(Ud)It wasn’t a disappointing (Chi)t(h)rack

Although critics have stated that Yaaron Sunlo Zara was a letdown, I disagree.

The track from Rangeela, which was five minutes and 53 seconds long, may have failed to impress the purists, but by no means was that the objective of this conversational piece between a tapori (played with aplomb by Aamir Khan) and an aspiring actress (essayed by Urmila Matondkar).

The track was penned by Mehboob and composed by A R Rahman.

(Ud)It was sung by Mr Narayan and K S Chithra. It wouldn’t be incorrect to say that their rendition was the highlight.

Asha rendered the B(hosl)est track

Although the adage goes, “It’s lonely at the top”, A R Rahman had no reason to feel Tanha Tanha – the song was rendered by the (Bhos)legendary Asha, who was, in fact, the recipient of the Filmfare Special Award in 1996.

Seventeen years prior to that, she had requested that her name not be considered for nominations in the Filmfare Best Female Playback Singer category henceforth in order to promote new talent.

The song, which was five minutes and 36 seconds long, was the most outstanding track on the soundtrack of Rangeela.

Mehboob penned the track.

The title track ABsolutely rocked

Rangeela Re, the title track of Rangeela, was fantastic.

The duo who rendered the track, which was five minutes and 34 seconds long, proved that age was just a number.

The main singer was the sprightly Asha Bhosle, who was 62 years old then.

Aditya, Udit Narayan’s son, who was eight then, joined her behind the microphone.

Incidentally, the film released on the former’s birthday (September 8).

Mehboob penned the track, an exercise in in-film branding (there were references to several brands like Cadbury, Amul, Horlicks and Complan).

It was composed by A R Rahman.

Kavita rendered thiS(ure)short track well

Over the years, many people have wondered why love is what it is.

A mixed bag, would, perhaps, be the most appropriate way to describe it, if Mehboob’s lyrics are anything to go by.

The song in question, folks, is Pyaar Yeh Jaane Kaisa Hai from Rangeela.

The shortest song in the film, it was four minutes and 59 seconds long.

A R Rahman composed it.

It was rendered by Suresh Wadkar and Kavita Krishnamurthy.

The track earned the latter a nomination in the Best Female Playback Singer category at the Filmfare Awards in 1996.

Shweta rendered (Rahm)an awesome track

At the time of its release, it wouldn’t have been incorrect to state that Mangta Hai Kya was a unique track.

Six minutes and 45 seconds long, it was the second-longest song on the soundtrack of Rangeela.

Mehboob penned it.

A R Rahman didn’t just compose the song, but was also credited as the crooner.

Shweta Shetty, who shared singing credits with him, was nominated in the Best Female Playback Singer category at the Filmfare Awards in 1996.

Aptly, the word jadoo, which means magic, was repeated three times at the beginning of the song.

(Ud)It was a melodious dilemma

Kya Karen Kya Na Karen, the only male solo on the soundtrack of Rangeela, was rendered by Mr Narayan.

(Ud)It was five minutes and 42 seconds long.

The track earned Mehboob a nomination in the Best Lyricist category at the 1996 Filmfare Awards.

He deserved it, because he wrote a sentiment many people would echo – “Phir bhi kaha nahin. Wajah iski hai yehi, bas inkaar ka humko tha darr” (which means, “Even then, I didn’t tell her my feelings for the simple reason that I feared she would say no.”)

A R Rahman composed it.

It waS(warnalath)a typical Hariharan number

Rangeela, which released in 1995, marked the Hindi film debut of A R Rahman.

It earned him the Best Music Director Award and the R D Burman Award for New Music Talent at the Filmfare Awards the following year.

In fact, he was the first recipient of the latter.

Hai Rama was the longest song in the film – it was six minutes and 46 seconds long.

It wouldn’t be incorrect to state that Hariharan’s rendition was the highlight of the track.

He was joined behind the microphone by Swarnalatha.

The song was penned by Mehboob.

Rahman SaNg a catchy track

Undoubtedly the most popular song on the soundtrack of Humse Hai Muqabala, Urvashi Urvashi was also the longest – it was five minutes and 39 seconds long.

Incidentally, the Tamil original, titled Urvasi Urvasi, was as long as the Hindi version.

A R Rahman wasn’t just the composer of the song, but was also one of the three singers. Mr Mahadevan and Noell James Sha(nka)red singing credits with him.

By no means would it be wrong to state that the absurd lyrics – which were credited to P K Mishra – worked in favour of this catchy number.    

It was (Harihar)an excellent rendition

When Hariharan rendered Sun Ri Sakhi, every female Hindi film buff (and her male companion) listened with rapt attention.

Soothing to the ears, the track, from Humse Hai Muqabala, was five minutes and 11 seconds long.

It was penned by P K Mishra, who used an interesting word, Naagmani (which means a gem possessed by a shape-shifting cobra).

The rest of the line went, “Teri nagin si zulfon ko sanvaaroon main” (which can be translated to, “I will part your hair that is like a female cobra.”)

The track was composed by A R Rahman.

This NonSenSical track became popular

Patti Rap, from Humse Hai Muqabala, was the Hindi version of Pettai Rap, a rap-like track which interspersed English words with Hindi or Tamil ones, as was the case.

The original was in Madras Bashai, the slang used in Madras (now Chennai). Bashai is derived from bhasha, which means language).

A R Rahman composed both the versions of the track, which were four minutes and 23 seconds long.

P K Mishra penned the Hindi version of the track, which was rendered by Suresh Peters (who sang the Tamil version too), Noell James and Shankar Mahadevan.  

This was certainly (M)anoutstanding version

It certainly wouldn’t be incorrect to state that Muqabala Muqabala, from Humse Hai Muqabala, was the best of the many Hindi versions of the Tamil track of the same name (which, incidentally, had an entry in the Limca Book of Records for the same reason).

Five minutes and 23 seconds long, it was penned by P K Mishra.

Both versions were composed by A R Rahman (who was, incidentally, one of the singers who rendered the Tamil version of the catchy number).

Mano and Swarnalatha, who joined him behind the microphone, rendered the Hindi version.

Mr Balasubrahmanyam definitely (Jana)killed it

Humse Hai Muqabala released in 1995.

It was the Hindi version of Kadhalan, a Tamil film that released the previous year.

The songs of both the versions were composed by A R Rahman.

Those of the Hindi version were penned by P K Mishra.

Gopala Gopala, a fast-paced number, was five minutes and eight seconds long.

Besides the mind-blowing music and the outstanding lyrics, the track had the third ingredient that goes into the making of a fantastic track – awesome rendition by S P Balasubrahmanyam and S Janaki, known as the Nightingale of South India.

Kavita rendered (Harihar)an outstanding number

Tu Hi Re, from Bombay, was the Hindi version of Uyire, an acclaimed song from the original, which was in Tamil.

They were the longest songs on their respective soundtracks – both were seven minutes and 14 seconds.

The Hindi version of the song, which was penned by Mehboob, was composed by A R Rahman.

Hariharan rendered both the aforementioned versions (and the Telugu version, which was titled Urika Chilaka and was as long as the other two versions.)

Kavita Krishnamurthy rendered the Hindi version. The Tamil and Telugu versions were sung by K S Chithra.

This tracK was indeed SUPerb

When A R Rahman is the composer, a relentless pursuit for perfection is a given.

So one can safely assume that Kuchi Kuchi Rakkamma, from Bombay, was no child’s play, despite the fact that the line-up of singers included two kids – G V Prakash Kumar (who is, incidentally, the maestro’s nephew) and Sharadha.

They shared singing credits with Udit Narayan and Kavita Krishnamurthy.

The track, which was penned by Mehboob, was five minutes and seven seconds long.

Although the song was fantastic, it released at a point when child artistes had begun to sound annoying.

It was (Rahm)an amazing (Chi)t(h)rack

Kehna Hi Kya ka kya kehna! (which means, “What does one say about this outstanding track?”)

The song, which was from Bombay, was five minutes and 52 seconds long.

It was penned by Mehboob.

A R Rahman wasn’t just the composer of the track, but also shared singing credits with K S Chithra. The duo was accompanied by a chorus.

In 2009, it was included in The Guardian’s (the British daily) list titled 1,ooo Songs Everyone Must Hear.

The same year, American singer Ciara sampled the track for her song Turntables, which featured Chris Brown.   

The SingerS, particularly Fernandes, R(em)ocked

The soundtrack of Bombay, which released in 1995, was – and continues to be – regarded to be among A R Rahman’s finest.

Humma Humma, the iconic track from the film, was five minutes and 10 seconds long.

The song, which was picturised on Sonali Bendre and Nagendra Prasad, the younger brother of Prabhu Deva, was penned by Mehboob Kotwal (known mononymously as Mehboob).

Remo Fernandes rendered it with gusto (could it have been sung any other way?)

The other singers who (Sure)shared singing credits with him are Mr Peters and Swarnalatha (who passed away in 2010). 

Balasubrahmanyam sang a C(hithr)atchy track

A R Rahman composed Roop Suhana Lagta Hai, the shortest song on the soundtrack of The Gentleman.

It was four minutes and 45 seconds long.

There is no doubt that the song was one of the catchiest tracks from the remake phase of the wunderkind’s career.

It was penned by Indeewar, who was 70 when the film released. Of course, he was young at heart.

S P Balasubrahmanyam and K S Chithra rendered the track, which was sampled by international artistes, including Indonesian and French singer Anggun and Sri Lankan Briton rapper M I A.

Sadhana’s rendition got everyone’s (Vi)nod

The Gentleman, which released in 1994, was the Hindi remake of Gentleman, the Tamil film that released the previous year.

Three of the six tracks on its soundtrack were composed by A R Rahman.

A couple of these were popular. One of them was Aashiqui Mein Had Se.

Penned by Rajan Khera, it was the second-shortest song in the film – it was four minutes and 46 seconds long.

Vinod Rathod and Sadhana Sargam rendered it.

Incidentally, they also sang the second-longest song in the film – Hum Apne Gham Ko. It was composed by Anu Malik.

It didn’t impress anyone MUCh

In A R Rahman’s early days in the Hindi film industry, his discography mainly comprised dubbed versions of his Tamil film soundtracks.

Thiruda Thiruda, director Mani Ratnam’s second collaboration with him (after Roja), was no different.

The film, which released in 1993, was remade in Hindi as Chor Chor.

One of the tracks from that film was Pyaar Kabhi Na Todenge.

P K Mishra penned it.

(Ud)It was rendered by Mr Narayan, K S Chithra and Nagoor Babu, who is known by his stage name, Mano.

By no stretch of the imagination was it outstanding.

It was a SuPerB (Chi)t(h)rack

Not only was Yeh Haseen Wadiyaan, from Roja, a wonderful song, but it was beautifully picturised as well.

The track, which was five minutes and 21 seconds long, was penned by P K Mishra, who used similes to describe the beauty of Madhoo, who essayed the titular character.

Without an iota of doubt, the most striking of those was, “Tere honthon pe hain husn ki bijliyaan” (which can be translated to, “There are sparks of beauty on your lips.”)

Composed by A R Rahman, it was rendered by S P Balasubrahmanyam and K S Chithra.

Baba S(hwet)ang this hilarious number

Rukmani Rukmani was the longest song on the soundtrack of Roja – it was six minutes and five seconds long.

Even if the track, which was penned by P K Mishra, was a tad risqué, it wouldn’t be incorrect to state that it was extremely popular.

And that was primarily because the thin line between classiness and vulgarity wasn’t crossed.

A R Rahman composed the song, which was rendered by a couple of singers who became household names in India with the advent of satellite television and Indipop in the 1990s – Baba Sehgal and Shweta Shetty.  

This was (Harihar)another awesome version

Version 2 of Roja Jaaneman, the title track of Roja, had four things in common with Version 1.

Firstly, they were the same length – five minutes and seven seconds.

Secondly, both versions were penned by P K Mishra.

Thirdly, A R Rahman composed them.

Fourthly, Sujatha Mohan rendered both the versions.

There was just one difference between them – Version 2 was sung by Hariharan.

The fact that the listeners thought comparisons between the two versions were unnecessary proved a point, that could be called the fifth (and most important) similarity – both the versions were outstanding. 

Sujatha sang a SuPerB track

There were a couple of versions of Roja Jaaneman, the title track of Roja.

Version 1 of the song was rendered by S P Balasubrahmanyam, who was joined behind the microphone by Sujatha Mohan.

The track was five minutes and seven seconds long.

While each line was beautifully penned by P K Mishra, there was one line where imagery was used to outstanding effect.

It went, “Phool jo khile thhe woh, shool ban gaye hain kyon?” (which could be translated to, “Why have the flowers that bloomed become thorns?”)

A R Rahman composed the song. 

Minmini earned the maximum appreciation

To say that Chhoti Si Asha, from Roja, went on to become a bada popular song would be an understatement.

Obviously, A R Rahman deserved the lion’s share of the credit for that – not only did he compose it, but he also joined Minmini behind the microphone.

The song was four minutes and 58 seconds long.

It also had a version titled Bit, which was a minute and seven seconds long. It was rendered by Minmini.

P K Mishra penned the track, which was the Hindi version of the Tamil original, titled Chinna Chinna Aasai.   

It was (Harihar)an outstanding number

Bharat Humko Jaan Se Pyaara Hai was, undoubtedly, one of the best patriotic songs of our times.

It was from the Hindi version of Roja, a Tamil film which released in 1992 and marked the debut of A R Rahman.

Merely calling him a composer would do absolutely no justice to the musical genius, who would go on to become India’s pride.

P K Mishra penned the song.

It was, technically, the second-shortest song on the soundtrack – it was just three minutes and five seconds long.

Hariharan, who rendered it, was accompanied by a chorus.