Rahman and Naresh definitely (Rooba)ro(o)cked

Roobaroo, from Rang De Basanti, wasn’t a universal favourite, but the track, which was four minutes and 43 seconds long, made its mark as far as awards and nominations were concerned.

Naresh Iyer bagged the National Award for Best Male Playback and was nominated in the same category at the Filmfare Awards and the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards. 

He shared singing credits with A R Rahman, the composer. He was nominated in the Best Male Playback category at the IIFA Awards.

Prasoon Joshi earned Filmfare and IIFA nominations in the Best Lyricist category.

Mehndi renD(Al)ered this (Chi)t(h)rack spiritedly

Rang De Basanti earned A R Rahman the Filmfare Award, the International Indian Film Academy Award and the Zee Cine Award in the Best Music Director category.

He was also nominated in the same category at the Star Screen Awards.

The title track of the film, which was penned by Prasoon Joshi, was six minutes and three seconds long.

The song was rendered by Daler Mehndi, and, to be honest, only he could’ve done justice to it, given his inherent gusto.

However, it was a pity that K S Chithra had to play second fiddle.

It found MANI young takers

The statement that has been made in the title of this post was certainly not a surprise, because Paathshala, from Rang De Basanti, was a song for the youth.

It was the longer of the two versions of the track – it was three minutes and 40 seconds long.

The shorter version, titled Paathshala (Be A Rebel), was 31 seconds shorter and had different lyrics.

Both the versions were penned by Prasoon Joshi and composed by A R Rahman.

They were rendered by Mohammed Aslam and Naresh Iyer. 

The Be A Rebel version featured Blaaze’s rap.

(Rah)Man, Lata’s rendition was touching!

Lukka Chhupi was the longest song on the soundtrack of Rang De Basanti – it was six minutes and 36 seconds long.

It was the second song from the film to be longlisted in the Best Original Song category at the Academy Awards.

Although it failed to bag the award, the track, which was penned by Prasoon Joshi, instantly struck a chord with both mothers and their kids in India.

That was undoubtedly the biggest feather in the cap of A R Rahman, who didn’t just compose it, but also shared singing credits with Lata Mangeshkar.

It wasn’t worth RAviNg about

There are some songs that are catchy despite not being anything to write home about.

One of them was Khalbali, the second longest song on the soundtrack of Rang De Basanti, which released on India’s Republic Day (January 26) in 2006.

It was six minutes and 19 seconds long.

While the Hindi portion of the track was penned by Prasoon Joshi, the Arabic portion was penned by Nacim, who shared singing credits with A R Rahman (who composed it) and Mohammed Aslam.

It was longlisted in the Best Original Song category at the Academy Awards.