Krrish3 - Music Review

I just happened to listen to the songs of Hritik Roshan's upcoming flick, Krish3.

In the process I came across a few reviews that say that the album is insipid and sounds outdated.

But I thought, I should I beg to differ. I felt this is great music. And the songs are doing well, aren't they? The song Raghupati Raghav Raajaram is already on the lips of children. Dil Tu Hi Bata is on the way to become a national sensation.

Just a couple of points before the review...

This so called modern music, has been, kind of, forced on the Indians. It is too much of a task to be able to, even hum a modern song. Who, if I may ask, is actually asking for so much of a complication in music, in this already complicated life?

The masses are still simple. Simple mass numbers are all hits today and that proves this point. I mean the kinds that Mika sings... I feel most of the modern stuff goes over the heads of masses, frankly.

The old has been forced out, but the new is still coming because it is coming from various foreign lands... it is a confusion, that composers are in, for at least 18-20 years now!

A song should have mystery about it, and yet it has to be hummable. The BGMs and pattern music pieces should be hummable by the masses, should be easy to hold on to and remember. Only this way, music can penetrate masses who are the real heart of a country.
Music that stays with people is that which is mysterious, hummable and is one that touches some deep recesses of their hearts.

Rajesh Roshan belongs to the older generation of music directors. Can we forget his Julie? But for years now, he has been employed only by
his brother Rakesh Roshan...

Rajesh Roshan retains the olden days' style of tunes, and has given the orchestration, seemingly, to the new age arrangers. Yet, he must have supervised the rhythms and melody parts so that they are never complex or overloaded. The sound of the album is good, we could listen to all the instruments quite clearly.

In Krrish3, Rajesh Roshan attempts to merge the old style of tunes that touch the soul, with the new age heavy kick and base guitar patterns... as he did for Kaho Naa Pyar Hai & Krrish earlier...

Coming to the album,

Raghupati Raghav Rajaram, somehow, has a soul that would connect to people. Hritik's dance movements shown for the song in trailers have already caught on with youth.

You Are My Love is a song that seems to have been composed on the lines of the advert "you are my honey bunny". It has a Goan feel, an interesting "teen maar" rhythm. And this number has a potential to remain with people because you could listen to it repeatedly, the orchestration is simple and does not give you fatigue. You could listen to Alisha Chinai and Mohit Chauhan in this number.

God Allah Aur Bhagvan is again an old style tune. Yes, you could say it is slow in the modern sense, but we need to understand that speed has given us nothing except blood pressure and sugar.
In the antra, you could listen to lyrics like "sab mein vo chupaa hai use pehchaanle... vo dostonka hai dost, yaaron ka hai yaar". Good old familiar lyrics by Sameer. "Pyar ka savera leke aayenge hum" says Sameer in the song... What a relief! I don't need to rush to open Google and search for the meaning of words... as I keep doing when I listen to the new numbers.

The album is modern where is needs to be. The rhythm patterns for Raghupati Raaghav Raja Ram are actually groovy... the club stuff, you could say... with a tune that has the flavour and soul of yesteryears sensibilities.

Theme of Krrish is passable. Perhaps it would sound good as background music when Hritik Roshan casts his magic with his impeccable screen presence in Krrish3.

The best song of the album is Dil Tu Hi Bata. I feel this tune will remain with me for the years to come. Hats off to Rajesh Roshan for this tune. The rhythm pattern is fantastic. The selection of instruments lends a mysterious feel. Chorus taken from the keyboards, a trait of Rajesh Roshan, somehow deepen the feel of the song. The base guitar if perfect.

Kyon aaj suni teri dhadkan pehli baar - this line is the best part... Alisha Chinai's vocals push you into an abyss of nostalgia. Aa dilne mere sunlee tere dil ki pukaar, says Zubeen Garg, and this line, tuned in a high note, treated to with an echo effect, gives a haunting feel to the listener.
The antra has an excellent tune with lyrics like Duniya jhooti lagti hai... it will make the listener fall in love with the song... and with love itself...
Ok... I could keep keying a lot of things about this song... but I leave the rest to you to feel. I already listened to the song for 8 or 10 times... and plan to keep going all day today :)
Hey, I almost forgot, the piano piece is something I really loved, you will love it too if you happen to observe it.

Thanks to Rakesh Roshan and Rajesh Roshan. These tunes will keep the Indian music alive... in a

way it should be living...

Krish3 is not a classic. No. But it is something good to have happened to Indian music scene, I feel. Remember? When Sajid Wajid's Tere Mast Mast Do Nain became a hit, Bollywood Music underwent a positive change!

Even this day, you could listen to Kahona Pyar Hai and feel good. How many of today's songs would remain with you in 2023? Yes, same with Krrish3.

While we wait fondly for the best people of Hindi Film Music (who are taking rest now), to return and thrill us once again, let us live on with this music for now :)

CAN You Believe THIS? The Spirit of Hindustan... is Back!

British left us, dry. They cut us off from our own essential education
By destroying our universities...
by not letting us pass on our superior 20.000 year old education to next generations for 200 years!

Result? Our far superior knowledge has become alien to our own selves.

Today, almost everybody thinks Western education is superior.

And sadly, our practices are ridiculed.

But WAIT!

I have seen something that got my heart pounding.

Recently, I made a trip to Gangapur, an energy centre of my Guru Sri Dattatreya and to Akkalkot. On the way, I found youngsters walking in batches.

Most of them had no footwear.
They had backpacks and were wearing colorful shorts and T Shirts.

They were all going to Tuljapur, a place of the Goddess Bhavani.



I halted to interview one traveller, Varun.
The boy was in his plus two.
He was going on foot to Tuljapur.
He had already walked about 50 kilometres
And about 190 kilometres were left to cover.
3 days, he said, it would still take him to reach.
In this auspicious 9 Nights of Navratri, all of them have taken a vow to visit the Mother Goddess on foot.
At night they would sleep in temples and move on in day time.


Imagine, today's youth walking hundreds of kilometres for a spiritual pursuit!
This might be an impossible thought for youth, of especially Andhra Pradesh.
In general, the Telugu people, I observed, don't think spiritualism is something they could think about seriously, forget walking hundreds of kilometres.

These were youth from Maharashtra and Karnataka.
I was awed, I should confess.

All along the way, I had seen hundreds of such walking youth.









I bowed down to The Mother Goddess Tulja Bhavani, in my heart.
I bowed down to these youth who are exhibiting such a powerful desire.
And I bowed down to the Gurus who are now bringing back the lost culture and spiritualism to the place it was born...

Yes, this is the spirit. 

The real spirit of Hindustan! 

The SPIRIT is HERE and it is coming Back!

Thank you for reading :)

I Hate You, New Songs !

1989...
I was watching Chitra Lahari on DD. Mom said "My God! What songs are these! Yuk. The music in my days... they were Golden Days!"

2013... 24 years later...
I am listening to the Telugu Top10 of the week on YouTube. I say to myself "My God! What songs are these! Yuk. The music in my days... they were Golde..."

And I suddenly stop myself from completing the sentence.

Was my mom right? Or am I?

Just because something becomes old, does it become Gold?
Does every generation think that their younger days had better songs than the present songs?
Will the same songs I call no-soul songs, be called golden songs by my children?

No. There is something basically wrong in our judgement of music!

No confusion. Just 3 points will make it clear! Read on...


1. Psychology says that mind simply blocks sad parts, difficult parts of memory from reaching consciousness. It only retains the pleasurable moments. We so associate the 'golden days' with the
songs we listened to at that time. "Tadaaan!" and songs of those days become precious.

2. Mind and it's power over us, slowly grow as we age. The lesser the age, the less influence of the mind and the happier we feel inside. Hence, a song can touch your deeper core at a younger age, more than at your older age. So, old songs feel better, and we cannot connect to the new songs because of heavier influence of mind.

3. This point is my favourite, being a music composer...

Music in earlier days was more "Live". So, more "Alive".
In earlier days, violinists, percussionists, keyboard and piano players and others sit Live at the
studio. Ab
out 10 to 130 people assembled with all their rapt attention.
They play the music when the music director waves his hand.
They are human beings. Artists. When they played, the Cosmic Intelligence flowed through them.
Their playing had the human touch, the human error, the human heart and feelings in it.
All their collective intense intentions of making a beautiful piece, joined them together as ONE ENERGY to produce the piece.
It was soul harmony manifesting itself into a song.
The singer used to sing the song along with the huge orchestra of performers. He/She is very much "present" there.
The song was "Alive".
It penetrates you. It harmonizes and vibrates with that essential inner core you have inside you.
So the olden songs are master pieces.

Music these days is a one man affair.
Basically, the composer composes the tune and the pieces on a sequencer on computer.
Just tracks upon tracks on a computer screen.
Sometimes, if required, some musician comes down and plays his piece on his, say, guitar and leaves. Then another day, a pianist is called to add his piece.
No one meets anyone. There is no transfer of the joy, music is essentially concerned with.
Most of the instruments are computer generated. A computer has no heart, does it?

The song is more of a machine's way of imitating a human art.

There is no human harmony, intensity or power of intention.
And when finally the whole thing is done, the singer arrives to render the song. He/She would sing the song to a dead, mechanical track... not to alive human beings with divine art playing their talent out to the singer's vocals.

Now tell me, how can we compare the earlier songs with today's numbers?

PS: I dream to make music with hundreds of people in a studio playing live...
I dream of making real voices with clarity to sing my tune...
(not singers who sound like patients of nervous disorder singing in their bathrooms...)
I dream of big studios and producers who understand "real" music.
I muse over those Golden Days!
When Lakshmikanth Pyerelal recorded 1-2-ka-4 and Cholike Peeche with heaviest drums, dholaks and tablas with scores of stringed insturments played... Even today, they give goose bumps!
When Ilayaraja had hoards of most talented musicians summoned to play for him in Chennai...
coming down all the way not only from Bombay but from abroad sometimes.

Hey, when did all this down-trend in India start actually? Wasn't it in about 1992 with Ro... ahem...

I see 2 Thieves chased by Cops!

Something interesting happened the other night. 

I woke up at 3am in the morning... there were some sounds on the street. When I came out of the door on the first floor of my independent building in Nallakunta and I saw something we don't get to see often. 

2 Thieves were running and 2 cops were chasing them on a bike.  

The probable thieves, ran to hide behind a parked car.

I could see the cops as I could see the thieves from the top angle I was watching.

2 thoughts zoomed into my oversized head. 

1. Let me tell the cops that these people are hiding behind the car. 

2. No, let them go, they are human beings too... it is horrible for anyone to spend time in confinement.

Then, what did I do? You are right there. I just watched on silently without doing anything.

Further thoughts:

1. If I tell the cops where the thieves were hiding, what if they hold a grudge and hurt my family or me?(I know, this is all the films and useless frightening stuff TV News channels talking). 

2. Why should I interfere in their Karma? If they were destined to be caught, let them be caught. If they have to escape according to the Cosmic Plan, so be it. 

Hey wait! But Spider-Man lets the thieves get away. And the same thieves kill Spidey's uncle in a later scene. What if these same people, come and rob my house or cause us harm? 

Would it not be because of my reluctance to do my duty towards the society by assisting the cops to apprehend them?

In spite of all these thoughts, I had been silent. 

Meanwhile, the cops spot the thieves and yell at them and try to grab them... yet, the thieves escape and continue their run. The chase goes on until I can see them no more... I don't know that happened after that, nor do I care to know... sorry, but that is me. 

Was I right or wrong. Which of my self-contradicting thoughts was right? What should I have done?

My observations:

1. In olden days, say about 30 years back, people had simple minds. They would have simply indicated the thieves' location to the cops. 

2. In these days, with ruthless information flow from all 360 angles in the form of media, minds have become complex. Clarity of thought is a rarity in these days. 

Then what should we do? Ok, let me tell you. 

1. We need to be centered, present in the moment, without the influence of thoughts or emotions. Whatever a thought or emotion tells you to do is wrong, because it is just a collection of past experiences.  

 

2. If we are in the present moment, without any thought, a "spontaneous" response would emerge(as beloved Master Osho says). 

Whatever this spontaneous response would prompt you to do, will be RIGHT in capital letters!

3. For this, we need to learn the art of being in the moment. 

We could read stuff by Masters (perhaps a tome by Eckhart Tolle). 

We need to strengthen the present moment and learn to be steady and rooted in the present. 

This is an ongoing self-training... but when we do give it time, every day sincerely, life becomes a miracle. Things, for a change, become RIGHT and for the first time you are CLEAR!

Thanks for reading. 

PS: Yes, I am still in kindergarten in this process, so in that instance, I had all those contradicting thoughts. Yet, at the end, I did succeed in centering myself into the eternal NOW. 

On A Saturday... (Caution: Crazy Stuff - Try Not To Read)

It was Saturday, I remember... Lot of weird things happened that day... thought I should tell you all about it... ah, common, it won't take more than 3 minutes of your time... I know you can do it... i mean read it... haa? Cool, then...

That day, the Sun was already on duty as I closed my ears with both my muscular hands (muscular? hee just wanted to impress :))...
I did that while I was passing my friendly neighbourhood's tea outlet at Shankarmutt.

While my bike, a red Bullet, is not accustomed to these kinds of crazy circus stunts from my end, it expressed it's disapproval of my action (of leaving the handle to close my ears) by almost falling down on a pile of fresh garbage.

I brought back my hands with effort as I passed the outlet...
Why did I close my ears? Hmmm... there, 2 of my friends were discussing something I did not want to listen to... at any cost.

Then I come down to Punjagutta, to my office. As I enter my dear little cabin, my 'cave', I suddenly close my ears with my hands again and start singing a terrible song in the Vietnamese language, something I have never tried earlier...
While I close my ears and sing this song, the whole team rushes into my 'den' to see if everything is al-right with me.
My song must have sounded like listening to a reversed song of Michel Jackson, I mused with satisfaction.
But why did I do that?
Oh, that's because my team, outside the cabin, is discussing something, again, I did not want to listen to, at any cost.
I release my ears of their captivity and give the team a smile along with a sound that resembled a goat having indigestion problems...


As the day passes, on my laptop, I accidentally click on something that I should not have...
And Lo! A window opens with the content that I should not be looking at. Now stop imagining... it's not ladies in babys' clothes on that web site.
It has something that I do not want to see, at any cost. And what is that?
Now, please... let me maintain some suspense value in the blog, it had been my dream all my life :)

So, I close my eyes tight shut, trying not to look at the site and start pounding the mouse in vein effort to close the window... As I semi-open my eyes, if I can call it that, I see that there is an error message that looked almost like some terrorist's threat... that I did something that is now going to result in crashing my laptop... I call the IT guy who labours to undo what I did with closed eyes while I play Subway Surf on my iPad.Suddenly, without mercy, the IT guy starts telling me something that I will not want to listen to, at any cost.

No Way! I immediately, resort to what I have practised a few times since morning. I close my eyes, I shut my ears, and suddenly increase the volume of the song I was just singing... After about 32 repetitions of the first 3 lines of the song I slowly open my eyes and release my ears. I find the IT guy in an understandably painful expression... and juxtaposed to him was my boss with a "lineleeshious light bulb" expression - sorry even I don't know what that is.
"Am I unwell? Do I want to go home or perhaps to a doc?"... I answer in a polite "no" and give a sheepish smile coupled with a sound that emanated involuntarily from the deep recesses of my throat... the sound was actually close to a mad horse gargling.

My God! What is happening? Is that what you thought? Come on, wait till the climax, will you?


While I was heading back home on the same day, I was stalled on a red signal. Two bikers on either side of me... friends to each other, I guess...
They start talking to each other, over me, about the same thing I did not want to listen to, at any cost.
I panic as the discussion starts. I start to struggle here and there, try to push myself past the narrow strait between a big bus and a little car, all this resulting in putting my Bullet in an awkward position just enough to jam traffic.
Enter - the traffic cop, just on time to rescue me and give me a piece of advise on civilized ways of driving bikes.


Fine, now let me tell you what is happening. The friends at the tea outlet, my team at my office cave, the IT guy, the web site and the 'friends' on the red signal were all talking about the same thing, that I did not want to hear, at any cost!

They were discussing the story of the film I was going to watch the next day!
This is the latest film of one of the more popular stars, that released just the day before.
And these people are discussing the story? That is inhuman!
They have all watched the film already and they are having so much fun, revealing the important
scenes, the suspense, the story line and the punch dialogues in the film.
TOO MUCH!

Why do people do this? I don't want to listen to the story before watching the film. Like me, many might have this weakness... of being severely disinterested to watch a film if once the story is revealed.

I don't want to know, I don't want to read reviews on web sites and newspapers. No No No.

Now, tell me, would you not do the same weird things if you were me? Come on, say yes, you can get those sounds too, with a little practice... the mad horse gargling sound? hmmm?

To end the story, I went happily to the film on Sunday. Had great expectations on the film.
The director did a good job, I mused, it was a very interesting beginning to the film...
And then it happened... an overenthusiastic cine buff, sitting right behind my seat, started explaining the story to his friend. Every scene, before it actually was shown, every dialogue before it was uttered, every twist before it manifested...
Agrrrrrrr! Why should people watch the movie and come back to watch it again?
Why cant they control the strongest muscle in their body, I mean the tongue...

Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?

Thank you for reading :)

PS: You had a question at the end, I could almost hear it. Why did I not turn back and tell the guy
to shut up? Yes, I did turn back, but the guy actually looked like a desi version of a cross between Mike Tyson and Arnold Schwarzenegger... shouting on him might, actually not be a very healthy idea... meeehhaaaeerrraaa (the sound of a mongoose when you press his tummy hard)... :)

2 Secrets - 'They' Don't Want You To Know

Greek philosopher Aristippus, was flattering the king and so was in a good position.
Once he sees the great Greek philosopher Diogenes, dining on lentils...
Aristippus says, "Learn to flatter the king and you will not have to live on lentils..."
Diogenes looks up from his plate and says
"Learn to live on lentils and you will never have to flatter anyone"...

Loved this story. On reading it, I remembered that I know of a method where you do not need flattery at all.

There are 2 kinds of management styles, as you might know, the X and the Y Theories ( proposed by Douglas McGregor in 1960s).

Theory X says that people are lazy, hate work... They are inherently morons and naturally escapists.
You need to boss over them, slap punishments, set rules and as such.
They need to be treated like obsolete radio sets (punching them whenever they don't work).

Theory Y says that people are inherently good natured.
They love work, are productive & proactive, have self control... they are ambitious and are generally positive.
So the management needs to motivate them, give them best environment and needs to trust them.

Which style is right?
If you ask me, each employee is both theories put together. Cannot be otherwise.
And depending on the management style, their X or Y comes out into the open. 

In my experience, I worked my way into the hearts of a team of about 30 people in one of my previous jobs. Initially, I did not know my style... was it X or was it Y?

But when I started responding to my team members, I found myself treating them more like human beings.
Like I talk to my daughters...
I trusted the team. I never imposed myself or my ideas, how much ever it was tempting.
I watched myself responding with pain when something did not go right with them.
I designed & left it to the team to execute. Most of the times, they adapted my design to their own style.
I did not flinch an inch, even when the output was not actually close to what I had on mind.
I trusted nature to set things into flow. I trusted my teem members and their ability.
Though I pampered them, I was assertive in some vital things, I was leading them with visualization
techniques, implanting them indirectly, without being preachy.
One word was important - Harmony.
If there is harmony, there will be respect, success, happiness and satisfaction. Life will be worthwhile. Collective energies started flowing...

Initially, there was resistance to the style. From above and from below.
Initially and later too, the team exhibited a tendency towards the X Theory.
I responded "Harmoniously".
If they cannot do something on a day, that's fine. Another day would come.
If this person does not have the capability to execute what I had on mind, no problem, that's how much he can do... I will find someone else to do it, if necessary.

The team became comfortable and then they improved. They were taking responsibility on their own...
a phase came when I did not even need to check or supervise.
They would sort out, whatever the issue, among themselves.
It was love... for work and for the work place.
In fact the team started treating each other with the same love and harmony.
A request is simply granted, because their judgement has been tuned and trusted over and over again.

Recognizing talent, motivating them for higher performance,
accepting people for what they are, respecting the soul inside the employee...
all these bring harmony.
Then there is no need for flattery, there would be no use of flattery...

And those who don't fit into this pattern, who are always the quarrelsome or the gossiping kind, somehow naturally wither and drop off from the team... it's just a natural process...

With this, we were the most organized lot, meticulous at work,
but a little not too disciplined always, though...
Yet, our team started achieving material - tangible success that was hitherto not there.

In the other style of management, I had fortunately experienced this too, there is a sort of fear in the air,to put it short.

So, 
2 things they don't want to listen to & don't want you to know... 
2 things that keep me going...

1. The inner urge to create & spread harmony around, wherever you are...

2. The attitude of "please don't do me any favours. I don't want anything for myself"



Salman Khan's film Body Guard has this line that describes my life's truth
"Mujh par ek ehsaan kar... ke mujhpe koi ehsaan na kar"
- I just need one favour from you - the favour of not doing any favours to me...






Thank you for reading :)

PS: Perhaps the "shroud"ists won't appreciate this.
They would not want you to read these lines, too...
But I guess, this is going to be the future of corporate, if you think corporate should have any future.