Rockstar!! – Album Review

This is the new movie by Imtiaz Ali (director of Love aaj kal); the music is scored by AR. There are usually just 5-6 songs in every movie that AR composes but in this movie surprisingly, there are 14 songs ( 2 of which are instrumentals). I was thrilled when I knew this, couldn’t wait for the songs to come out as I knew that there was one Sufi song in the 14 songs. I had the album downloaded even before the CD could hit the stores, but I wanted to grab the CD at once for many reasons…

The songs are not like, ‘love at first listen’, like a Munbe vaa or a Masakali or a Omana Pennae or a Aaromale, but they are fresh and they are compelling. They make you want to listen to it over and over again.. 9 songs are sung by Mohit Chauhan alone (he’s the person who sang Masakali in Delhi – 6). On knowing this I had a bad feeling as he does not have a voice which you can listen to, again and again (my initial perception) - I mean 1 or 2 tracks per movie is OK but 9 songs by the same person?!! But here’s a guy who has exceptional talent, such a brilliant voice and with AR’s Midas touch, every track is GOLD.

And this CD is close to me as I’ve earned it after losing it twice! I left it in an ATM counter after buying it, drove a km and then realised that i had left it there, drove back again to fetch it..thankfully no one used the ATM meanwhile. As i was returning home, the plastic bag in which the CD was in, was romancing the silencer, so was ripped and I never knew about it..I knew about it only when I reached home..I traced all the way back to find it – thankfully I got it back, but it was already run over by two cars.. But there was not even a single scratch on the CD!!!:D

* – stars given on a scale of 5

1. Kun FayaKun – A.R.Rahman, Javed Ali, Mohit Chauhan *****

This is the Sufi song which I was talking about. I have never heard anything better in this genre and AR gets better with every Sufi song he composes. Arziyan(Delhi – 6) and Khwaja mere Khwaja(Jodha Akbar) are nothing compared to this.. Kun Fayakun is an Arabic term mentioned in the Quran which means When God Almighty intends some work to be done, He just says Kun (Be) and it is done already (fayakun)
This is the song where the hero gets a realistion of GOD. Truly and aptly written, the lyrics are awesome..

‘ jahan kahi pe kuch nahi be nahi tha, vahi tha vahi tha’  – which means – where there was nothing with or around me, You were there.

‘tu hai mujh me samaya,  kahan leke mujhe aaya , main hoon tujh me samaya, tere peeche chala aaya, tera he main ik saaya..’ 

which means – You were in me and I was in You, where have you brought me now?, I followed You everywhere and You were like a shadow to me..( here You refers to GOD)

Even a person who does not understand the meaning of the song will definitely appreciate the beauty of the song as it is very soothing and calms you down.

2. Phir se ud chala – Mohit Chauhan *****

The title of the song means that he ‘rose and flew again’.. This song is compelling, sung brilliantly and the lyrics are not like conventional Hindi songs(very different lyrics)…great chorus, although they don’t have proper lyrics (just a note or two)…just makes you loose yourself when Mohit Chauhan touches high notes..

3. Hawaa Hawaa – Mohit Chauhan *****

This song is on the lines of  Latin/Spanish music with Spanish guitars and it is based on a spanish folk story. The story goes like this.. -  There was once a King and a Queen ruling an empire. The Queen was fond of dancing and she had 12 pairs of shoes just for dancing.. She was so fond of dancing that she used to get up in the middle of the night without anyone’s knowledge in the palace and would go to Hell everyday to dance with Satan.. This routine is one day discovered by a person( who is the singer) and reports to the King who fails to believe it at the first instant. And the next night the King finds out the queen’s deepest desire to dance..Fast, excellently composed and Mohit’s good singing makes you repeat it in your playlist..

4. Tango for Taj – Instrumental *****

This song is brilliant in the way it is composed and the keyboards are too good!!The song starts slow, gains momentum and goes on for a minute ends in a high note. great overall!

5. The Dichotomy of Fame - feat. Balesh *****

This song has a Shehnai and is exceptional in the way it is mixed with Guitars and tabla.. the emotion was as though you’ve achieved something and you are happy about it..

6. Sheher mein – Karthik, Mohit Chauhan ****

This song looks like Ranbir Kapoor is going for an audition and his competitor is a person who’s voice is Karthik’s.. Both singers are brilliant in their renedition to the song and you cannot expect anything better.. Music lifts the entire song yet again and this song too compells you to listen again and again..

5. Jo bhi mein – Mohit Chauhan *****

This is a song which i guess is performed on stage in front of a large audience. This is one of the ROCK songs of the album and the song is sung with a great attitude..and just like the crowds in a concert, the chorus/crowd  here repeats what the lead singer sings.

6. Tum Ho – Mohit Chauhan *****

This is a romantic/sad song and this song too is brilliant for two aspects – Mohit chauhan and the lyrics..this song too is compelling and overall is very good..

9. Tum Ko – Kavita Suramaniam *****

This is another version of Tum Ho.. Kavita Subramaniyan’s voice is perfect for the tone of this song and the way the instruments are used in this song are truly masterclass.

10. Saada Haq - Mohit Chauhan *****

The REBEL Hard Rock song of the album..Irresistible and rich with Guitars this song truly ROCKS!!!

11. Naadan Parindey - A.R.Rahman, Mohit Chauhan *****

This song is also good solely for AR’s voice and the inclination towards ROCK…

12. Katiya karun – Harshdeep Kaur *****

Has lyrics in Punjabi, so makes it catchy and addictive.. awesome music (flute) and compelling…Fun song of the album..

13. Aur Ho – Mohit Chauhan *****

One of the best songs in the album..Mohit Chauhan makes you sing! Intense, the song starts slow and hits high notes where Mohit Chauhan scores infinitely!!

the last song in the CD is a track called ‘Meeting Place’ voiced by Ranbir Kapoor. he just says few lines from the movie..just like a track from Delhi- 6..

Overall verdict – 10/10.. Worth buying – you wont get disappointed..Must buy if you are a AR fan even if you don’t know Hindi..With such exceptional songs, the movie reaches a new level of expectation..Lets hope it does not disappoint like a Dil Se or a Delhi-6….Waiting eagerly for the movie to come out on – 11/11/11…:D

Is all this necessary??

India has won the world cup and the joy is yet to sink in, but the rewards the players recieved from the govt- is it really that worth? I mean, Sreesanth is given 3 crores? for what? for carrying water bottles and gatorade around the field? I find it pointless..3 crores to a person who has merely played 3 matches or so?? I agree he is a part of the world cup squad which has won- all credit to them but is the aftermath of the cash rewards really that necessary???I think people are really getting carried away.

PRIZE TIME FOR INDIAN CRICKET CHAMPS
By	For	What
* ICC	Full team	Rs 13.2 crore
* BCCI	Each player	Rs 1 crore each
	Coach, support staff	Rs 50 lakh each
	Selectors	Rs 25 lakh each
Railways	Each player	Lifetime I AC pass for self and companion
Delhi govt	MS Dhoni, as captain;	Rs 2 crore
	Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Ashish Nehra	Rs 1 crore each
Punjab govt	Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh	Rs 1 crore each
Maharashtra govt	Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan	Rs 1 crore each
Uttarakhand govt	MS Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar	House or plot in Mussoorie; Stadium to be built in Dhoni’s name
Karnataka govt	Entire team	Housing plot in Bangalore
Jharkhand govt	MS Dhoni	Land to have a cricket academy; Jharkhand Ratna award
Gujarat govt	Yousuf Pathan, Munaf Patel	Eklavya Award, Rs 1 lakh each
Air India	MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh Harbhajan Singh, Suresh Raina	Promotion, rewards for all
Haryana govt	Virender Sehwag, Ashish Nehra	Best Sportsman of the Year Award
Uttar Pradesh govt	Suresh Raina, Piyush Chawla	Kanshi Ram International Sports Award
Audi	Yuvraj Singh	Audi car
Kerala Govt.	Sreesanth	3 crore (To stop Playing cricket)
*ICC: International Cricket Council   *BCCI: Board of Control for Cricket in India

And all the IPL fiesta..Not only the players turn billionaires overnight but the team owners, the sponsors, the telecast rights holders, the committee- everything around the sport is making huge revenues. Cricket, over the past 7 years has pressed the pedal of making mint, but this phenomenon has been there for football from time immemorial. Football is not like cricket, the players slog and slog so hard that they cannot literally play after 7 consecutive years. But here in cricket, the players can stay as long as the board is not made to talk against them or if they are a hero among the public and the fitness levels are not too demanding like football. But their earnings are quite similar.

Footballers play for 8 yrs max earn like hell and the same amount is earned by cricketers over a span on 15-20 years. David Beckham earns a little over 40 million US dollars a year and so is Christiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Fernando Torres, (to name a few) and the most shocking fact is that, in football, the players are paid per week (in installments of course!! but even that is pretty huge). So, to pay these players, the team should be in a very commanding position in terms of finance. And more so, these teams earn more than most teams in IPL put together. The revenue is so high b’cos of the viewership, the fan following as it is not localised to one particular country and the sponsorship also increases linearly. All this money keeps rotating btw the franchisee and the players and the sponsors and the sports federations.

Just imagine a franchisee earning over 8200 crore a year (Manchester United), it’ll take sometime for a lay man to even count the number of zeroes!! This sport part of the world gets filthy rich every year but there is also something called-’the lower strata of the society’. They continue to be poor or even hit newer levels in poverity.

Practically thinking, the amount of money earned by one particular team or a franchisee is easily sufficient to feed 2-3 towns of people in Africa where food is a rarity and where many towns compete to hold the record for the most number of deaths due to malnutrition. UNICEF cannot be the only organisation to fight malnutrition in Africa.

Solution -  No country is void of poor people who are illiterate and are yearning to make a living. The money earned in these entertainment segments can well serve in bringing up or merging the poverty line. If  the money from IPL is used sensibly, INDIA will not have people begging for money at traffic signals, nor people will remain illiterate. When football franchisees can recruit sportsmen from Africa, they can also help the nations come out of their problems -5 Charity matches in big arenas with all big names is enough for the problem to be solved. But if this situation persists, there will be countries in Africa where only trees will survive. It is high time someone takes the initiative and the other huge problem is that only people like us will ponder over such issues but never will the big shots volunteer to make Earth a better place to live in.

Yeah I know I’ve been going in circles in this blog but it is something to ponder on..

Legalized Betting???

I ve been wondering as to why betting is banned in India and why it is legalized abroad. Is it for the sole reason that people become rich overnight and vice-versa?? But betting is one of the major revenue machines and has been the boost for a country’s economy which has legalized it. Here’s what i pondered on..

Let’s take a country which serves as a benchmark for us in many fields- the US. Betting was legalised in the 1930′s and was prominent only in certain states but since then betting has taken a huge shape and now it is legalised almost everywhere in the country. If  we talk about people turning rich over-night, then this should be a common phenomenon there, and obviously the other side of the coin is that the percentage of  people turning poor is also widely common and people losing a living is also common. And still betting is prevalent. Why should such a thing be legal? And the answer is quite simple.

Gambling serves as a major entertainment to people and is scientifically proven that gambling reduces or relieves one’s stressful mind. Encouraging people to gamble and bet will significantly reduce the spot-fixing of players in a game and can ensure a smooth, fair run of a game which is possible only by the the evolution of Gaming or Gambling  commissions to prevent chaos and to prevent illegal betting and cheating within a legalised betting. The revenue gained out of the betting goes as a revenue to the government, thus playing a vital role.  So, now an entire mob bets on a team to win or lose rather than one single person who does it secretly. So the stakes turn high and competition is really huge. Different arenas can be set at increasing amounts of cash thus providing a platform for the various strata of the society. In such a scenario, a pauper can never turn an ultra pauper b’cos he plays with people who are of his class as he enters a low-level arena and builds on it to enter a high level.  It also becomes more or less like a stock exchange where you buy some stock and wait for it to grow. Also, betting can be legalized for people over 26 years of age so as to stop the younger minds from getting addicted in it. Betting can be done on any game-cricket, football, baseball, poker-u name it and its done!! Just imagine a population of a little over a million gambling on one night and the amount of cash piling in the chest. Too much isn’t it?? Betting can actually be way to have lower taxes being paid by an individual who plays regularly. Moreover gambling can never run dry b’cos ‘man’ is never satisfied!!

The Reign of GOD

It was time when people witnessed godliness;when thunder struck;lightning flashed all over the park;people witnessing it went bezerk-some clapped,some lost their vocal chords screaming,some cried,some jumped,some danced,some burst crackers,some celebrated, some threw a party,some cursed the guy who flipped sides for twenty minutes,some appreciated him,some wrote blogs,some kept texting,some did the idol pooja;a country all glued to the box in front of them-be it at home or on the roads; everyone witnessed magic…The moment enthralled them..The moment made them go out of their minds…The moment made them see GOD shower happiness.The moment made everyone lose their worries.The moment everyone became ecstatic..

Yeah, I’m talking about none other than the Little LEGEND himself.._SACHIN RAMESH TENDULKAR,who has made people mad!!

The reason for my madness is today’s game at Gwalior,Madhya Pradesh which was a treat to everyone..especially to the people gathered there..spectacular innings..To see the ball flying all around the park itself makes you mad;but when it comes from the GOD himself, you cannot ask for anything more! wow!!would have been marvelous..It was unfortunate to see him getting out meekly in the first ODI but  back then everyone knew that something big was waiting..But never did one expect he’d create history.This is something every INDIAN will cheer forever.His timing the ball was exquisite and perfect.Be it the late cuts or the drives or the lofted ones or the sweeps, no one except him can play it with elan.His nature of teasing the bowlers was too good today.This is one batsman whom the whole country has looked upon for the past two decades.and yet, he has seldom failed..And carrying this huge reputation he doesn’t know what boasting is and charmingly credits others for the victory!

“Ravi: Its been more than 20 years now,but will the bowlers get some respect?

GOD(laughs):That’s a difficult question to answer!

Ravi: It’s been 20 years and 442 matches and now you bring up this feat!

GOD: I wasn’t hoping to create one..It just happened..

GOD: I would like to dedicate this knock of mine to the people of INDIA for lending me their support,standing by my side at all times and encouraging me to perform better..”

How much down-to-earth can one get? He may have matured as a cricketer over the decades and he is  beyond 35 but he still has the mind of a 20 yr old.Every milestone,every feat,every six,every boundary,every stroke,every ball he fields,every ball he bowls,every time he talks- it is a sheer pleasure to watch.He now has a pavilion to his name at the Captain Roop Singh Stadium in Gwalior.How much better can he get?