Well-known in India for his massive portfolio of Bollywood scores, but curiously unknown in the west until recently, A.R. Rahman is a talented and innovative composer.
But his latest score, Slumdog Millionaire, is a bizarre whirlpool of driving dance beats, ethnic instruments and strangely distorted orchestral passages. Although it is not without some very attractive moments, the hype it has received as a brilliant film score is somewhat undeserved, at least when removed from its visual context.
The Songs of Slumdog Millionaire
The predominant elements of the soundtrack are the songs, most of which are co-written by Rahman himself (excluding both versions of “Paper Planes” and the lengthy “Aaj Ki Raat,” which admittedly do not stray at all far from the tone established by Rahman’s material).
The songs contain thick strains of rap, hip-hop, dance, orchestral material and disco, and while their genre-bending instrumentation and rhythms are indeed unusual and catchy, the vocals tend to be monotonous and uninspiring. The exceptions to this are the sublime “Dreams on Fire” (featuring Suzanne) as well as Rahman’s two Oscar®-Nominated songs “O… Saya” and “Jai Ho,” the latter being an exceptionally upbeat, optimistic and affable song indeed (and the one cue on the album worthy of any and all recognition it can get).
Slumdog Millionaire's Underrepresented Score
The score proper receives very little time on the album compared to the songs. “Riots” is a short and darkly propulsive action piece, while “Mausam and Escape” begins somewhat more gently, before evolving into an intense sitar-accompanied action cue (with electronics, choir, and mutilated orchestra mixed very bizarrely for an odd but dramatically effectively result).
Conversely, “Latika’s Theme” (a wordless vocal version of “Dreams on Fire”) is a soothing and very beautiful cue with soft, rippling bass and delicate guitar.
Oscar®-Worthy Score or Simple Song Compilation?
Overall, the effect of the music on its film is undeniably effective, and certainly one of the most powerful mixtures of sound and image in recent cinema: but on its own, the music reveals itself as an affable and curious but strangely unremarkable collection of internationally-flavored pop tracks. The songs and score cues are superficially enjoyable, but mostly of a crossover, unexceptional mainstream nature which do not merit much special respect from the film score community, much less prestigious awards.
One might be tempted to think (and not unreasonably) that the Oscar® nominations for this soundtrack are the result of a widespread fascination with the film it accompanies: certainly there are better scores from 2008 that are more deserving of such attention, and this makes the attention Slumdog Millionaire is receiving by default somewhat frustrating. On the other hand, the fact that A.R. Rahman (a capable and deserving composer) is finally getting some international recognition is very satisfying.
Summary
The album is not without its moments: indeed, parts of it will endear themselves very quickly to even the most dedicated orchestral music aficionados. But the appeal of the album will be much greater to those whose listening habits involve mainstream pop music, especially fans of dance, hip-hop and light rap. Novel, strange and enjoyable?
Slumdog Millionaire is certainly these things. But of award-winning caliber?
No. One should pursue this album as an exotic souvenir of an inspiring and well-made film, and not expect anything resembling an orchestral masterpiece worthy of worldwide awards favor.
David Abraham Dueck - I live in MN and do not surf or collect Hello Kitty paraphernalia. I instead play ice hockey, write articles for my blog, read tons of ...
