AR Rahman

In the wake of Rahman’s success, a best-of collection was almost inevitable. Here, then, is a comprehensive 5 CD collection of Rahman’s hits but it’s not without its problems.

The first CD starts on a great note with ”˜Dil Se,’ one of his greatest hits from the film of the same name but it is the second CD that has some underrated gems like the almost forgotten ”˜So Gaye Hain’ from Zubeidaa and ”˜Warriors in Peace’, a Hindi track composed by Rahman for a Chinese movie Warriors of Heaven and Earth, a score for which he used the Czech Film Orchestra as well as instruments like the Japanese taiko drums, the flute and the Armenian woodwind instrument, duduk. The third CD, largely instrumental, includes the title score of his 2002 West End musical Bombay Dreams and ”˜Missing’, a score from his 2006 album Vande Matram. The fourth and fifth CDs have still more random film hits, scattered in no particular order.

One of the major problems with this compilation is that there is no set order. The songs are not sorted by genre, time of release, singers or even language. The compilation also doesn’t feature a single number from Taal, one of A R Rahman’s best movie scores of all times. A Rahman compilation without the soulful ”˜Ishq Bina Kya Jeena Yaaron,’ the fabulous Sukhwinder number ”˜Ramta Jogi’ or ”˜Tanha Tanha’  from Rangeela, which, in 1995, topped all music charts, doesn’t fully justify the genius of this musicianYet, for any big Rahman fan, this is compilation is a must-have simply because it includes a few rarely heard numbers an a DVD which has Rahman talking about what went into making of some of his hit tracks like ”˜Barso Re’, as well as their videos. A bit of a wasted effort, this one.