(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.

Unsurprisingly, Kavita S(warnalath)ang (Ud)it well

Make no mistake, Sunta Hai Mera Khuda, from Pukar, was a typical A R Rahman composition – (Ud)it did (Kavi)take a long time to grow on the listeners. When it did, all one could say is, “Woh sunte rahe.”

Narayan and Krishnamurthy were joined behind the microphone by Swarnalatha.

By no means would it be incorrect to say that the lyrics of the song, which Majrooh Sultanpuri penned, were its highlight.

The song, which was six minutes and 36 seconds long, was shot at a picturesque locale – Arches National Park in the American state of Utah.

Ms Krishnamurthy sang (Shank)arocking track

With Mahadevan Sha(nka)ring singing credits with Kavita Krishnamurthy*, and Prabhu Deva and Madhuri Dixit dancing, Kay Sera Sera, which derived its name from Que Sera Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)**, was an audio-visual treat.

Javed Akhtar penned the track, which was six minutes and 51 seconds long.

The song, from Pukar, was a remake of Kadhal Nayagara from En Swasa Kaatre. Both the tracks were composed by A R Rahman.

(*Note: Swarnalatha joined them behind the microphone.)

[**Note: Rendered by Doris Day, it was from Alfred Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956).]

Mr Nigam'S(hab)backing SiNgeRs rocked too

There couldn’t be a more perfect track than Shabba Shabba, the catchy number from Daud: Fun On The Run, to pay tribute to Neeraj Vora, the jack of all trades (and master of all) who passed away at the age of 54 on December 14, 2017.

The writer, director and actor, who was born on January 22, 1963, rendered the Son(u)g with Mr Nigam, Ranu Mukherjee (who sang the post-soundtrack version) and Swarnalatha (who sang the version on the film's original soundtrack).

The track, which was penned by Mehboob, was composed by A R Rahman.

Swarnalatha didn’t leave anybody SPellBound

P K Mishra treated the listeners to some alliteration when he penned Maya Macchindra.

Five words of the opening line of the track from Hindustani, which was five minutes and 37 seconds long, began with M. These included the two aforementioned words. The others were, “Mujhpe mantar mat.”

By no stretch of the imagination was the song, which was composed by A R Rahman, mind-blowing, but it wouldn’t be incorrect to say that it enjoyed its fair share of popularity.

It was rendered by S P Balasubrahmanyam, who was joined behind the microphone by Swarnalatha.

Indeed, it waS(warnalath)a (Lat)katchy track

Hindustani, which released in 1996, was the Hindi version of Indian, a Tamil film which released the same year.

It is indeed interesting that Latka Dikha Diya Humne was the only song on its soundtrack that had a couple of versions. Both were five minutes and 52 seconds long.

This blog contains a post on just one – the one rendered by Swarnalatha.

The other version was sung by actress and singer Suchitra Krishnamoorthi.

Both the versions of the song, which was catchy, were penned by P K Mishra.

They were composed by A R Rahman.

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.

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.

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).