The 14-track album gives us two supremely talented vocalists- Shashwat Singh and Bela Shende.

'99 Songs' is AR Rahman's first Hindi soundtrack in three years. Vishwesh Krishnamoorthy's film, written and produced by Rahman, has 14 original songs. The average Bollywood soundtrack nowadays doesn't even offer one. 99 songs appears to share some thematic similarities with the 2011 hit flick 'Rockstar' and the original music is nothing like anything. This AR Rahman soundtrack is exactly what we need in these troubled times. The musical tornado gives us hope at a time when all of us are social distancing to save ourselves from the dreaded Coronavirus. All the songs in the album are amazing and the composition and arrangement are bang on.

The 14-track album brings two supremely gifted vocal talents into the limelight, Shashwat Singh and Bela Shende. Shashwat carries the album on his shoulders and kickstarts musical proceedings in the hummable 'Teri Nazar' that takes us back to the Rahman that gave us 'Aahista Aahista' (Swades). There is longing and pining in the vocals with the flute as an accompaniment. Shashwat is heard on five tracks, among which 'O Aashiqa' is one of the two most outstanding tracks of the album. The singing and the production start off mellow and rise slowly to a rapturous crescendo. It has a chorus that is transcendental and 'Sofia' has an old school charm with the refrain 'Sofia' repeatedly hitting the home run.



Arijit Singh headlines the other outstanding track, Jwalamukhi. 'Jwalamukhi' has been doing the rounds on all music applications for a while now and we see no reason why it shouldn't. Arijit Singh delivers in his predictable but melodious voice. He hits all the right notes, high and low. The track will take you in with repeated listening. The female rendition is sung by extremely talented Poorvi Koutish who stands out with her vocal texture. The other cameo is by Armaan Malik who has described the song as the 'most challenging song' of his career, and we believe him. The track design is intricately detailed and Malik is game to go the extra mile.



Shashaa Tirupati is always terrific and she proves it with the jazzy 'Soja Soja'. She delivers a confident performance but jazz in Hindi films has occasionally done well. 'Kaisi Paheli' (Parineeta) was an exception. 'Nayi Nayi' is exquisitely created and is highly reminiscent of 'Rockstar'. Shashwat Singh stands out in this heavy-on-guitars piece. The song has the potential to top the charts and could have easily made it into a mainstream Bollywood flick. Both 'Sofia' and 'Nayi Nayi' are college rock material.

Bela Shende is the other supremely gifted vocalist of the album. And she delivers with panache and style. She is devotional in 'Sai Shirdi Sai', the song is brilliant but it somehow doesn't fit in. Shende makes up for it with 'O Mera Chand', a throwback melody lullaby. 'O Mera Chand' is evident of Rahman's ingenuity as it is a juxtaposition of acoustic guitar with the flute. 'Gori Godh Bhari' brings back the revered musical talent Alka Yagnik. It has three big names- Anuradha Sriram, Alka Yagnik, and Shweta Mohan. But this classically inclined number is not playlist material. 'Veere Kadh De' is a musically haphazard tune with sassy vocal gymnastics and hip-hop by a rapper with the name of an Instagram poetry page, thoughtsfornow.

'The Oracle', an instrumental piano piece is the stand-out piece of 99 songs. It is reminiscent of the grandeur of 'Jai Ho'. It gradually builds up momentum before reaching a grand crescendo. In these hard times of a global crisis, Rahman's music gives us hope and all one needs to do is plug in the earphones and let the music do the talking.



AR Rahman is undoubtedly a distinguished maestro but the problem with the majority of his soundtracks, as the followers of film music are familiar with, is that it requires a few listens to grow on you. Owing to the lockdown, we all have plenty of time on our hands now, and once you devote a few listens to this soundtrack, you will fall head over heels in love with it. There is enough in 99 Songs to live with and revisit.