Raavan is the soundtrack composed by A. R. Rahman, who accompanied for the music and background score for the 2010 Hindi film of the same name, directed by Mani Ratnam. It was released on 24 April 2010, by the label T-Series. The soundtrack features six songs, with four additional tracks included in the film were released later; the lyrics being penned by Gulzar. The same soundtrack was used for the Tamil version of the film, titled Raavanan as well as the Telugu dubbed version, titled Villain.
Development
The soundtrack is especially noted for the use of rich instruments, Indian as well as Middle Eastern. Several new singers are introduced through this film. Rahman as usual, brought some experimental tracks like "Beera Beera" and "Thok De Killi". There is a folk song "Kata Kata", a kind of Sufi song "Ranjha Ranjha" as well as melodies like "Behene De" and "Khilli Re" in the soundtrack. The choreography of the songs by Ganesh Acharya, Brinda, Shobhana and Astad Deboo is also considered the highlight of the songs.
The album kicks off with "Beera Beera", that was premiered on the official teaser of the film. It was sung by Vijay Prakash and it begins with an African chant that was sung by Mustafa Kutoane. It describes the lead character played by Abhishek Bachchan. This track was picturised on the introduction scene of Bachchan. The African chant explains the wild character of him. The song continues throughout the opening credits.
"Behene De", sung by Karthik and Mohammed Irfan was regarded as the highlight of the album by many reviewers. The song, which takes many fascinating turns mid way, was the first completely picturised song in the film. Its shot on the beauties of Athirapally waterfalls in Kerala and features Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai. The song is widely regarded as the biggest song in Karthik's musical career. He recorded the song in 2009 October from Rahman's Chennai studio and has performed it live in many programmes.
The next track "Thok De Killi" is sung by one of Rahman's most trusted singers Sukhwinder Singh and is a fast and peppy number. Guitar is the major instrument used and it ends in a frenzy and uses Arabic esque phrases here and there. The song is picturised as a war dance by Abhishek Bachchan and his gang (consisting of Ravi Kishan, Ajay Gehi etc.). Aishwarya Rai is also featured in the music video, as watching Beera dance from a distance.
"Ranjha Ranjha" is a kind of Sufi song, with a little folk instrumentation and is sung by Javed Ali and Rekha Bhardwaj, who is noted for the rendering of another folk song "Genda Phool" from Delhi-6 by Rahman. The lyrics of the opening lines of the song is adapted from Sufi Saint and Poet Baba Bulleh Shah's "Ranjha Ranjha Kardi". Though this song doesn't feature in the movie, another version of the song that is sung by Ila Arun and Richa Sharma was featured in the film. The song is used in the background of the movie only.
"Khili Re" is a romantic song and is sung by Reena Bhardwaj, who was replaced by Shreya Ghoshal in the Tamil version. Its instrumentation is based on flute and sitar. Picturised on Aishwarya Rai and Vikram from Kolkata, the alap portion of this song features a classical dance performance by Aishwarya Rai. The song was choreographed by well known actress and dancer Shobhana.
"Kata Kata" is a situational song that is rich in percussions and was shot as a wedding song. The song was based on traditional Indian music and Middle Eastern music, and had oud and shehnai are used in the interludes. This song was shot with 1000 dancers in Orchha, Madhya Pradesh. "A huge set was created in Orchha to shoot this song which took four days to wrap up and has been choreographed by Ganesh Acharya," says a Unit hand. This song may seem a little similar in picturisation and mood to "Rukmani Rukmani" (from Roja), both being wedding songs involving a group of singers, but if "Rukmani Rukmani" was a mischievous set-up for the nuptial night, this one's sung like a warning, but with equal amount of revelry and fanfare. "Kata Kata" is reportedly the most lavish song that Mani Ratnam has ever shot in his career.