This track was PoSitiVely catchy

Shakalaka Baby, from Nayak: The Real Hero, is a prime example of a popular song from a below-par film.

It was reused in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Bombay Dreams, whose London production opened in 2002 and ran for a couple of years.

A R Rahman, wasn’t just the composer of the song, but the music director of the musical too.

Its lyrics, which made absolutely no ‘Sen’se, were penned by Anand Bakshi. It was picturised on Sushmita.

The track was rendered by Vasundhara Das, who was joined behind the M(an)icrophone by Pravin and Shiraz Uppal.

HuRraH, it was a (Sunid)hit

As surprising as it may sound, Saiyyan, an original song on the soundtrack of Nayak: The Real Hero*, became popular, despite being a run-of-the-mill track.

And there’s no doubt that it was because of the tune, the credit for which goes to none other than A R Rahman.

His knack of picking the right man (and, in this case, woman) for the job must be commended – Hans Raj Hans and Sunidhi Chauhan rendered the song, which Anand Bakshi penned.

(*Note: The remainder of the tracks in the film were Hindi versions of those from Mudhalvan.)

It waS(hank)arun-of-the-mill, but (Al)katchy song

Rukhi Sukhi Roti wasn’t just a song from Nayak: The Real Hero, but also a lesson that many young couples in love must learn – there’s nothing wrong with being ambitious, but it’s absolutely important to stay grounded and be there for your partner, even if all you can do is share a dry roti and thanda thanda paani (cold water).

Having said that, this track, which was penned by Anand Bakshi and composed by A R Rahman, could, at best, be described as an average song.

It was rendered by Shankar Mahadevan and Alka Yagnik.

(Ud)It waS(warnalath)a fairly Ka(vita)tchy number

Nayak: The Real Hero (2001) was a remake of Mudhalvan, a Tamil film that released a couple of years earlier.

Although Chalo Chalein Mitwa appeared to be a run-of-the-mill romantic number, there is no doubt that it went on to become pretty popular (for reasons that no Hindi film music aficionado has been able to, or even tried to, put his/her finger on to date).

The song was penned by Anand Bakshi and composed by A R Rahman.

(Ud)It was rendered by Mr Narayan and Kavita Krishnamurthy, who were joined behind the microphone by Swarnalatha.

Udit and Alka stood Ta(a)l(l)

By no means was (Ud)it a surprise that Mr Narayan and Alka Yagnik rendered the title track of Taal.

After all, they had been milaoing taal se taal since their breakthrough at the end of the previous decade.

In fact, it earned the latter the Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback.

The track, which was six minutes and 18 seconds long, was penned by Anand Bakshi.

It was composed by A R Rahman.

The Western version of the song was rendered by Sukhwinder Singh. It was just a couple of minutes and 34 seconds long.

Alka joined the (Jo)gifted Sukhwinder

Sukhi isn’t just Sukhwinder Singh’s nickname, but also what he invariably gives his fans a reason to be.

And that is precisely what they felt when he rendered Ramta Jogi from Taal.

The one who shared singing credits with him was Alka Yagnik.

It would be unfair to compare this track with the other number sung by the pair in the film.

However, it must be stated that it was a shorter track – it was six minutes and 17 seconds long.

The song, which was penned by Anand Bakshi, was composed by A R Rahman.

Sukhwinder sang a (Ri)challenging number

By no means was Ni Main Samajh Gayi a chartbuster, but it was certainly one of the most difficult songs on the soundtrack of Taal.

It was also the shortest of the seven tracks from the film on this blog – it was four minutes and 33 seconds long.

The song, which was penned by Anand Bakshi, was composed by A R Rahman, whose penchant for challenging his Sing(h)ers is well-known.

But, to the listeners’ delight, Sukhwinder, who rendered the track, did a marvellous job. And so did Richa Sharma, who joined him behind the microphone.

Singh could Har(iharan)dly be heard

Clichéd as it may sound, everyone wants his/her partner to say, “You are not in front of me. But that is besides the point. You are near me.”

That was what Nahin Saamne, from Taal, could be translated to.

The next couple of lines of the song, which was six minutes and four seconds long, went, “Yeh alag baat hai, mere paas hai tu.”

It was rendered by Hariharan, who was joined behind the microphone by Sukhwinder Singh (who was barely heard).

The track was penned by Anand Bakshi and composed by A R Rahman.

Suniye, because the Sing(h)ers rocked

Apart from the fact that Kariye Na, from Taal, also began with the letter K, it had another thing in common with Kahin Aag Lage – it was also seven minutes and 15 seconds long.

Of course, the two tracks had a couple of other similarities – they were penned by Anand Bakshi and composed by A R Rahman.

Sukhwinder Singh and Alka Yagnik rendered a couple of songs in the film, and this was the longer of those.

By no means would it be incorrect to say that they gave everyone a reason to be Sukhi.

The (Bhos)legend sang ARocking number

Asha is a singer who has (Bhos)left an indelible mark on music aficionados, regardless of age.

And, to their delight, nothing curbed her enthusiasm even when she was in her mid-sixties, as was evident from her rendition of Kahin Aag Lage from Taal.

She was joined behind the microphone by a couple of singers – Richa Sharma and Aditya Narayan. While the former was a teenager at that point, the latter was a pre-teen.

The track, which was seven minutes and 15 seconds long, was penned by Anand Bakshi.

It was composed by A R Rahman.

It wAS an awesome Son(u)g

It is interesting to note that Ishq Bina was originally composed for a film titled Shikhar.

When that film was shelved, it featured on the soundtrack of Taal, which released in 1999 and was a shikhar (peak) scaled by A R Rahman.

Seven minutes and 45 seconds long, it was the longest song in the film.

It earned Anand Bakshi the Filmfare Award for Best Lyricist in 2000. It was his fourth and final Filmfare trophy.

The Son(u)g was rendered by Mr Nigam, who was joined behind the microphone by Anuradha Sriram and Sujatha Mohan.