I hope nobody says, "he has lost it......" or something negative and judgemental. Please try to be objective and focus on the music itself instead of airing opinions comparing old ARR and new ARR.
One thing I've noticed is the use of more nuanced symphonic arrnagements in his later soundtracks. ARR has always blended Western classical elements with traditional Indian music like nobody else could or ever will probably. However, I have noticed that of late, his arrnagements have been more crowded and less minimalistic as compared to his previous works, while being more nuanced at the same time. With increasing arrnagement density in his latter soundtracks with more nuanced symphonic undercurrents, it becomes all the more important to use better sound mixing and mastering techniques to allow the denser track layerings their own individual crispness and distinctiveness. A successful example would be Jodha Akbar and Jaane Tu. A less successful example would be Rang De Basanti and parts of Swades and Guru, where I did not feel the crystal crispness in sound production. Post 1997, with improved sound technology, I have noticed that he did not have to tweak the trebble levels as high as his previous works, which gave a warmer, more analogue sound to the recordings. Overall, I find his music nowadays to be perhaps less radical in its conceptual format with safer "in the box" creativity, but brilliantly creative nonetheless. Since his arrival, many others have followed his path and hence, because of the dominating influence of his own sound and style in the music industry, ARR himself is victim to his own revolutionary undertakings in that he does not stand out as much as he used to. Yet, his music still has his strong signature and stamp of assured quality that nobody can beat. I also feel that his sense of melodic composition has improved over time in terms of smoothness and ear friendlyness, and with more breathing room for the singer. Yet, this may be at the sacrifice of out of the blue musical concepts, which dominated his earlier scenes. In other words, he plays it safer these days, which is not necessarily wrong. And that's a relative term too. He still belts out incredible songs with ingenious hooks. This may just be a natural consequence of his aging and maturing mind and the backdrop of the current music scene.
