Sanju song 'Ruby Ruby' is the long-awaited AR Rahman track from Rajkumar Hirani's Sanjay Dutt biopic

Is it okay using the word ‘auteur’ — which we usually use for filmmakers — for musicians? Well, if it is AR Rahman, the usage gets legitimised for the artist never misses to leave his creative signature anywhere. The latest Sanju song ‘Ruby Ruby’ is another proof of Rahman’s inimitable style. [caption id=“attachment_4550711” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Cover of Ruby Ruby. Twitter/@T-Series[/caption] The previous songs — ‘ _Main Badhiya Tu Bhi Badhiya_ ’ and ‘ _Kar Har Maidaan Fateh_ ’ — are great compositions in their own right. Also, in some way, these songs speak about a certain space, time and emotional aspects of Sanjay Dutt (played by Ranbir Kapoor) through various stages of his life. But ‘Ruby Ruby’ may/may not have the same biographical touch to it. Having said that, it definitely stands out. It is also very different from the musical palette of director Rajkumar Hirani. His songs usually have an Indian old-world charm — be it ‘ Dekhle’ from Munna Bhai MBBS, ‘ Pal Pal Har Pal’ from Lage Raho Munna Bhai or even ‘ All Izz Well’ from 3 Idiots. These songs may be of different moods — happy, sad, romantic, mischief — but ‘Ruby Ruby’ belongs to a different space: It is eerie, pop-retro(ish), passionate, mysterious and dreamlike in its appeal. The sounds, instrumentals, voices — all take to a space that is far from the Hirani world that we are so used to. It is more Mani Ratnam-meets-Anurag Kashyap space. Well, that is AR Rahman for all of us. Like Sanju — which promises to unravel many unknown facets of Sanjay Dutt’s tumultuous life — this song, too, seems to give us a different side of Hirani the filmmaker. Sung by Shashwat Singh and Poorvi Koutish, and written by Irshad Kamil, ‘Ruby Ruby’ is an intoxicating number which definitely takes you back to the Rahman who gave us ‘ Ishq Shava’ and ‘ Mukkala Mukaabla’ in the past. Listen to the song here.