Ay Hairathe - Guru by A.R. Rahman, Hariharan, Alka Yagnik, Mohammed Aslam

Some songs are made for a single moment. Ay Hairathe - Guru is made for all of them. What makes Ay Hairathe - Guru musically distinctive is the composition by A.R. Rahman, which balances simplicity with depth.

The vocal on Ay Hairathe - Guru is among the better performances A.R. Rahman, Hariharan, Alka Yagnik, Mohammed Aslam has committed to record. The chemistry of Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, R. Madhavan, Vidya Balan, Mithun Chakraborty, Arya Babbar is embedded in every moment of Ay Hairathe - Guru, making it as much a performance as a song.

When it came out in 2007, Ay Hairathe - Guru felt timely. Years later, it feels timeless. Some music is background. Ay Hairathe - Guru demands attention — not aggressively, but in the way a good conversation does.

The concision of Ay Hairathe - Guru — just 6:09 — is part of what makes it work. There is nothing here that should not be. It is, at the end of it, a very good song — and sometimes that is the only explanation that matters.