Rating

This man works wonders, album after album, and never fails to disappoint listeners. Music maestro A R Rahman has done it again.He returns after Guru to compose the soundtrack of Jodhaa Akbar that has already been showered with praises.
Packed with two instrumental numbers and five tracks, Jodhaa Akbar has the makings of a hit.

Azeem O Shaan Shehenshah.

It is a wonderful composition and Mohammad Aslam and Bonnie Chakraborty, who have sung it, have done justice to the song. Lyrics by Javed Akhtar are up to the mark.

In lamhon ke daaman mein

Sonu Nigam and Madhushree render a romantic piece that initially seems like any other track until it picks up pace.Javed Akhtar pens noteworthy lyrics while Rahman’s music keeps the standard you expect from the maestro himself.

Jashn-e-bahaaran

Sung by Javed Ali, comes next. The soft, serene and romantic piece displays an ideal fusion of Ali’s vocals with string music. There’s also a Jashn-ebahaaran (instrumental), which gives the flute a key position in the track.

Khwaja mere Khwaja.

Rahman finally makes his presence felt in areas other than compositions by singing. His rendition coupled with the harmonium, tabla (percussion) and claps make for marvellous music. One begins to wonder how a qawwali could impress to this extent that it ensures immediate gratification to everyone.
Khwaja mere Khwaja (instrumental) is as good as the previous instrumental number belted out.

Mann Mohana

This track, rendered by Bela Shende, is not too bad but after listening to the other numbers in the album, one would prefer placing it at the bottom of the six.

Rahman has once again proved that what he composes is of a completely different genre, standard and calibre. He stands in a place where there can be no competitors; his is a level that cannot be matched.

UTV head honcho Ronnie Screwvala said, “After a presence in production and distribution, it was now time for us to launch our own music label. It is a proud moment to launch our first album with A R Rahman, Javedji and Ashu. Jodhaa Akbar is a kind of film that India has not seen in a long time.”

UTV’s music label will be looked into by the company’s executive vice president marketing, communication and distribution Siddharth Roy Kapur. “UTV’s home video will leverage UTV distribution network of the new music label. For our very first product Jodhaa Akbar we are taking distribution assistance from Sony BMG. But going forward we will handle it ourselves.”

The audio CDs of Jodhaa Akbar will hit music stores on 15 January. The music has been composed by A R Rahman and the lyrics have been penned by Javed Akhtar. Aishwarya Bachchan, Hrithik Roshan, Ashutosh Gowariker, Ronnie Screwvala, A R Rahman and Javed Akhtar were present at the launch.

“Jodhaa Akbar is going to change the mentality of Indian people, no matter which religion they belong to. It is going to bring love,” said Rahman at the launch.

Complementing the efforts of the crew Hrithik Roshan said, “Jodhaa Akbar has the best crew I have ever worked with. I am grateful to have worked with such talented people.”

Eminent personalities like Amitabh Bachchan, Amar Singh, Vrinda Rai, Shatrugan Sinha, Poonam Sinha, Sanjay Khan, Zayed Khan, Zarina Khan and Akbar Khan were also present at the event.