Rann Music Review

EXPECTATIONS
From the man who gave us a quintessential musical in the form of Rangeela a decade and a half back, it is surprising to see that none of his recent releases (with an exception of Darling) have attempted to tell a musical tale in a conventional mainstream setup. This is why theme/situational track is all that one expects from the music of Rann which comes from the house of Ram Gopal Varma. An array of composers - Dharmaraj Bhatt, Sandeep Patil, Jayesh Gandhi, Bapi-Tutul, Sanjeev Kohli, Imran-Vikram and Amar Mohile come together to get the soundtrack of Rann in place.

MUSIC
It is interesting to hear the way 'Sikkon Ki Bhook' begins with anchors reading out news headlines. Soon after, the song begins in its conventional sense with the sound of 'Rann Hai' being heard prominently in the background. Vardan Singh, Aditi Paul and Shadab Fardi come together for this Vayu written song which also has the theme of 'Vande Mataram' making an appearance after a while. Though the song may well have been titled 'Vande Mataram', it appears that 'Sikkon Ki Bhook' is the chosen one for this Dharmaraj Bhatt and Sandeep Patil composed track to avoid any controversy.

'Remote Ko Baahar Phek' begins on exactly the same manner as 'Sikkon Ki Bhook' with screaming headlines catching your attention. It's time for a rhythmic outing soon after with Jayesh Gandhi composing and singing the track in a manner similar to what one had heard in 'Jagdi Jagdi Jaa' from Ramu's own Shiva. It takes time to warm up to this spoofy track which is laced with wit, courtesy it's lyrics by Sarim Momin that make a scathing remark on the way news is projected and at times created. Abhishek Nailwal as well as Rajpal Yadav join Jayesh in this song which may make a brief appearance in the narrative of Rann.

Bapi-Tutul's 'Kaanch Ke Jaise' is a better track to make an appearance as it takes a pensive route and narrates the tale of shattered principles of the central protagonist played by Amitabh Bachchan. Sukhwinder Singh is quite impressive in the way he pitches his voice for this yet another track written by Sarim Momin. Moving at a slow pace, this track should help the viewer glued on to screen with visuals aiding in bringing alive a crucial turn in the film's narrative.

Sanjeev Kohli composes and sings another title song which has it's thump reserved for the key words - 'Rann Hai'. Yet again, it's Sarim Momin's lyrics that make a good impression in bringing to life the pathos of media being akin to a battlefield. As predicted earlier, Rann is made of mostly background tracks that should appear in bits and pieces and a song like 'Rann Hai' pretty much validates that.

It's the sound of Doordarshan anthem which marks a beginning to 'Gali Gali Mein' (which also appears in a 'remix version' designed for a club outing) that soon changes dimension and turns into a Western outing. Written by Sandip Singh, one gets a hint of cuss words that are beeped out in this yet another scathing comment about the current affairs of our country, corruption, politics and media ethics. Sung by Jojo and Earl D'souza who go full throated for this Imran-Vikram created composition, this one should bring on the smiles in theatres, courtesy its colourful lyrics.

Bapi-Tutul have another song to their credit in the form of 'Besharam' which, just like most of the album, has an anthem feel to it and is sung by Abhishek Nailwal. This Prashant Pandey written track challenges the presence of ugly elements in the society and how they have reached the point of no turn with no hopes of any redemption whatsoever. Surprisingly, there is an 'instrumental' version of the song that follows next.

Lastly comes Kunal Ganjawala sung 'Mera Bharat Mahan' which carries on the elements as prevalent in all the songs preceding it and yet another gets into a challenging mode. Composed by Amar Mohile and written by Sarim Momin, this could well be one of the more commercially viable songs in the album and could go some distance if aided by a music video.

OVERALL
As expected, Ram Gopal Varma doesn't create a music album which would lead to beelines in front of music stores. However, he gets the kind of soundtrack that should solve its purpose of facilitating the story telling of Rann.

OUR PICK(S)
Mera Bharat Mahan, Gali Gali Mein