Here are 5 things for me that make an ARR soundtrack extra-ordinary, fantastic, brilliant, out of this world....the cream of the crop. Recent soundtracks for me that fall in this category have included Delhi 6 and Jodha Akbar. In the past, soundtracks have included Lagaan, Zubeidaa, Kandukonden, Alai Payuthey, Taal, Dil Se, Swades, Saathiya, Water, Meenaxi, KM, parts of RDB, Bose. Everyone's list will be different....and many more.
1) Strong melody - the tunes have got to be hummable, lilting, and have a very, very long shelf life! 2) Sweet sounds - ARR is known for his incredible sound production and albums that emphasize those sweet sonic flavors, subtle instrumentation, lots of bells and whistles do it for me. An album with too much techno/coarse sounds take away points (even though I realize that a techno/hip hop album might be best suited for a particular film). 3) Dazzling arrangements - There has got to be a certain texture and thickness to the arrangements that create a lush sounding orchestration. Albums that emphasize this I love. 4) Meaningful lyrics - The songs overall should have depth in terms of their meaning and should touch people's hearts with its words. Not every song in the album has to have this. 5) Instrumental/theme/long musical interludes - There is no match for an ARR instrumental and albums that either have a theme piece, a full blown instrumental (either of a song or original) or have long, beautiful musical interludes (beginning of Man Mohanna, flute pieces, ending of Rehna Tu, second interlude of So Gaye Hain, second interlude of Pogirai song from Kandukonden, etc.)
