Ekk Deewana Tha- a lyrical failure

When Vinnaithaandi Varuvaya's music released, I was so convinced that it was the best of A. R. Rahman's works. It is when Ekk Deewana Tha released that I understood that how much Thaamarai had a hand in making the album a major success. Goutham Menon might have made the right choice in roping in Javed Akhtar to pen the lyrics for those wonderful tunes but the end product just seems far too ordinary for the combination of the two greats. Almost all the tunes have been retained with just the one new track "Kya Hai Mohabbat". Without anymore rants let's dive into the review.

Kya Hai Mohabbat is a wonderful jazz number, a genre in which Rahman has carved a niche for himself. Though this cannot be placed alongside Vennila Vennila from Iruvar or even Tu Bole from JTYJN, it satisfies in many respects. Maybe it's the other songs in the album the lyrics seem to fit in perfectly in the musical phrases. Rahman has taken a beautiful tune to the next level with his crooning. All in all a wonderful track.

Sharminda Hoon is a very soulful song rendered by Rahman and Madhushree. Few singers have the voice that adds magic to a song and Madhushree is certainly one of them. The tune has a certain southern touch to it. A very typical Rahman tamil song would have all these elements. What brings the song down is the lyics which are lost in transliteration. One starts to wonder if it is a man who has Hindi/Urdu as his first language who wrote the lyrics. Mannipaaya is one of those songs in Tamil which had lyrics that made you think of the days when lyrics were actually given importance. A wonderful track is undone by some jaded words.

Phoolon Jaisi is a song where Rahman had put all his Carnatic prowess to use. The melody itself is very complicated and it grows on you as you listen to it, very typical of Rahman's songs. The nadhaswaram is one of those instruments that Rahman puts to use absolutely wonderfully. The background nadhaswaram in this song just sticks to your head. Clinton Cerejo has done a half decent job in rendering this lovely number. The lyrics again let the song down miserably.

Aaromale over the months has acquired a cult status in the south. The song has elements of Psychedelic Rock and classical Carnatic music fused to yield a hybrid. The guitars and violin create a scintillating musical experience for the listener. This is another song which grows on you. When I first heard Aaromale, I could actually feel being in a boat on the backwaters of Aleppey. The song in Ekk Deewana Tha is sadly a weak remake of a classic. No prizes for guessing the culprit. The song should not have been touched at all. It had a typical Malayali sensibility to it. The lyrics even though I could not understand were musical in Malayalam. In his want to recreate a classic, Javed Akhtar produces a very very bizarre lyric. Remember folks, this is the man who produced classics like Ek Ladki Ko from 1942 a love story and Kathai Aankhon Waali from Duplicate.

Hosanna is the usp of the album. Undoubtedly one of Rahman's masterpieces. This song again has gained cult status in the south. The melody and the orchestration of the song is a lesson to all budding music composers, in fact many prominent music composers can take a lesson or two from this song. The singer Leon D'Souza I think is a find. The guy does an amazing job in recreating this classic. Vijay Prakash had set the bar very high and Leon D'Souza does not disappoint. Javed Akhtar here does a decent job. Even with not so good lyrics this song will stand out in the charts for sure.

Dost Hai is the worst track of the album. This is not due to the lyrics. It is the over experimentation of A.R. Rahman that has made this song go all bad. Who would have thought that Kannukkul Kannai would undergo such torture at the hands of the master himself? The bad rapping and varied noises (not music) make this song a real torture for the listener. It is like a plastic surgery gone awry. The song is definitely not making it to my playlist atleast.

Sun Lo Zara is the dark horse in the album. The tune is catchy and the lyrics not bad at all. The Nadhaswaram piece of Anbil Avan has been cleverly converted to Shehnai. The Tavil and Mridangam give it away though. The choice of singers is not bad. Rashid Ali and Shreya Ghoshal render this song with utmost ease. Although Rashid Ali lacks the peppiness of Devan Ekambaram, he does not mess up the song.

Last but not the least, Zohrajabeen has all the elements of a classic. The tamil version never took off the way it should have. I think it has a lot of complicated music elements a lay person might not appreciate. For one, the song is void of rhythm. There are ebbs and flows in the course of the song. It is a beautiful number which has never been appreciated enough. I hope it makes it in the Hindi front atleast.

The few instrumental pieces in the album are basically the recreations of the original bgm of VTV, hence are good on the ears. Goutham Menon should have insisted on completely new lyrics for the songs. He went for the translation which always is not the safe option. Javed Akhtar is a stalwart and he has failed miserably with his lyrics. The album as such has some amazing music and some shoddy lyrical work bringing it down. 5 on 10 is my verdict.