AR Rahman’s Atrangi Re : A Musical Masterclass

7 min readDec 6, 2021

It is technically Day 7 of Chaka Chak, Day 0.5 of Rait Zara Si and Day 0 of rest of the songs. So here we go.

CHAKA CHAK

Shreya Ghoshal

After a good week of Chaka Chak on loop, I have come to appreciate its audio quality more than anything else. Of course the song in itself is great, dance rhythm folkish groove on point, but what makes it spectacular is the thing it does to your ears on a good audio device and audio streamer. Each instrument, each beat, each recording layer sounds distinct. It is a sheer bliss to experience this song. ARR songs in the current era are a treat due to the superlative recording and audio experience. It will give you one of the best time in your day(or night), invoking a new aspect time you hit the play button. ARR’s mastery in the song programming and execution is evident in how he builds the wonderful interludes and fusion of southern percussion with a santoor in the background and gives Shreya Ghoshal the chance to shine through emphatic pronunciation of the massy words. The part where she enters the chorus post second interlude with just an aalaap is the stuff of genius.

Musicians Rhythm : Lakshman, Raju, Krishna Kishore, Ranjith, Hariprasadh, Tumba Raja, Vedha

Shenai : Balesh

Nadaswaram : Mambalam Siva

Flute : Kareem Kamalar

Dotara : Pradipto Sengupta

RAIT ZARA SI

Arijit Singh, Shashaa Tirupati

A true-blue ARR romantic track, that is so smooth it slips like the titular rait(sand) before you know it. It comes with all the good things of current ARR — rich strings backdrop with a refreshing sarod highlighting the open.

The melody falls in the more ‘lazy melody’ category(Neethane, Teri Nazar, Rihaayi De, Mazhai Kuruvi); songs that you can listen to at night and it will put you to a dreamy sleep.

The opening humming by Shashaa Tirupati sets the melodic mood just right. From there a flute overlay builds the mood. When Arijit Singh enters with the humming it is already an immensely likeable track, saccharine sweet almost. The rhythm brings in the cinematic quality. The overall mood set up by the impressive lyrics of Irshad Kamil is that of heartbreak, unrequited love, and an ever-present sense of taking some respite and joy in the helplessness of it all.

For interludes, we have an overarching Tamil chant that gives us the most ARR element of this song, the sheer ingenuity of picking this particular component that blends so well with the mood of the song. There is a teasing female backing vocal too. You are almost lost in this interplay when Arijit comes back with the verse. There is a breezy bass(Keba Jeremiah) accompanying before Shashaa joins the male vocal and lends the song a fuller character. This is a finely etched song!

Flute : Kareem Kamalar

Sarod : Kishore

Bass Guitar : Keba Jeremiah

Additional Voice : Arjun Chandy, Nakul Abhyankar, Hriday Gattani, Hiral Viradia

Rhythm : Kaviraj, Ranjith magi, Hariprasad, Krishna Kishore, Tumba Raja, Mani, Venkat

Strings : Chennai Orchestra & Sunshine Orchestra

Conducted by Jerry Vincent

TUMHEIN MOHABBAT

Arijit Singh

Now on to the most experimental track in the album. A Nazm written by Irshad Kamil given an eclectic ARR treatment, where he stiches each line to a raga and what you get is a complex rendition by Arijit Singh over a very sparse guitar strum pattern, a raga mallika composition of a nazm, which only AR Rahman could do so well.

I could spot strains of a few ragas(for my untrained ear)- Ahir Bhairav, Puria Dhanasri, Bhatiyar, Yaman, Madhuvanti, Tilak Kamod, Charukeshi. Some parts(humming) also reminded me of Milo Wahan Wahan from Ada.

A decade or two ago, this sort of a song would go to a Suresh Wadkar or Sonu Nigam. It sometimes reminds me of Pyaar ye jaane kaisa hai, and I wonder how good would Kavita Subramaniam Ji would sound in a female version.

What is very likeable about this complex track is the effort that Arijit Singh is putting in, and ARR trying to always break the mold of comfort. It may not appeal to you at once and may even raise questions of another singer attempting it, but it is a treat nonetheless and presents us a facet of the most popular singer in the country hitherto unseen.

TERE RANG

Haricharan Seshadri, Shreya Ghoshal

A chorus reminiscent of the Holi song in Mangal Pandey opens this grand, classy song. Lot of classical Raasleela styled harkats are evoked through the vocals of Haricharan(a sheer delight, so refreshing to hear his vocals in Hindi) who headlines the song with support from Shreya Ghoshal(who can do such songs in her sleep). ARR keeps the structure(primarily a Bandish in Yaman?) interesting with lot of vocal overlays and a string-sparse-traditional percussion and the hooks of tere rang ranga in loops. The interlude orchestra is interesting in its use of a mostly western woodwind, which again very swiftly blends to a swara medley. Such songs are such an inspiring entry in a mainstream album, and this is what ARR can do now, total freedom to expose to a new audience varied traditional gems, something he spoke off in his concert film(One Heart) in context of the song Naane Varugiren from OK Kanmani.

GARDA

Daler Mehndi

Most filmy song of the album. When it is ARR, it is not a bad thing. It is an interesting ARR take on a loud Akshay Kumar number, with plenty of innovative use of horns, chorus hooks, backing vocals and lovely clarinet theme and full-on brass band evoking the shaadi-wala-band mood. Daler Mehndi is having lot of fun with the 80s style lyrics. I liked how the ‘Beta Garda Uda Diye’ phrase is first spoken quite a few times(by Himanshu Sharma, film’s writer) and then Daler Mehndi just takes it somewhere else with his vocals. Every element of the song is playing catchup here and it is a fun song all in all.

Musicians Rhythm : Dipesh Varma, Keyur Barve, Omkar Salunkhe, Shikhar Naad Qureshi & Satyajit Jamsandekar

Clarinet : Sax Raja, Chris Whiter

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Flute, Saxophones : Chris Whiter

Guitars : Keba Jeremiah, Fardeen Siddiqui

Choir : El Fé, Nivas, Sharath Santhosh

Sunshine Brass Angelin S. Karthick N. Mohammed

Conducted by Lisa Sarasini

Macedonian Symphonic Orchestra Score Performed by F.A.M.E.S Orchestra Lead Orchestrator : Joaquin Badia

Indian Orchestra co-ordinator : Andrew T. Mackay/ Bohemia Junction Ltd.

LITTLE LITTLE

Dhanush, Hiral Viradia

Everyone seems to be having a ball with this song. Dhanush is on a roll with the groovy melody highlighted by sparse beat that invokes a post-midnight jambooree. The konjam konjam bit is a nice touch. It is like Ava Enna(Varanam Aayiram) but a few notches faster and happier. Hiral Viradia makes a cool entry with singing in an ARR album(after few turns in Mimi). Once the vocals are done, the beats go crazy with a jugalbandi of sorts between Punjabi dhol and Koothu beats. This song should be a celebration and bring the house down in live concerts.

TOOFAN SI KUDI

Rashid Ali

Additional Vocals: Mayank Kapri, Varun Uday, Nisa Shetty, Pooja Tiwari

A Flamenco track in the mold of Jumbalika is a surprising entry in this mostly Indian-themed album. The chorus is infectious, the sounds are rich, and there are some interesting things happening with the lyrics, and the occassional fusion of a dhol beat and a ghatam in the background. Nisa Shetty(Nexa Music Band, You Got Me) mainlines the vocals, Rashid Ali sounds a little off, with few mispronunciations(thitholi becomes thithothi), which hopefully get ironed out in the Tamil version. This is the type of song that has potential to grow with multiple listens.