Soul Strings: Highway

In the last few years in Hindi film music there isn’t a single album that has matched up to Rockstar. It defied conventions instead of the predictable western, rock-driven soundtrack. It immersed itself in quintessentially Indian sounds striking a synergy of songs and cinema in a way that is only possible through a shared vision of the composer, lyricist and the filmmaker. As the second coming of the team of AR Rahman, Irshad Kamil and Imtiaz Ali, expectations from Highway are of gargantuan proportions. And like their previous outing, it is revolutionary in its own way. I don’t remember the last time I heard a Hindi film album with songs that are essentially devotional, with seven of the nine sung by female voices. Rahman himself has described the music as one with “an indie vibe” as opposed to “big event feel” of Rockstar. It is most evident in the first song, the free-spirited Patakha guddi. The full-bodied rendition by the Nooran sisters is a bristling force of nature as they sing Tu toh paak rab ka banka bachcha, raj dulara tu hi. The transitions in the song are marvellous. The most remarkable of which comes when it switches to a short R ‘n’ B spell, with Rahman using his own vocals to the effect only he can. Maahi ve has the instantly likable, vibe of an easy on-the-ears R ‘n’ B number, but with the depth and soul of Rahman’s passionate singing.

Kamil’s paean to love, Maahi ve, mere sab raaz aaj kal tu hai, is beautiful. Sooha saha, glows with the warmness of a lullaby, much like Rahman’s Luka chhupi from Rang De Basanti. It plays out like an imagined dialogue between a mother and her child. The second stanza is divine, with Zeb crooning in low-key, restraint to a magic of a melody. Alia Bhatt’s cameo voice is fresh and honest, bringing the required innocence. In the reprise version of Patakha guddi Rahman turns the original on its head, injecting in it a sort of crazed energy that you don’t care about the the minor imperfections of Rahman’s Punjabi enunciation. A roller coaster ride that switches between Sufi, hip hop and even some hard rock, it is the album’s piece de resistance. But the one that will grow and grow on you is the haunting Implosive silence.

Jonita Gandhi’s vocals resonate in a dreamy, deeply ambient soundscape in this instrumental that could have been the companion piece to the sublime Latika’s Theme from Oscar winning Slumdog Millionaire. I would give more time to Tu kuja, Heera and Kahaan hoon main to blossom. If the rest is a highway soaked with honey-smooth comfort, then Wanna mashup is the only pothole. A noisy, hip hop number, maybe it is not that bad a song, but just falls short of the standards set by the rest. Much like Rockstar, and their creators Rahman, Kamil and Ali, Highway too is made of a Sufi soul. It over arches the entire album, bringing a sense of being greater than the sum of its parts, marking another triumph for the team.