Music Review: My Name Is Khan

Singer Richa Sharma’s prelude to Sajda – the first track on My Name Is Khan - is the calm before the storm, as right after her, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan rips in with Shankar-Ehsan-Loy’s entire musical troupe – the tabla, the dholak, the chorus – the whole jing bang of their ‘ek-do-teen-chaar’ metered sound, but they've got the heart in place. The song is going to soar on the charts, and how!

Noor-E-Khuda wants to be gospel until Shreya Ghoshal segues into the track at four minutes of enduring both Shankar Mahadevan and Adnan Sami trying to reach out to God in their feeble pop-ish attempt. Must be something about Saraswati being in the ‘kanth’ of a woman; it’s only when Shreya pitches in that the track begins to take a prayer to the skies.

Shafqat Amanat Ali returns to KJo territory with Tere Naina – which oddly sounds so much like Mitwa – the track he sang in Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna. At three minutes, the song heads into a quasi- qawalli mood and makes for interesting listening thereafter.

Rashid Khan’s Allah Hi Raham never really ascends its scale – notching up with each stanza could have made this a ready beckoner. This one does not rise to the occasion, merely chants to it.

The My Name Is Khan theme is operatic alright. James Horner, we can do it too! Rang De Aman Se Aasmaan – wonderful catchphrase, but did it have to be a Rock On! type screamer? Can peace be achieved by crooning into the barrel of a gun when a rose isn’t fitting anymore? I hope this song achieves its transatlantic message across.

The first promise Karan Johar made to us when he embarked on this film is that there would be no song-and-dance routine in it. I hope he keeps his word. These songs should stay in the background – ‘itemzing’ them would be belittling the effort.

Composer: Shankar Ehsan Loy
Lyrics: Niranjan Iyengar
Singers: Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Richa Sharma, Rashid Khan, Adnan Sami, Shafqat Ali Khan
Label: Sony
Stars: 3