Taare Zameen Par - Music Review

This is his first directorial debut and second movie from his production house. And he doesn't take the 'beaten to dust' path of making masala movie or a feel good entertainer, but rather he chooses a delicate subject, an area not explored so much in Bollywood, a story on the life of a dyslexic child whose world is filled with wonders that no one else seems to appreciate. Aamir Khan presents us "Taare Zameen Par" along with Amole Gupte who is also credited as the creative director and writer of the film.

We've seen quite a few movies on children off late. But most of them cater mainly to the younger generation. With this movie, I'm sure Aamir Khan would touch the hearts of both children and adults alike and would change the way adults look at children. Being a sensitive and touching subject, there can be only 2 names coming to mind as Music Directors who can do full justice to the theme - AR Rahman and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. I believe Aamir approached AR Rahman to score the music, but eventually it was handed over to SEL due to reasons unknown ( Source : Wikipedia ). And SEL amaze us by giving an album which would remain a special one in their musical career. Before I started listening to the album I didn't what kind of songs to expect. I knew it would be about children, but how can a full album comprising 8 songs be only on children was the question on my mind. And thats where SEL, Prasoon Joshi ( Aamir's current favorite lyricist ), Amole Gupte and Aamir Khan completely surprise us by talking about almost everything pertaining to the Child's World in these 8 songs.

Taare Zameen Par - All about Children and their behavior
With a lilting sweet tune starts the title track. And what follows is a blend of beautiful poetry, Shankar's heart-warming rendition and SEL's impeccable music. If you think the Mukhda is great, then wait till the Antara portion starts. SEL take this song to a totally new level infusing sitar and tabla with piano and vocals making it a spellbinding song. Prasoon joshi mesmerizes with his poetic charm and similies throughout the song. While listening to it one can feel "khona jaaye hum saare zameen par".

Yeh toh hai sardi mein Dhoop ki kirane
Uthre jo aangan ko sunehara sa karne
Maan ke andhero ko roshan sa karde
Thiturti hatheli ki rangat badal de
Kho na jayee yeh
Taare Zameen par

Kholo Kholo - Encouragement for children
Next song starts of in an Enigma like fashion and in few seconds switches gears to a casual Guitar-led intro by Raman Mahadevan. Once again the star of this song is Prasoon with this simple yet heart-felt lyrics. Infact the lyrics not only encourage children, I felt they were pretty inspiring for me too. A song which can be listened whenever anyone is down, or at the end of a tired day. I would place it besides another amazing song belonging to similar forte "Roobaroo" from Rang De Basanti.

Kyun is kadar hairaan tu
mausam ka hai mehmaan tu
duniya sajee tere liye
khud ko zara pehchaan tu

Bum Bum Bole - Spread your wings and dream on Children
A track tailor made for children. Its got everything that kids love, fun, masti, Aamir's babble in the start, playful tune, and once again Prasoon's beautiful lyrics which entertains as well as enlightens. Sung very effectively by Shaan, this song would appeal more to kids in a large way than to adults. But hey, don't we all wanna be like kids sometimes and have some fun and masti time. So...

Khul Ke Sochein Aao
Pankh Zara Phailaao
Rang Naye Bikhrao
Chalo Chalo Chalo Chalo
Naye Khwaab Bun Le...

Jame Raho - Daily Life of children
For everyone who loved Johnny Gaddar's title track by the trio, here's another one following similar style, musically. I would call this a cool hep rock song for children. Lyrically it depicts the daily routine of kids starting with alarm clock ticking in the morning to their hardships throughout the day. This song is completely filled with very interestingly rhyming one liners. If we all thought Prasoon was at his chill-out best in "Masti ki paatshaala" with his funny lyrics " naata yei sannata hai, dekho lamboo shor hai, har dil mei bud bud kartha H2SO4 hai ",then he excels further in this one by imaginatively rekindling our childhood nightmares like heavy bags, tonics, tensions, exams, homeworks..and so on. Thank god I 'm done with my schooling :).

Ye Omlet Par Hi Jeete Hain
Ye Tonic Saare Peete Hain
Waqt Pe Sote Waqt Pe Khate
Taan Ke Seena Badhte Jate

Maa - A child's eternal companion
This is a song which is very close to my heart and I'm sure it'd be the same for many. A brilliant composition by SEL sung soulfully yet again by Shankar Mahadevan. The trio manage to beautifully intertwine music with poetry to produce a sentimental track which sends shivers through you when listening to it. The song talks about the fears and insecurities of child which he wants to share with his mother. A very touching song accompanied by simple beats arrangement and acoustic guitar giving lyrics more importance. Its a song which makes you think, smile, shed a tear or two, nostalgic.

Ghar Laut Ke Bhi Aa Naa Paoon Maa
Bhej Na Itna Door Mujkko Tu
Yaad Bhi Tujhko Aa Naa Paoon Maa
Kya Itna Bura Hoon Main Maa
Kya Itna Bura Meri Maa

Bheja Kum - The torture for a child...homeworks and tests
A situational background number, its a song or rather teacher's yelling and screaming on the poor performance of a child, most probably the main character, in his homeworks and exams. It packs in almost all of the scoldings which everyone might have got in their school days and SEL put together right set of sounds to create the desire effect. Damn, I can't forget the days when my parents were called to school because of my bad behavior. The song starts of in a similar fashion to Lucky Ali's song "Tu Kaun Hai" from Bhopal Express. Interestingly the song has 10 singers to its credit, all of them related to the movie in some way or the other.

Kya Hai Problem?
Kyun Tera Bheja Kum?
Kyun Maths Mein Ho Anda?
Kyun Roz Khate Danda?

Mera Jahan - Child's innocent universe
As the beautiful album comes to an end, Amole Gupte presents us in his own words his experience of working with children for 7 years in the penultimate song "Mera Jahan" guest composed by Shailender Bharve. Given just one song, Shailender makes sure that he delivers the best and gives us yet another soulful song in this album. The song starts of with Gleehive, the kids chorus group, reciting Amole Gupte's lyrics, later on followed by Adnan Sami's impressive rendition and Auriel Cordo along with Ananya Wadkar pitching in for chorus.

A Little Sweet, A Little Sour
A Little Close Not Too Far
All I Need, All I Need
All I Need Is To Be Free

The album ends with a beautiful Piano piece "Ishaan's theme". I know many might disagree with me on this but I feel Piano is the only instrument which can capture every aspect of human's emotions. This musical theme is a clear example of my statement. What starts of as a soothing melody later on gets to lower octaves becoming more complex and ruffled and finally ends with the same melody as the one in the start, depicting a full circle of life with happy and disturbing times.

When other actors and production houses are going and knocking almost every possible door in the name of publicity, Aamir chose to silently release this music in the residence of Shammi Kapoor. This is also the first movie in Bollywood which got a worldwide online release of its teaser trailer. I think he believes in Simplicity rather than Publicity by letting the content do the talking rather than himself. This is a great project with a lot of research behind it and looks like Aamir has poured his heart and soul into it. And Shankar Ehsaan Loy along with Prasoon Joshi have delivered a powerful and soul stirring album which surely would find a place in everyone's heart. SEL have so far had another consistent year with all of their albums turning out to be chartbusters. And what a way to sign off year 2007 with TZP. They are turning out to be another AR Rahman for the industry.

If in 2006 the most creative and brilliant music album was "Rang De Basanti" starring Aamir, in 2007 its got to be "Taare Zameen Par" once again with Aamir playing the main lead. I wish the music, the movie and the team behind it good luck and hope it achieves what it set forth for.

Every Child is Special....and so is this album..