Yuvvraaj is different. It had to be different as it’s by Subhash Ghai. And this is exactly what I had expected it to be, though I had expected it to be some different at the same time.
Yuvvraaj seems to be a perfect platform where Subhash Ghai utilized his rare chance to chop off Gulzar’s free imaginative wings and A R Rahman’s melodic romanticism with his thousand-times-repeated and as-old-as-mountain thoughts to the fullest. This man seems cannot think something beyond than what he is doing for ages. The inlay card contains visuals of the songs that vouches it to be nothing different from Taal or Yaadein (Yuckkkk!!!!) or Pardes (Yuckkkk again!!!!). How long will we see the movies with the same old story with same old stupid treatment especially now, when we have so many new people with innovative thoughts coming to make cinema?
Taal music was an unusual escape from Subhash’s usual claws. May be this was the reason behind those rumors that said that A R Rahman and Subhash Ghai had serious creative differences in the brainstorming sessions and that Subhash Ghai interferes in the music development process more than he was required. My heart asked me to believe those rumors and I was very happy with the thought that AR would not work with Subhash Ghai again. But Yuvvraaj was waiting and I am just not liking it.
Yuvvraaj comes with the same old use of instrument, the same old use of percussion, the same old use of vocals and most importantly the same old shade of Western Classical music? Had Yuvvraaj were by Mani Ratnam and not by Subhash Ghai, I would have blamed A R Rahman for this clichéd sound of Yuvvraaj. But if you take this shy man’s words seriously then you would remember that while asked ‘How come you are always at your best when you work with Mani Rathnam’, he replied ‘With Mani, sky is the limit’. So how would a creative man deliver within defined limits? This is what Yuvvraaj music is. It’s limited. It’s limited to Subhash Ghai’s clichéd thought.
But still Yuvvraaj is NOT a trash. Yuvvraaj has its moments too. There are some magical but brief moments for AR fans when his soul flashes out suddenly from under the hammered loud presence of Mr. Ghai. There are some out of the world surreal preludes and interludes that come and go only to assure you of AR’s presence. But for sure, there’s nothing left for Gulzar fans. Yuvvraaj poetry is as flat as highway.
When it is true that Subhash Ghai has nothing new to give as he can’t actually think new, it is also true that Yuvvraaj marks A R Rahman’s failure too. This time he couldn’t surpass Ghai’s yawning ideas like he did in Taal by inducing life to that lifeless movie.
