Hassan Learns French Cooking - A. R. Rahman.

               

 Link to the Soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPRf96ETE6U

I got to listen to A. R. Rahman's latest Hollywood soundtrack Hundred Foot Journey, only after a month of its release. I listened to the first track, and needless to say, I was bowled over! I was so addicted that I postponed listening to the remaining tracks.

Hassan Learns French Cooking is an absolute delight with the perfect blend of Western Classical and Indian music. Who else in the west (among those 'wannabe exotic' ones and the significantly better Mychael Danna) can think of a near-perfect Carnatic Violin bit amidst a western string section? Wait!! You have a bigger surprise here. That's NOT a Carnatic Violin, but a Sarangi, that deceptively appears like a Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan cameo in one of Bruce Broughton's less complex pieces. The humble, soft-spoken Rahman has a 'screw the rules, screw the conventions!' attitude here, being daringly, audaciously out-of-the-box! By the way, would Broughton have imagined a disguised Santoor in one such piece?

Here, Rahman is not being exotic just for the sake of being so. Just see how brilliantly the Santoor compliments the oboe from 2:20 to 2:23. Oh yes, Rahman is being his avant-garde self here, for the first time in his Hollywood stint. (By the way, Mr. Hans Zimmer, why don't you consider sampling that short Santoor piece and adding it to your trademark ostinato template? :D !)

Though, the strong Mozart influence from 3:58 to 4:17 sounds extremely pleasing, the phrasing sounds very familiar. Shortly after that, the subtle French horn and its Oboe-counter from 4:18 make us feel that we are back in the Broughton territory, just when Rahman punctiliously shifts gears to exotic Indianness.

What a theme! Saying that this is a promising start to the soundtrack, would be an understatement, because the piece has already delivered to the promise!