Rahman Se

Songs, Films & The Abstract

The only thing I like as much as Rahman’s music is Mani Ratnam’s films. Luckily, I don’t have to pick between the two because they’ve long collaborated to make my favourite music and my favourite films.

Here’s an insight into why the two work so well together. In a recent interview for his latest film, Raavan, Mani Ratnam explained how he relies on Rahman’s songs to be abstract with his narrative. (Skip to 6:26 in the video if it doesn’t automatically do so.)

If you liked this, you’ll love Part 2 of the interview.

The Composer’s Notes: Raavan

Complex and multilayered — that was my first impression of Raavan’s soundtrack. It’s a different direction for Rahman and it needed explaining, particularly when the film is more than a month from screening. In a candid interview, A.R. Rahman walked us through his thinking behind each track:

Beera Beera

Beera is a song that describes the lead character played by Abhishek Bachchan. When we set out to compose this song, we didn’t want to make the song or the character seem dark. We wanted Beera to be liked by everyone. He is someone who has a point of view, it may be wrong according to some sections of the society but when you see the film you will realize his justification for the same. The song is like a celebration of his character.

Behne De

Karthik sang this song as a scratch. At that point in time, we didn’t know if we were going to retain it but everyone seemed to like the version and we did retain it. We also added some background vocals by Mohammed Irfan to give a different edge to the song. It’s not your usual typical song.

Ranjha Ranjha

Ranjha Ranjha is an idea that I had done earlier but gave it a skip. It’s poetry of Baba Bulleshah. Though the song that you hear in the album (sung by Rekha Bhardwaj, Javed Ali and Anuradha Sriram) doesn’t feature in the movie, we have created another version of the song that is sung by Ila Arun and Richa Sharma which would be featured in the film. This version has been shot beautifully and works better for the film.

Thok De Khilli

Thok De Khilli of course has Sukhwinder at his energetic best. He is simply a powerhouse of energy and talent. However, in this song he didn’t get a chance to improvise a lot as he had to fit his vocals to match the form of the song. In spite of that he has done a fabulous job.

Kata Kata

Kata Kata is a very typical Mani Ratnam style song. In every film of his you have this folk celebration kind of song like you had ‘Chalka Chalka Re’ in Saathiya or for that matter ‘Rukmani Rukmani’ in Roja. However, this time we have given it a different feel and it was really an enjoyable process composing this track.

Khilli Re

Khilli Re has been sung by Reena Bhardwaj who earlier sang ‘Yeh Rishta’ from Meenaxi. She has got a beautiful voice which suited the song perfectly. She is a very talented singer who certainly deserves more opportunities in the future.

Jaa Re Ud Jaa Re

It hurts knowing that the best song of Raavan isn’t in the soundtrack. A day after the music hit the stores, A. R. Rahman took to the stage with Gulzar at the film’s music launch function and surprised us all with a live rendition of an as-yet unreleased track, titled ‘Jaa Re Ud Jaa Re’:

Rahman later explained how this song came to be:

The song was a very last minute addition. I saw the movie and felt like adding a song to a particular situation in the film. The lyrics of the song were ready for a while, however I had yet to compose the tune. Meanwhile, we had already planned our music release for the 24th of April, so we didn’t want to delay or postpone that because of one song. The song may be later added to the album; however it will feature in the film.

I dearly hope this track will get released. As it stands, the soundtrack has life, but it lacks soul without ‘Jaa Re Ud Jaa Re’.

Lyrics and English Translation

My friend, Prateek Rungta, helped translate the lyrics for me because my Hindi is weak.

Jaa Re Ud Jaa Re (Go on, fly away)
Aye Ud Jaa Re (Go, fly away)
Rut Beet Gayi (The season has passed.)

Ab Is Shareer Ke Sire Khol De (Now open up (the ends of) this body)
Aur Goongi Aatma Ko Bol De (and ask (or speak to ) that deaf soul)
Wo Aasma Khula Hai Kyon? (Why is the sky open?)
Kyon Zameen Dang Hai? (Why is the earth so dull?)

Tune Toh Kaha Tha Ye (It was you who told me…)
Dono Ek Rang Hai (That they’re both of the same colour.)

Jaa Re Ud Jaa Re (Go on, fly away)
Aye Ud Jaa Re (Go, fly away)
Rut Beet Gayi (The season has passed.)