Music Album Details
♪ Music by: A.R. Rahman
♪ Lyrics by: MC Heam
♪ Music Label: KM Musiq
♪ Music Released On: 2nd April 2018
♪ Movie Released On: 20th April 2018
Beyond The Clouds Album Cover
Listen to the songs: Saavn
Buy the songs: iTunes
Beyond The Clouds is a Bollywood drama film starring Ishaan Khatter, Malavika Mohanan in lead roles, and directed by Majid Majidi. The film is produced by Zee Studios. Majidi is directing a Hindi film for the first time, and he ropes in for the music, the same music composer who scored for his last Persian film, A.R. Rahman. Let’s see how the Mozart of Madras performs under the vision of such a prestigious director!
Rahman starts the album off with the two only songs with lyrics, and both of them feature some kind of mawali rap, but very stylishly done. The craziness isn’t toned down at all in Ala Re Ala; Dilshad Shabbir Shaikh MC Heam and Nikhita Gandhi doing their best to make it worthwhile. Nikhita especially, entertains with those unabashed interjections that really transport you to the humble setting of the movie. Ey Chhote Motor Chala doesn’t fare so well, thanks to some disconnect in the programming. MC Heam and Dilshad Shabbir Shaikh again, do amazing with the rap, but Rahman gives it a weird hip hop sound that doesn’t quite connect as much as the booming percussions in the previous song did.
The tradition from the lyrical songs to the instrumentals is wonderfully bridged by a song that is basically instrumental, but features Nikhita Gandhi’s humming. Beyond The Clouds is probably the most memorable instrumental track that will release this year; and Nikhita Gandhi’s soulful humming makes it all the more enjoyable. Rahman’s instrumentation is so beautiful, with the piano, taking centre stage, and the strings joining in whenever necessary. It almost feels like a live orchestra performance with Rahman on the piano. 😍 The signature tune of the song is a recurring tune throughout the album; it appears in many of the instrumentals. The last one minute of this track, though, is heaven. The track really opens up and clarinets join the vivacious strings, making it unforgettable!
The next track Son Of Mumbai is hinged around the same composition, this time too, with amazing piano and strings. The only difference is that, while the previous track took three minutes to gain pace, this one jumps right in, and is all in all much more memorable just for that reason! (If you’re the kind of person who remembers instrumentals, like I do!) The tune is given a different metre here, and it sounds happier and livelier, as opposed to the soul of the previous one. Rahman even throws in some brass towards the middle. Again, the last one minute or so is of a very feel-good nature. Wind instruments own that segment of the song.
The Game Of Life is the quintessential classical track Rahman is made to put whenever a Western director needs him, but this time since the film is set in India too, it seems more fitting. The wonderful mélange of the tablas (done oh so brilliantly) and sitar (done just as beautifully) makes you feel amazing. The short track ends before you know it, though.
Twist Of Destiny is the first mellow track we get, and is led primarily by low-octave strings. This one isn’t just as memorable compared to the others because it will definitely have an impact somewhere in the movie. Loved the harmony with the strings though! Again, the ‘Beyond The Clouds’ theme features here, but this time it is in a sombre mode.
The Gift makes things happy-go-lucky again, with Rahman’s amazingly placed flute playing the ‘Beyond The Clouds’ theme in its n’th variant. The high pitched flute that pitches in towards the middle stole my heart. Again, like all great things, it ends too soon.
The Family Comes Home has a certain poise to it, something that only comes with very systematically placed numbers in films — so I’m guessing it will feature at a very critical point in the film. Again, flutes steal the show, but strings are prominent too. One wishes this one were shorter.
Here onwards the album goes into a very sombre space, where most of the tracks sound more or less the same. Second Thoughts starts the melancholia with a very slow paced piano-led, strings-backed track that actually does work to soothe you down. Again, the theme features here beautifully, with piano, strings and wind instruments all teaming up to create a soulful impact. The song is one of the more interesting ones out of this lot of tracks.
Akshi, Hospital, The Family Leaves and Full Moon are melancholic numbers with the same instruments; they all seem way too long, and at this point the album has started to get repetitive.
Reunited is a waft of fresh air, in that it isn’t that melancholic, and just right for the casual listener. The strings and piano work well together, to make this track instantly likeable, and of course, because I liked it, Rahman ended it soon. 😤 The xylophone sounds beautiful, and I guess this track features during the resolution of the movie (as is evident from its title).
Holi gets Rahman into his “composing for Prabhudeva” mode; the shehnaai is really entertaining, as are the percussions! It’s nice to see him come back to such Indian sounds after a primarily Western sounding soundtrack! That was a great finale to the album!
Barring the low patch in the middle of the album, this soundtrack is primarily one of the best of the year so far, only because of the fact that it actually is a “soundtrack” in true sense! This goes beyond the usual Bollywood scope of music composition and kudos to KM Musiq for bagging the rights to the album, because nobody else would’ve released it the same way.
P.S. I will be lumping together the points of all twelve instrumentals and scoring them out of 120, instead of writing individual points for twelve similar-sounding instrumentals!
Total Points Scored by This Album: 7 + 6.5 + 9 + 84.5 = 107
Album Percentage: 71.33%
Final Rating for This Album: सा < रे < ग < म < प < ध < नी < सां
Note: The letter which is underlined is the final rating.
Recommended Listening Order: Beyond The Clouds > The Game Of Life > The Gift > Reunited > Holi > The Rest
No poll this time. For obvious reasons. 😛
Music Mastani 