Water - Soundtrack
Hema
composer. Every song in the soundtrack is marvelous. Sadhna Sargam is
simply awesome in "piya ho" and "naina neer bahaye." The mood and tone
with which "piya ho" is sung fits the character on screen very well. "
naina.." is the best song in the album, IMO. Sadhna joins Sukhwinder
Singh for the merry monsoon number "aayo re". The song is a treat to
listen to. SS does a very good job with "bangri marori" except for the
words "zora zori" that are jarring to the ears. I think SS is also the
lyricist for the songs, which is impressive. Has he written anything
else? The background music by Mychael Danna is actually the highlight
of this soundtrack. "The house of widows" is an excellent composition.
Hema.
AR
This is a pretty nice movie too, though I would have preferred somebody
other than Lisa Ray. The two Sadhana Sargam songs are fabulous and
would easily belong to the best of her solos in her whole career so
far. Unfortunately, the film has a mere 20 second snippet of each song.
Arunabha
I agree with the opinion that Water is one of ARR's better soundtracks;
however the choice of singers could have been much better. The
compositions are very well-integrated with the film, and "aayo re
sakhii" is one of the best picturized songs I have seen in a long time.
Mychael Danna's piece accompanying the little girl chasing the dog
through the alleys and narrow roads is also wonderful. However Sadhna
Sargam is a total misfit in the soundtrack and not at all equal to
singing the classical-based pieces (especially when Kishori Amonkar's
rendition of the Lalit piece "piihu piihu raTata papiiharaa" is still
fresh in one's minds). For a film set in Benares the soundtrack was
crying out for some robust trained vocalist's voice for the background
songs. (Kaushiki Chakraborty doesn't count) And definitely not Sadhna
Sargam's weak thin voice -she is as miscast in the soundtrack as Lisa
Ray on screen The choice of Lalit for depicting a night-time song of
union is also perplexing. While the other 4 songs are good, the Holi
song is terrible, in line with Mangal Pandey and any other number of
Rahman's duds.
A composer like Vanraj Bhatia could have achieved wonders within the
same parameters. ARR falls short.
-- Arunabha
AR
If I may ask, I wonder why that's so. There have been so many films set
in a similar background, and the lead female voice of the film belonged
to the "thin voice" category. Given that the feelings of a young girl
are being expressed, a robust, heavy voice might not have been the best
choice. In fact for the situation of the film, Kishori Amonkar's voice
wouldf not have been the best fit at all, given that it would be
picturised on a young heroine. Sadhana Sargam sings the songs
melodiously and with feeling. Comparison of this *film* song with a
full-fledged classical bandish in Lalit might be weird.
shri37
I think Sadhana sargam is right choice.She has sung ' Water ' songs
beautifully.She
did it in ' Sathiya ' song ' Chupke se lagja gale ' and she has done it
again.She is much underestimated singer.
Hema
Arunabha wrote:
> Hema wrote:
> > Now this is an album that shows just how much AR Rahman has grown as a
> > composer. Every song in the soundtrack is marvelous. Sadhna Sargam is
> > simply awesome in "piya ho" and "naina neer bahaye." The mood and tone
> > with which "piya ho" is sung fits the character on screen very well. "
> > naina.." is the best song in the album, IMO. Sadhna joins Sukhwinder
> > Singh for the merry monsoon number "aayo re". The song is a treat to
> > listen to. SS does a very good job with "bangri marori" except for the
> > words "zora zori" that are jarring to the ears. I think SS is also the
> > lyricist for the songs, which is impressive. Has he written anything
> > else? The background music by Mychael Danna is actually the highlight
> > of this soundtrack. "The house of widows" is an excellent composition.
> >
> > Hema.
>
> I agree with the opinion that Water is one of ARR's better soundtracks;
> however the choice of singers could have been much better. The
> compositions are very well-integrated with the film, and "aayo re
> sakhii" is one of the best picturized songs I have seen in a long time.
> Mychael Danna's piece accompanying the little girl chasing the dog
> through the alleys and narrow roads is also wonderful. However Sadhna
> Sargam is a total misfit in the soundtrack and not at all equal to
> singing the classical-based pieces (especially when Kishori Amonkar's
I want to listen to this piece but am not sure where to find it. I saw
some CDs of KA online with lalit as one of the tracks. Is that it? I am
very ignorant about classical music but when they list a raag on the
soundtrack, does it mean its always going to be the same or can it have
variants from album to album?
> rendition of the Lalit piece "piihu piihu raTata papiiharaa" is still
> fresh in one's minds). For a film set in Benares the soundtrack was
> crying out for some robust trained vocalist's voice for the background
> songs. (Kaushiki Chakraborty doesn't count) And definitely not Sadhna
You probably don't like the choice of MD either. But fixing the MD and
his compositions as constant, do you still think someone like Kishori
Amonkar would have been better?
> Sargam's weak thin voice -she is as miscast in the soundtrack as Lisa
> Ray on screen The choice of Lalit for depicting a night-time song of
Well, its a film by Deepa Mehta, what do you expect? Earth was a very
well made movie I thought, but IMO her movies have increasingly been
flavored for the western audiences. For example, dialogues like "its
called unnatural concern in english". Subtitles are meant to be used
for translating to a different language. You don't need an entire
character (John's friend in the movie) to explain everything. Although
even subtitles were over the top in her film "bollywood hollywood" -
the movie was spoken in english to begin with!
Hema.
UVR
> Well, its a film by Deepa Mehta, what do you expect? Earth was a very
> well made movie I thought, but IMO her movies have increasingly been
> flavored for the western audiences. For example, dialogues like "its
> called unnatural concern in english". Subtitles are meant to be used
> for translating to a different language. You don't need an entire
> character (John's friend in the movie) to explain everything. Although
> even subtitles were over the top in her film "bollywood hollywood" -
> the movie was spoken in english to begin with!
>
> Hema.
The subtitles may seem superfluous to us 'desis', but one has to
also think about the 'target audience'. Sometimes I wish I had
subtitles to decode some things my English teacher in school,
Ms. Ghai, would say. Like "allaadeen found 'immaiyyarebal'
riches in the 'traiyyar' chest when he opened it."
When it comes to subtitles, I would definitely err on the side of
too much versus too little.
-UVR.