MAQBOOL: a musical triumph

Large pillow bags of doritos to Aranyak for grabbing me a hot copy of the soundtrack CD of Maqbool in India. Still haven't seen the blessed thing in the local Indian stores in ATL. Ripped off the wrapping and chugged straight to track 06: ruukhe nainaa by Sanjeev Abhyankar and I must agree with him on the song being award-worthy. This track is one among several wondrous achievements -- this must mark the fruition (hopefully a precursor to several in the future) of the great collaboration between Vishal and Gulzar that began with a song about jungles and underwear-clad tigers. Vishal has been making quiet strides by wearing different hats (music director, lyricist, scriptwriter, director) with great ease. And post-RD, I seem to enjoy Gulzar's work with him more than any other film music composer. The ethereal quality that Vishal constantly affords Gulzar's multi-textured lyrics is in evidence on this album as well. More detailed reactions will wait. Additional goodies: lyrics in Devanagari, a photo-and-colour-rich CD sleeve, and a bonus track from Ishqa Ishqa providing further evidence of a great vocal talent that is Rekha (Vishal's significant other).