Prateek's Musings

KK's sudden passing was a huge shock to fans, and especially for 90s kids like me. We grew up listening to his songs right from Chhod Aaye Hum Woh Galiyan to Dus Bahaane to Khuda Jaane and so on. When I went to his discography, I was easily able to identify close to 70 songs of his which have been on my playlist. But here are five of his underrated songs which I absolutely love!

#1: Dil Tod Ke

KK was one of the singers whose strength was songs with emotions like sadness and pain. In this song from the 2015 film Ishq Ke Parinday, he takes the emotions in the simple yet deep lyrics to another level with his voice, using minute vibrations to emote the pain strongly.

#2: Are Are Are

KK's collaborations with composer M. M. Keeravani have produced gems like Aawaarapan Banjaarapan. This song from the 2012 film Makkhi is probably the opposite in terms of emotion when compared to KK's forte of sad songs. But KK uses his ease of hitting high notes well to communicate the innocence in the protagonist's love for the girl. The Telugu version sung by Haricharan is also great, but KK just owns this one.

#3: Dekho Raste Mein

This song from Hum Tum Aur Ghost is here primarily because of the collaborators - lyrics by Javed Akhtar, music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and vocals by KK and Shreya Ghoshal; all of them are my favourites. It's a signature tune by the composers and the singers completely surrender to their vision, and that enhances the beauty of the composition.

#4: Nazrein Karam

The Bhatt camp produced a lot of movies in the early 2000s, and most of them had great songs even if the movies weren't as great. This song from the 2009 film Jashnn starring Adhyayan Suman and Anjana Sukhani in lead roles and with music by Sharib-Toshi is one such great song from a forgotten film. Like Mohit Chauhan was the voice of Ranbir Kapoor's character in Rockstar and Arijit was the voice of Aditya Roy Kapoor's character in Aashiqui 2, KK was the voice of Adhyayan's character in this musical. He just gets the groovy vibe spot on, with Shreya Ghoshal coming in for a small cameo.

#5: Aksar

Another song with a similar context as the earlier one, this song from Hijack starring Shiney Ahuja and Esha Deol has an upbeat rhythm. However, the film released without any publicity and sank immediately, and therefore not many people have heard this song.

Siblings Atul and Ajay Gogavale, popularly known as Ajay-Atul, have been in the music industry for more than 20 years. Despite no music training, they manifested their passion for music by absorbing Maharashtrian folk music. Starting their career with Marathi stage plays, television soaps and devotional album; they soon caught the attention of filmmakers like Mahesh Manjrekar and Ram Gopal Varma, and then there was no turning back.

Looking at their discography, one might easily think that the quantum of their work is pretty less for the time they have been active. However, no can disagree that the quality of their work has almost always been exceptional. This is why I thought of speaking about 5 of my favourite Ajay-Atul songs which show their prowess as music composers and arrangers.

Shree Ganeshay Dheemahi

This song from the 2001 album Vishwavinayaka might be the first glimpse of Ajay-Atul's grand vision of music arrangement. The blend of the Western instruments and chorus with the Sanskrit verse and traditional tune was a complete revelation for me when I first heard this song. I wouldn't really call this song underrated in terms of popularity, because it became an integral part of cultural programmes in school. This song also became the gateway for Ajay-Atul into the film industry, as the song was used in the 2004 Hindi film Viruddh directed by Mahesh Manjrekar, starring Amitabh Bachchan and John Abraham.

Lallati Bhandar

This song sung by Ajay Gogavale from the 2009 Marathi film Jogwa is an excellent example of Ajay-Atul's music elevating the intended effect of a film to the next level. The movie explores the love story of a Jogta and Jogtin, individuals from a community in rural Maharashtra far removed from the realities of modern urban life and stuck in discrimination and oppression. The song is inspired by the traditional songs sung during a "jagar" in the Hindu calendar month of Shravan, when there is a festival organised at Goddess Yellamma's temple in Saundatti, a place in the Belgavi district in Karnataka.

The film won 5 National Awards with Ajay-Atul winning the award for Best Music Direction. Singers Hariharan and Shreya Ghoshal also won the Best Male and Female Playback Singer awards respectively for the song Jiv Rangala, another complex yet brilliant composition from this film.

Adhir Man Zhale

Shreya Ghoshal is my favourite playback singer across industries, and most of her collaborations with Ajay-Atul have produced memorable songs. This song from the Marathi film Nilkanth Master starring Pooja Sawant could be in my top 3 songs from the Ajay-Atul and Shreya collaboration, and it definitely is the most underrated one when compared to other more popular songs like Aatach Baya Ka Bawarla from Sairat or the aforementioned Jiv Rangala from Jogwa. Shreya imbibes the mood of the song while the arrangement places it firmly in the period where the film is set. Shreya is a versatile singer and her strengths really come out pretty well in this song.

Morya Morya

This song from the 2008 Marathi movie Uladhaal has reinforced my opinion about Ajay-Atul being second best only to A. R. Rahman when it comes to devotional songs. This is probably of the last songs written by legendary Marathi lyricist late Jagdish Khebudkar (who hailed from the village where my paternal grandparents stay). While the rhythm is created using the dhol taasha used in processions during the Ganesh festival, the lyrics clearly bring out the emotion of surrendering to Lord Ganesha and requesting Him to empower us in an amazing fashion.

The signature of Ajay-Atul's music which reflects in this song and many others is their long-drawn interludes where the rhythm pattern and the notes change from the base composition at the beginning but meet again at the end. Of course interludes are used in a lot of songs, but I haven't been impressed by any other music director's interludes apart from "Isaignani" Ilayaraaja.