house for news segments, ...
'' said, "The album is a musical treat and impresses thoroughly. When Rahman teams up with Gulzar and Mani Ratnam, the result is pure magic."


Track listing


Hindi version

Additional tracks


Album credits

Credits adapted from A. R. Rahman's official website.


Personnel

Instruments *
Guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...
-
P. A. Deepak P.A.Deepak (Adrushta Deepak Pallikonda) is a mix engineer and record producer. He is the winner of two Grammy Awards and a Grammy Certificate of Honor, including the 2010 Grammy Award for the " Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media" fo ...
*
Flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...
- Naveen Kumar *
Sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in 19th-century India. Khusrau K ...
- Asad Khan *
Oud The oud ( ; , ) is a Middle Eastern short-neck lute-type, pear-shaped, fretless stringed instrument (a chordophone in the Hornbostel–Sachs classification of instruments), usually with 11 strings grouped in six courses, but some models have ...
- Seenu, P. A. Deepak *
Shehnai The ''shehnai'' is a type of oboe from the Indian subcontinent. It is made of wood, with a double reed at one end and a metal or wooden flared bell at the other end. It was one of the nine instruments found in the royal court. The shehnai is sim ...
-
S. Ballesh Pandit S. Ballesh Bhajantri (born Ballappa Sanna Bharamappa Bhajantri) is a popular Indian classical Hindustani shehnai player. He is a disciple of shehnai player Ustad Bismillah Khan, he is benares gharana shehnai player and a patiala ghara ...
, Krishna Ballesh *
Nadaswaram The ''nadaswaram'' is a double reed wind instrument from South India. It is used as a traditional classical instrument in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Kerala and in the northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka. This i ...
- Natarajan *
Percussions A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...
- T. Raja, Kumar, Vedachalam, Neelakandan, Lakshminarayanan, Chinna Prasad *
Strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...
- Chennai Strings Orchestra (conducted by V.J. Srinivasamurthy) Backing vocals Dr. Narayanan,
Naresh Iyer Naresh Iyer (born 3 January 1981) is an Indian playback singer. Born in Mumbai, Iyer is fluent in Tamil, Hindi and Marathi. Naresh Iyer has rendered 2000 film songs in several Indian languages and has several chart hits to his credit. His r ...
, M. Kuldeep,
Swetha Mohan Shweta Mohan (born 19 November 1985) is an Indian playback singer. She has recorded songs for films and albums in all the four south Indian cinema namely Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada, besides few Hindi films and has established hersel ...
, Gopika Purnima, Subhiksha, Sri Madhumita,
SuVi Suvi, Şuvi or Shuvi may refer to: *Şuvi, Astara, a village and municipality in Azerbaijan * Şovu, a village and municipality in Azerbaijan * Suvi River, a river in western India * ''Suvi'' (novel), a novel by Oskar Luts ** ''Summer'' (1976 film) ...
, Mili Nair,
Suzanne D'Mello Suzanne D'Mello, formerly known as Suzie Q, is an Indian playback singer of Bollywood films and other regional films. She also has voiced jingles for television advertisements. Career Over the years, Suzanne has worked with several music direc ...
, Sujatha Majumdar, Nikitha Nigam, Dilshad Shaikh, R. N. Iyer, Arun Ingle, Chintamani Sohoni, Gowtham Bharadwaj Additional vocal supervisor Srinivas Doraisamy


Sound Engineers

Panchathan Record Inn, Chennai - T. R. Krishna Chetan, Hentry Kuruvilla, Vivianne Chaix, Suresh Perumal, Srinidhi Venkatesh, P. A. Deepak AM Studios, Chennai - S. Sivakumar, Kannan Ganpat, Pradeep


Production

* Mixed by - P. A. Deepak, K.J. Singh * Mastered by - S. Sivakumar * Music Production Assistant - T. R. Krishna Chetan * Additional Programming - T. R. Krishna Chetan, P. A. Deepak, Hentry Kuruvilla, Ranjith Barot * Musician's co-ordinator - Noell James, T. M. Faizuddin * Musicians fixer - N. Samidurai


References

{{Authority control A. R. Rahman soundtracks Hindi film soundtracks 2010 soundtrack albums T-Series (company) soundtracks