Undoubtedly, Madhushree rendered (Ud)it beautifully

There’s no doubt that A R Rahman Ism(a)il(e)s ahead of Mr Darbar, who composed the remainder of the songs of Kisna: The Warrior Poet (2005) when the former had to leave it midway*.

And that reflected in the popularity of one of the tracks he composed for the film – Hum Hain Is Pal Yahaan.

Javed Akhtar penned the duet, which was soothing and worth listening to on loop.

(Ud)It was rendered by Mr Narayan and Madhushree.

(*Note: Rahman was committed to composing the music of the 2006 theatrical adaptation of The Lord of the Rings.)

(Ud)It was the KatcHiest track

The piece de resistance of Swades’ soundtrack was Yunhi Chala Chal, which was, incidentally, the longest song in the film as well – it was seven minutes and 28 seconds long.

It was the perfect song to play when one is on a road trip or at a jam session with friends.

And the best part of it is it gave the listeners a message (to keep going forward) without becoming preachy.

Penned by Javed Akhtar and composed by A R Rahman, (Ud)it was rendered by Narayan, Hariharan and Kailash Kher (the highlight of the track).

Udit played a PiVotal role

When a film’s soundtrack includes a song featuring kids, there’s a fear that their wish to sound like grown-ups might rob them of their innocence.

However, Yeh Tara Woh Tara, from Swades, required the little lad and lass (Master Vignesh and Baby Pooja, respectively) to sound a tad mature. Needless to say, they did.

(Ud)It was rendered by Narayan, who earned a nomination in the Best Male Playback Singer category at the Filmfare Awards (which he shared with Vignesh).

Javed Akhtar penned the A R Rahman composition, which was seven minutes and 13 seconds long.

(Ud)It couldn’t be (Al)kalled weak

The romantic duet from Zubeidaa was regarded as the weakest song on the soundtrack of the film. But that could not have been further from the truth.

On the contrary, it should have been a must-have on the playlist of every A R Rahman fan, hai na?

However, for the sake of argument, it can be stated that the song, which was penned by Javed Akhtar, was perhaps not as successful as a standalone track, purely from an audio standpoint.

(Ud)It was rendered by Mr Narayan and Alka Yagnik. Could anyone else have sung it?

(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.

Undoubtedly, (Ud)it wAs(h)a (Vaisha)lively number

A song involving teasing may not be every Hindi film music buff's choice, but Radha Kaise Na Jale, from Lagaan, was different. And that’s why it continues to be popular.

For starters, the vocal duel, if it may be called that, was about Radha's envy, the reason for which was the attention showered upon the gopis by Lord Krishna.

(Ud)It was rendered by Ms Bhosle and Mr Narayan.

Vaishali Samant (A)shared singing credits with them.

Javed Akhtar penned the track, which was five minutes and 34 seconds long.

It was composed by A R Rahman.

It wasn’t A VUnderful song

It wouldn’t be incorrect to say that O Ri Chhori, which was five minutes and 59 seconds long, was the weakest song on the soundtrack of Lagaan.

And it is possible that the listeners would have skipped it if the English portion of the track, which was rendered by Vasundhara Das, weren’t understandable.

Its Hindi portion was sung by Mr Narayan and Alka Yagnik.

Undoubtedly, the credit for ensuring that even the least impressive track is etched in the listeners’ memories, goes to A R Rahman, who composed it.

It was penned by Javed Akhtar.

Lata Sa(dha)n(a)g (Naray)an outstanding bhajan

Since the soundtrack of Lagaan had a song for everyone, it would be unfair to leave those who dig devotional songs out.

Of the six songs in the film, O Palanhaare was the shortest – it was five minutes and 19 seconds long.

It was among the best bhajans of all time (from the standpoint of Hindi films).

It would not be incorrect to state that Lata Mangeshkar's rendition was the highlight.

She was joined behind the microphone by Udit Narayan and Sadhana Sargam.

It was penned by Javed Akhtar and composed by A R Rahman.

It wAS an oUtStanding track

To paraphrase the opening lines of the song from Lagaan, “Har fan kahe, critic kahe, punch aur melody hain jinke compositions mein, loop pe geet unhi ki baje.”

The longest track in the film, (M)itwas six minutes and 47 seconds long.

The opening lines of this post were written for none other than A R Rahman, who bagged the National Award and the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director in 2001 and 2002, respectively.

The song was penned by Javed Akhtar.

(Ud)It was rendered by four Sing(h)ers, namely Mr Narayan, Alka Yagnik, Sukhwinder and Srinivas.

This song was SUng KlASSily

Agriculture is the mainstay of the Indian economy. That’s why Rain, rain, go away cannot, and will not, hold water in this country.

Only an invocation of the rain gods – like Ghanan Ghanan, which was from Lagaan and the desi antithesis of the aforementioned nursery rhyme – will.

The song was rendered by Alka Yagnik, Kishori Gowariker*, Shaan, Shankar Mahadevan, Sukhwinder Singh and Udit Narayan.

It was six minutes and 11 seconds long.

Javed Akhtar penned the track, which was composed by A R Rahman.

(*Note: She is the mother of Ashutosh Gowariker, the film’s director.)

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.

(Ud)It was salvaged by Sardesai

Humrahi Jab Ho Mastana was a passable song from Pukar. In fact, that would be putting it mildly – it was the weakest song in the film.

Of the five songs from the film on this blog, it was the shortest – it was four minutes and 26 seconds long.

It was penned by Majrooh Sultanpuri.

Even A R Rahman, who composed it, could not boast of an unblemished record, at least as far as Hindi film soundtracks were concerned.

(Ud)It wouldn’t be incorrect to state that the track was salvaged by Mr Narayan and Hema Sardesai.

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.

(Ud)It K(avit)aught the youngsters’ attention

Hai Rabba was the longest song on the soundtrack of Jeans – it was seven minutes and 15 seconds long.

Although it was a passable duet, it was catchy.

(Ud)It was rendered by a (Kavi)talented and popular pair – Mr Narayan and Ms Krishnamurthy.

Javed Akhtar, who penned it, took the cake as far as using similes to describe the leading lady's beauty was concerned – she was described as a jeeta-jaagta Taj Mahal (a living Taj Mahal) and her shakal (face) was likened to the poora chand (full moon).

The track was composed by A R Rahman.

Music buffs couldn't (Mahalaksh)miss (Ud)it

If there were a discussion on A R Rahman’s top ten Hindi film soundtracks, most music buffs would include the songs of Dil Se.., which released in 1998.

And only a stranger to good music would say that Aye Ajnabi, which was penned by Gulzar, wasn’t a mind-blowing number.

It was five minutes and 48 seconds long.

It wouldn’t be incorrect to say that each line, including the portion that went, “Paakhi Paakhi Pardesi”, gave the listeners goosebumps.

(Ud)It was rendered by Narayan.

And the lady who joined him behind the (Mahalaksh)microphone was Ms Iyer.

(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.

(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.

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 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.