Jay Ho Rahman and Gulzar

So, at last Rahman nailed it. And he did it in style. With two Oscars he is probably the most recognized Indian face in the world today. Jay Ho. So many times I have heard these two words. But never before, it came out of my mouth so spontaneously in tune. Now the question is about was it Rahman’s best composition? Didn’t Gulzar’s pen give us better neela aasmaans than this zari wale neela one?

Ever since my Dil became Chotasa with Chotisi Asha it just revolutionized my idea about music. And I can bet it that every contemporary musician in India today has been touched in some way or other by this music maestro. I was probably 11 or 12 years old when Roja was released. And it just knocked me out. This was a new style. Different from RDB and Ilaiyaraaja. True that RDB created his own era. So did Ilaiyaraaja. But experimentation somewhat became stagnant after them and new ideas were just becoming rarer and rarer. Enter Rahman. And the scenario was new again. People were not scared to experiment again. Never before in the history of Indian cinema, were so many people experimenting with their tunes the way they do now and we should thank Rahman for that.

But to be true, in the beginning, I wasn’t so apprehensive about this musical genius. Partly because my little head was crowded with the already existing styles so much that it was just not accepting this new happening. But, that’s why he is a genius. Because, he took over me and I wasn’t even aware of it. And before I could realize I found myself humming his every song I disliked.

It happened with Jay Ho too. I was listening to and reading the reviews about Slumdog and its music and my first encounter with Jay Ho was not so impressive either. I was just saying like everyone else. Rahman has done better before. I watched Slumdog just before the Oscar night as offered by Tatasky. At the time of booking the movie for Rs.25 my fingers were hesitant to click the mouse. As I was thinking that it would be on TV soon and why should I bother to waste my hard earned Rs.25 (ehh?) for this movie? My question was answered soon. It was answered along with Zamal when he was answering Irrfan the cop and Prem the star. I was running with those slum boys with Rahman’s tune in the background. And by the end of the movie I was singing Jay Ho. Yes. Rahman is the sure winner. I don’t even care how many better melodies he had composed before Slumdog. I just know that I was following the journey of this boy named Zamal Malik and I was with him throughout his journey. I was running with him, I was on the top of the train with him, I was in the quiz show with him and I was dancing with him at the end of the movie singing Jay Ho. I think when it comes to film music, separating the music from the movie is just stupidity. When I disliked Jay Ho, I was comparing it with the maestro’s previous work. That was stupid of me. But when I was watching the movie, the same song was just flowing in my ear. Every one of us has done it at some point of our lives. That is to say to flow with the rhythm of a situation. We know it just depends on the situation. And that’s why Rahaman is Rahman. Since Roja, he has always flown with the situations without bothering about anything else. And that’s why Jay Ho makes sense in the nonsense. I could not think of anything else but Jay Ho, and that’s why I was singing Jay Ho too. Zari wale neele aasmaan ke tale I too am singing Jay Ho.