Great post, Gayathri! You know, I was going to write a post wondering where your review was! I was waiting for it! I value each and every post of yours here!
My daughter is also 3 and studies at a Monstessory! And you're right, it helps to be in a good mood when listening! My daughter loves Beera too....the rhythm, and esp. the part when Vijay sings, "Dana dha Dham Dham!!!" She loves that part!!! She wants me to sing that song along everytime it comes on in the car. That song will be a hit among kids I think! --- In [email protected], Gayathri Chandrakasan <gayathri_c...@...> wrote: > > > > > > My thoughts on > Raavan > > Ok, let me begin > with a warningâ¦this is a long post, and those who know me (and know how I > love > to drift out of the topic most of the time) hereâs a > consolationâ¦thereâs a > âdeleteâ just around the corner for your convenience LOL, Just kidding, > please read > this mail, even if itâs only to bash me up later on > > On the other > hand, though Iâve been listening to Raavan for the umpteenth time now, I > kept > having second thoughts about stating my views on the album in this group. > âWhy?â you may ask meâ¦well, even if youâre not, Iâm still indebted > to provide > you with my reasoning > > To begin with, > the chaotic surrounding here has kinda put me off. I mean, itâs a norm to > see a > group of members praising an album while the other being critical on the > same. Isnât > this what has been happening for every new releases of ARRâs? So why fret > now, > you may ask. Well, for some reasons, Raavanâs release has witnessed even > some > of the most âself-composedâ members to throw caution to the wind and hurl > abuses > to one another. (Hey, donât start picking on me now, I promise that I > wonât say > your names out loud!) > > On the other > hand, if you guys are trying to spice things up here, you sure are doing a > great job at this. The fact that my mail-box is crammed with nothing less than > 100 mails from ARR group per day itself is a clear evidence to this! LOL! > > Secondly, I was > contemplating whether to put my thoughts down now or to come up with a > collective > review once the Tamil version is out. Then again, the release of the Tamil > version has been delayed for some time now, and between writing now (when I > still have the urge to do so) and waiting for the indefinite release of the > Tamil version, I chose the former. So here it is⦠> > Let me be > honestâ¦I mean really honest with you guys. Iâll begin by telling you what > happen on the day I bought this albumâ¦The moment I got out of the store > after > purchasing the album, the sky opened up and start flooding the whole town. You > may say that itâs Godâs way of showering blessing, but why does it have to > happen at a time when I didnât have my umbrella around? I ran to my car as > fast > as I can and guess what?â¦I couldnât find my car keys! (it was stuck > inside my > handbag with my hundred other thingsâ¦well, whoever said that a ladyâs > handbag > contains almost everything under the sun wasnât kidding themselves. My > handbag > had almost allâ¦except my dumb car keys ) > As luck would have it, there wasnât a shelter nearby, thus, I had to open my > handbag in the middle of the road, drenching myself and the hundred other > stuff > I was talking about, in the process of finding the keys! > > So, yeah, I > finally found the keys, got in to the car and just at that point, some > nutcracker had to double-park his car beside mine! Well, after a short dispute > and many honks later, I managed to get my car out. Now, hereâs the moment I > was > waiting for, the excitement of listening to ARRâs album for the first > time > > Beera Beera with > Vijay Prakashâs strong vocals set the ball rolling. Karthik came in next > with > Behne De, followed by Thok de killi, Ranjha Ranjha, Killi re and Kata Kata > andâ¦well, thatâs it. Wait a minuteâ¦thatâs it? I havenât even begun > to enjoy any > of them yet For the first > time, I found that I didnât have any thoughts about ARRâs albumâ¦not > even a > negative oneâ¦I was feeling almost indifferent and I didnât like the > feeling at > all. Hating an album is one thing, but indifferent? If only this day could get > worse. > > So, I started > playing them again from the beginning. By then, I reached the Montessori where > my 3 years old nephew studies. I picked him up and was just about to replace > Raavan > with Thomas & Friends soundtracks (despite months of cajoling him to listen > to ARR, I must say that Iâve failed to break my nephewâs > ârelationshipâ with > Thomas & Friends soundtracks) when a âmiracleâ occurred. No, there was no > signs of snow falling (that would have been a disaster, not a miracle ;)â¦it > was my nephew swaying his body to the beats of Beera Beera. Hey, were the > beats > there the first time around? I abandoned all thoughts of changing the cd. > Instead, I hiked up the volume and both of us started to sway together this > time around. Beera Beera has the grandeur presentation with Vijay Prakashâs > solid voice giving a wonderful rural touch to it. In fact, the name Beera is > so > addictive that by the end of the song, both my nephew and me kept singing > Beera > Beera from the top of our lungs! (well, it was really more like > âscreamingâ > than âsingingâ actually but who cares?) And the beats, wow! Iâve always > maintained that ARR provides the best percussion soundsâ¦and time and again, > he > proves me right. Beera Beera is definitely a wonderful start to the album. > > Behne De > followed thereafter. Undoubtedly, this has one of the best prelude > everâ¦there > is something so mystifying in the prelude that you just canât wait to hear > what > ARR has to offer. And with Karthik giving his best (as always), you can never > be wrong in classifying this as the best number in the album. God knows why > National > Award has eluded Karthik for so long. This guy deserves it and more⦠> > On the whole, > Behne De grants such a spellbinding experience! Iâm left speechlessâ¦And my > nephew? Well heâs too busy staring at the cute chick in the car beside ours > to > notice this number. Oh well, one day heâll learn to appreciate ARRâs > music. > > Then comes Thok de killiâ¦thereâs something so modern > yet rustic in this number. Again the percussion takes full control of the song > that my nephew started jumping on his seat againâ¦if only I was not driving, > I > would have joined him too. The sudden increase in the tempo coupled with > Sukhwinderâs > amazing vocals just leaves you asking for more. > > > > Rekha Bharadwaj and Javed Ali came next with the > seductive Ranjha Ranjha. I have to admit. I never liked Rekhaâs voice. > Yeah, I > knowâ¦I might be alone in this, but still, I never liked her voiceâ¦til > Ranjha > Ranjha happened. In fact, her voice is so captivating that she completely > overshadowed Javed Aliâs performance here. Great going Rekha, you just got > yourself another fan on the list! > > > And thereâs also Khilli re, a typical Shreya > Ghosal kinda number. But this time around, ARR ropes in the sweet Reena > Bhardwaj > (is she related to Rekha by any chance?). And I must say, she did great > justice > to this song. The song has a soothing effect, coupled with Reenaâs melodious > voice. And I was mighty impressed with the first interludeâ¦so much so that I > can almost imagine Aishwarya gracefully performing her Bharatanatyam to it. > > > > And finally ARR brings in Kata kata. Like Beera > Beera, Kata Kata too were given a majestic look, all thanks to the grand > orchestration and vibrant voices in the form of Ila Arun, Sapna Awasthi and > Kunal Ganjawala.  There is a festive and > celebratory feel to the number which makes you want to hear it over and over > again. > > As an album, Raavan is a definite treat to the > ears. Itâs so wonderfully woven that they all fit together while still > managing > to be distinctive at the same time. And with wonderful picturisations (which > we > can fearlessly expect from Maniratnam & team), this would definitely turn > out to be âpicture-perfectâ. > > > > And yes, what was the biggest lesson Iâve learned > from this experience?...Never hear to ARRâs new album when youâre in a > ghastly > mood! > > > > Oh yeah, wanna know what happened to my nephew? He > didnât want to leave the car when we reached home so we decided to go for > another round of drive while listening to Raavanâ¦over and over again. >
