Krystal and He(a)made no mark

The fifth – and final – song on the soundtrack of Pippa is a word not associated with A R Rahman, who prefers quality to quantity, and is choosier when it comes to accepting Hindi film assignments.

It was titled Rampage.

And it happened to be the shortest song in the film – it was just a couple of minutes and 46 seconds long.

The contribution of MC Heam to the track wasn’t restricted to writing it. He was one of the two people who sang it too.

The other was Krystal, whose last name – Garib – means poor.

 

Suzanne returned after (Vish)along time

The second song on the soundtrack of Pippa that began with M was Mohabbatein Shukriya.

And Hindi film music buffs certainly thanked the film's music team – notably composer A R Rahman – for reacquainting folks, of my vintage, and acquainting the younger ones, with the lady who lent her voice to us after a long hiatus.

The singer in question is Suzanne D’Mello.

And the man who joined her behind the microphone for the song was Vishal Mishra.

The track, which was three minutes and 35 seconds long, was written by Shailender Singh Sodhi a.k.a. Shellee.

(Arij)It was the lone solo

Main Parwaana was the longest of the five songs from Pippa in my collection – it was five minutes and 23 seconds long.

And unlike the other four, it was a solo – the man who lent his voice to (Arij)it was none other than Mr Singh.

From an alphabetical point of view, it was one of the two songs beginning with M on the soundtrack of the film.

And it was the second of the three contributions of Shailender Singh Sodhi (also known as Shellee) to the soundtrack of the film.

A R Rahman composed it.

A poet’s work PaSSeD musTeR

If the previous post was about the second longest track on the soundtrack of Pippa, the subject of this one is the second shortest.

Karar Oi Louho Kapat (Bengali for ‘Break down those iron gates of prison’) was three minutes and 28 seconds long.

It was credited to Kazi Nazrul Islam, Bangladesh’s national poet.

Half a dozen singers lent their voices to the song. These were Dilasa Chowdhury, Pijush Das, Rahul Dutta, Shalini Mukherjee, Shrayee Paul, and Tirtha Bhattacharjee.

This song, which was perhaps controversial, was composed by the one and only A R Rahman.

UNfoRtunately, they didn’t change it

Pippa released in 2023.

If the five songs from the film in my collection were arranged in the (Nautiy)alphabetical order, Jazbaat would be the first.

And if they were arranged in the descending order of their durations, it would be the second – it was four minutes and 17 seconds long.

Jubin was joined behind the microphone for it by Shilpa Rao.

Contrary to the popular meme featuring the angry cricket fan, jazbaat nahin badle (the emotions did not change) upon listening to the song, which was written by Shellee and composed by A R Rahman.

Shreya sang this immortal bhajan

Vaishnav Jan To was Mahatma Gandhi’s favourite bhajan, and became popular with freedom fighters across India.

It was written by Narsinh Mehta, the 15^th-century poet-saint, known as Adi Kavi (the first poet) of the Gujarati language.

He was, in fact, also credited as the lyricist of the film version of the song, which happened to be the longer of the two tracks on the soundtrack of Gandhi Godse – Ek Yudh (it was five minutes and 54 seconds long).

That version was rendered by none other than Shreya Ghoshal, and was composed by A R Rahman.

Various artists sang this bhajan

I wrote this post, and the next one, on January 30, 2023, which marked the 75^th anniversary of the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi by Nathuram Godse.

The subject of this post was Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram.

And it was from Gandhi Godse – Ek Yudh, which released in 2023.

It was just a minute and 56 seconds long.

The bhajan, which was popularised by the Father of the Nation, was written by Lakshman Acharya.

It was sung by various artists, who have not been named.

This version of the song was composed by A R Rahman.

Rahman composed and S(hasha)ang it

If the four tracks from Mili in my collection were arranged in the alphabetical order, Tum Bhi Raahi would be the last.

And if they were arranged in the descending order of their durations, it would be the second – it was four minutes and 16 seconds long.

The involvement of the one and only A R Rahman in the song was not restricted to composing it, but he happened to be one of the two people who lent their voices to it too.

The other was Shashaa Tirupati.

The song was written by Javed Akhtar.

Mishra sang this title track

If the four songs on the soundtrack of Mili were arranged in the (Vish)alphabetical order, Sun Aye Mili – the title track of the film – would be the third.

And if they were arranged in the descending order of their durations, it would be the first – it was four minutes and 27 seconds long.

The song happened to be a male solo – it was, in fact, the second song in the film to which Mishra lent his voice.

The man who wrote it was Javed Akhtar, and the person who composed it was A R Rahman.

It was sung by Abhilasha

Only one of the four songs on the soundtrack of Mili happened to be a female solo.

The track was titled Main Toh Main Hoon, and the lady who lent her voice to it was Abhilasha Sinha.

Not only would it be the second if the songs from the film were arranged in the alphabetical order, but even if they were arranged in the ascending order of their durations, it would be the second, because it was three minutes and 47 seconds long.

Javed Akhtar wrote the song, which was composed by A R Rahman.

It was a Vishal solo

Mili released in 2022.

It has nothing to do with the 1975 film of the same name, but a remake of the Malayalam film Helen, which released in 2019.

My collection contains four songs from the film.

If they were arranged in the (Vish)alphabetical order, as well as in the ascending order of their durations, Jeena Hoga would be the first – it was three minutes and 41 seconds long.

The man who lent his voice to was none other than Mishra.

The song, which was written by Javed Akhtar, was composed by A R Rahman.

Ms Mohan was the Sing(h)er

Kriti Sanon made her debut opposite Tiger Shroff in the 2014 film Heropanti.

While Shroff starred in its sequel, Heropanti 2, Sanon didn’t.

But she made a special appearance in Whistle Baja 2.0 (which, as the title suggests, was the recreated version of Whistle Baja from the first film).

The shortest of the six songs from the film in my collection, it was a couple of minutes and 48 seconds long.

It was sung by Neeti Mohan and Mika Singh.

The track, which was written by Mehboob Alam Kotwal, was composed by A R Rahman.

Rahman wasn’t just the coMposeR

The subject of this post is the second song from Heropanti 2 with -numa as its suffix.

It was titled Rehnuma (an Urdu word meaning, “A person who shows the way”).

The involvement of A R Rahman in the song wasn’t restricted to composing it, but he was also one of the three people who sang it.

Faiz Mustafa and Swagat Rathod were the others.

If the six songs on the film’s soundtrack were arranged in the ascending order of their durations, it would be the last – it was half-a-dozen minutes and 24 seconds long.

Tiger Shroff (Ni)sang this song

If the six songs from Heropanti 2 in my collection were arranged in the alphabetical order, Miss Hairan would be the fourth.

And if they were arranged in the ascending order of their durations, it would be the third – it was three minutes and 34 seconds long.

Actors lending their voices can be either a hit or a Miss, but to hear Tiger Shroff singing was certainly a reason to be Hairan.

Nisa Shetty joined him behind the microphone for the song, which was written by Mehboob Alam Kotwal, and composed by A R Rahman.

These Thoughts should’ve been (Ka)private

If the six tracks on the soundtrack of Heropanti 2 were arranged in the alphabetical order, Mauka Parast – which means, “Opportunist” – would be the third.

And if they were arranged in the ascending order of their durations, it would be the second – it was three minutes and 23 seconds long.

The track was sung by Mayank Kapri and ThoughtsForNow.

And by no means would it be incorrect to state that those Thoughts should never have been expressed in public.

It was written by Mehboob Alam Kotwal, was composed by none other than A R Rahman.

Ms Tiwari showed her ‘JAlwa’

If the six tracks from Heropanti 2 in my collection were arranged in the alphabetical order, Jalwanuma would be the second.

And if they were arranged in the descending order of their durations, it would be the third – it was three minutes and 45 seconds long.

It is an Urdu word that could be translated to, “Someone who shows off her splendour”.

And that was precisely what Pooja Tiwari did, albeit from the vocal point of view.

Javed Ali joined her behind the microphone for it.

Mehboob Alam Kotwal joined the A R Rahman composition.

Rahman was (Hir)also the singer

Heropanti 2 – which starred Tiger Shroff, and released in 2022 – was the sequel to Heropanti (which released in 2014, and marked Shroff’s debut).

It would not be incorrect to state that the first song from the film – DaFa Kar – was a let-down.

Incidentally, the phrase could be translated to, “Get out”.

Not only was it composed by A R Rahman, but he also happened to be one of the two people who lent it his voice.

The other was Hiral Viradia.

Mehboob Alam Kotwal wrote the song, which was three minutes and 59 seconds long.

 

 

Sure(sh)ly, it was a run-of-the-mill number

If the seven songs from Mimi on this blog were arranged in the alphabetical order, Yanne Yanne would be the last.

And it was a newcomer who was entrusted with the task of rendering it – her name is Rakshita Suresh.

However, there’s no two ways about the fact that though it was a run-of-the-mill song, it was undoubtedly a dream come true for the reality show alumna, because it was none other than A R Rahman who composed the track, which was three minutes and 24 seconds long, and was written by Amitabh Bhattacharya.

Rahman’s daughter Khatija sanG(arth)a duet

There are numerous instances of songs from films that have released in the last 10 years which have served as lullabies and put many an insomniac to sleep.

But the most popular lullaby – Rock A Bye Baby – inspired the title of a song from Mimi.

It was three minutes and 45 seconds long, and was the only duet in the film – it was sung by Khatija Rahman and Julia Gartha.

If the former’s last name is familiar, it is because she’s the daughter of A R Rahman, who composed the track (which Amitabh Bhattacharya wrote).

Rahman’s solo was the longest

Not only did A R Rahman compose Rihaayi De, but he was the man who rendered it as well.

And if the subject of the previous post was the shortest song on the soundtrack of Mimi, this song was the longest – it was half-a-dozen minutes and five seconds long.

The title of the song – which was written by Amitabh Bhattacharya – seemed to be the collective plea of people the world over, because they have been confined to their homes for the better part of the last 18 months – it could be translated to, “Release me”.