PIPPA — AR Rahman — Music Review
Pippa is an upcoming Indian Hindi-language biographical war film based on the life of Captain Balram Singh Mehta of India’s 45 Cavalry regiment who, along with his siblings, fought on the eastern front during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, it is an adaptation of real life events that happened during the Battle of Garibpur in 1971.
Another long overdue ARR project(there is a long list of those), Pippa’s first look and sound back in 2022 teased us with adrenaline-filled vocals of MC Heam and signature intense AR Rahman percussion. We were to receive the songs, and the movie in a few months, but it was not to be.
Cut to November 2023, Pippa is suddenly here out of nowhere. A surprisingly muted presentation for a big-name producer, and an OTT release does little to make one excited for it. But for ARR fans, his association is grand enough. With a sweeping run in picking eclectic projects(except Heropanti 2) in Hindi film industry, and some memorable albums(Dil Bechara, Mimi, Atrangi Re, Mili, I do love Heropanti 2 too, and have a review to justify that), I have been eagerly waiting for ARR’s upcoming Hindi albums, like Pippa, Maidaan, Gandhi Talks, Tere Ishk Mein(Raanjhana 2) for starters. As it happens, Pippa is here, and it has 5 tracks! Which is quite generous in these times of mediocrity, remakes, multiple music directors and so on. ARR is known to exhibit dedication for any project that he picks(timing delays aside), so one knows there will be no half measures. Pippa, being based around 1971/formation of Bangladesh, one can only expect soul stirring stuff.
As I have done with recent ARR albums, I am going in blind to the album. I have just heard RAMPAGE, the rap track, so far, which was released yesterday.
Shellee’s name on the album intrigues me too, Shailender Singh Sodhi or Shellee is the collaborator with Amit Trivedi, and behind famous albums like Manmarziyaan, and songs of the band Agnee.
So here we go…
RAMPAGE — MC Heam, Krystal
Expectation
ARR tracks in rap, like in any genre, go beyond the genre, so expecting something like that.
Reality
Defies convention even in rap genre. The rakatakatak sound of the song is aggression with capital A. The patterns are not going for ‘pleasing you’. But the verses and the words slowly capture you, and the orchestra does the rest. This is a must hear track on headphones. Rampage describes it best. Gets over in no time but the finale of beautiful Budapest Strings and Sunshine Orchestra plays with your senses and the final verse by MC Heam leaves you with chills.
Lyrics: MC Heam
Musicians:-
Percussions: Sivamani
Additional Programming: Kumaran Sivamani & Suryansh
MAIN PARWAANA — Arijit Singh, many background singers
Expectation
Retro styled melody. Lot of fun.
Reality
“Tu Fauji aaj tipsy ho gaya”
Trumpets that recall O mere Sona Re?, ball dancing images get evoked in mind while the song creates a beautiful atmosphere with layered minimalism that only AR Rahman can bring. The orchestra is something else in this album, Arijit Singh and the funky Hinglish words recalling a bit of Tango Kelayo’s ballroom mischief. Distinct instruments register despite Arijit’s goofy turn or the melodic chorus doing the classic 70s histrionics. The bongo-type percussion recalls RD Burman, but this track is so, so fresh. How does AR Rahman do it?!
The backing vocals are handled so so well they are almost a lead element(bye bye Arijit!), much like they were done in Toofan Si Kudi. Loved the bass, loved the accordion. This is how one captures a time period, not mocking it, but creating something new in a familiar mold. The hooks of this song (aankh main maaroonga diwana) will just become legendary over the years.
Additional Vocals: Pooja Tiwari, Nisa Shetty, Rakshita Suresh, Swagat Rathod, Sarthak Kalyani & Suryansh Jain
Musicians:-
Percussion: Kishore
Accordian: Karthik Dev
Guitars: Keba
Bass: Prashanth Venkat
Trumpet: Babu & Raha
Flute: Kiran
Additional Programming: Shrikant Krishna
AR Rahman said he came on board Pippa because “the story of Pippa has a very human connect. It’s about every family, and I instantly related with it. I am looking forward to working with Raja Krishna Menon, Ronnie Screwvala and Siddharth Roy Kapur.”
JAZBAAT — Jubin Nautiyal, Shilpa Rao
Expectation
Should be interesting what ARR gives the popular singer Jubin Nautiyal in their first colab. Shilpa Rao is always great in ARR songs.
Reality
Brilliant strings, sublime male vocals open a buoyant melody. Progressive pop track it feels at first, then you notice the ARR elements — the lovely flute, the hint of chord buildup, the confident structuring of verse, and SHILPA RAO! Is she magical or what. Towards the second half, the song launches into a beautiful mehfil mode for an instance with tablas and thumris in place. The bass is so beautiful. By this time ARR is just enjoying any instrument he can think of — electric guitars or ethnic percussion. Just how many melodies this man can come up with, and every time they bowl you over and you forget anything that was, is or will happen in your life thereon!
Musicians:-
Additional Vocals: Mayank, Suryansh, Sarthak
Chorus: Elfe choir, conducted by Roshni Vincent
Additional Programming: Sarthak Kalyani
Sarangi: Momin Khan
Guitars: Keba
Bass: Prashanth
Shehnai: Omkar Dhumal
Cello: Seenu
KARAR OI LOUHO KAPAT- Multiple
Lyrics : Late Kazi Nazrul Islam
Expectation
The last time ARR picked Bengali classics was Coke Studio probably, and he knocked it out of the park, with Jagao Mere Des Ko. Before that, he did Bose(Ghoomparani, Ekla Cholo), and the timeless Kabhi Neem Neem in Yuva. Oh, he has also done two brilliant tracks which are unreleased, Amar Sonar Bangla(Joy Bangabondhu/Ek Dost Mujeeb) and Joy Bangla which were performed in Dhaka Concert in 2021. The last two tracks were so good that I was a bit miffed why they were not used by Shyam Benegal in the recent biopic he made on Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Reality
Classic Bengali sounds. Pure musical heaven. How can a score this beautiful not release theatrically? While this song was playing I stopped typing and was in its rapt grip, the poetic incantations, the point-counterpoint verses, transported me to some other world, much like ARR songs do. The flute is so comforting as we hit Earth back.
Singers: Rahul Dutta,Tirtha Bhattacharjee, Pijush Das, Shrayee Paul, Shalini Mukherjee & Dilasa Chowdhury
Recorded at Studio Inspiration
Recorded by: Atishay Jain
Musicians:-
Additional Programming: Nakul Abhayankar
Percussions, Ektara: Sai Shravanam
Guitars: Keba Jeremiah
Flute: Ashwin Srinivasan
MOHABBATEIN SHUKRIYA — Vishal Mishra, Suzanne D’Mello
Expectation
Nothing really, a somber track?
Reality
Suzanne who famously did Latika’s Theme and Hosanna, opens this haunting piano-led melody. This will be a prominent score piece in the film. The emotional gravity is just so beautiful. Vishal Mishra lends the emotional timber to each word, each note so poignantly, reminiscent of another underrated track from Mili, Jeena Hoga. The Shehnai is so beautiful here momentarily, and the Bengali element accompanying chants of Shukriya Shukriya concludes the track in an anthemic mood.
Musicians:-
Additional Vocals: Hiral Viradia, Sarthak
Chorus Arrangements by: Sarthak
Live Bass: Keba Jeremiah
Guitars: Keba Jeremiah, Adithya Shankar
Shehnai: Balraj
ALBUM VERDICT
Expectation
Expecting racy sounds, lot of percussion, some melodies/love tracks of yore, an earthy touch, some Bengali inspiration/poetry
Reality
As with most ARR albums, this one pulled the rug from beneath my feet. In the times of big announcements(Maniratnam Kamal Haasan film) I was just not prepared for a 5 track AR Rahman album in Hindi, and that too, so rich in sounds, so flowing with beauty of emotion, poetry, and range of sounds and singers. This is sheer brilliance. Not a note out of place.
Even research wise, this is such a layered and fulfilling score, the dialects and the lyrics exhibiting coming together of so many subtle Punjabi and Bengali elements in a lived-in/organic style.
There was a void somewhere for an AR Rahman album in Hindi where music exists with all its unapologetic colour and mood, and PIPPA fills this void so well. A part of me always craved such an album and even that wish is fulfilled now. AR Rahman Sir, what a musical Santa you are!
COMPLETE CREDITS
Original Songs Composed, Produced, Arranged by: A. R. Rahman
Lyrics by: Shellee
Music Supervisor & Editor: Hiral Viradia
Album Mixed & Mastered by: Nitish R Kumar
Budapest Strings orchestra, Conducted by Balint Sapszon
The Sunshine orchestra, Conducted by Jerry Vincent, Anupam Roy, Saar Singhal
Recording Supervisors: Saar Singhal, Sarthak Kalyani
Orchestrated by: Samarth Srinivasan
Sound Engineers :-
Panchathan Record Inn, Chennai: Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran, Aravind Crescendo, Suryansh & Sarthak Kalyani
AM Studios, Chennai: S.Sivakumar, Pradeep Menon, Manoj Raman, Sathya Narayanan & Ainul Ul Haq
Panchathan Studios, Mumbai: Dilshaad Shabbir Shaikh, Nitish Kumar & Harshil Pathak
KM Showcase Lab, Chennai: Riyasdeen Riyan, Sathish V Saravanan & Durai Sidharth
Musician Coordinators — R Samidurai, Abdul Hayum, TM Faizuddin
Starring: Ishaan, Mrunal Thakur, Priyanshu Painyuli & Soni Razdan
Directed by: Raja Krishna Menon
Produced by: RSVP Movies & Roy Kapur Films
Thanks for reading, you may want to check out these other write-ups on AR Rahman:
Also, check out this book on AR Rahman which I self-published in 2021. I plan to come up with the sequel in 2024, and many of such articles will be included in it.
More on PIPPA:
