The Mani Ratnam-A R Rahman Combination

It is  a massive  pity that Mani Ratnam stopped working with Ilaiyaraja. They are born a day apart  , Mani Ratnam  on June 2, and  Ilaiyaraja  on June 3,and share  a deep affinity to creating a texture of music that flows organically  from the plot. There is nothing imposed or show-stopping about the  stunning elegant songs Ilaiyaraja did for Mani Ratnam in Mouna Ragam, Nakshatram , Geethanjali and Anjali.

 Each of these were musical milestones  and Mani admitted to this writer that his early films  would not have  made the  impact that they did were it  not for Ilayaraja’s  contribution.

 Then came Mani’s  Roja  and a new composer called A  R Rahman. Mani never  looked back. Since  Roja, it has been Rahman  all the way.

  About  switching  from Ilaiyaraja  to Rahman  Mani  once said to me,  “I am glad you think  that way. My collaboration with Ilaiyaraja  is  not comparable with what Rahman  does  in my later  film. It is  two different  dimensions  of music. You cannot   compare what Sachin  Dev Burman did  for Dev Anand’s cinema with what Rahul Dev Burman  did.”

A  R Rahman once told Subhash K Jha, “As for  the magical Mani Rathnam- Rahman combo,  “We’ve been working  together  since Roja. What I  like about  him is, he doesn’t allow the music to be  repeated. Though terrorism was a  common thread in Mani’s Roja, Dil Se and Kannatil Muttimital  he has  moved away  to direct  films that  have more  mass appeal like Saathiya  and now Guru .  As a team we are constantly  exploring new areas to see where we  haven’t been before.  In  many ways Mani is a touchstone  to  my career.”

Celebrating the  MR-ARR Collaboration

1. Roja jaan-e-mann(Roja):  Roja was Mani Ratnam’s first foray into Hindi cinema and he  took  A R Rahman for the joyride.This was  Rahman’s first Hindi soundtrack. And what an impact! Time magazine  listed Roja as one of  its 10 best soundtracks  of  all times. The title song comes  as  a duet in two versions by S P Balasubramaniam   and  Hariharan with Sujata  Mohan doing the  female vocals in both. I think  Hariharan’s version has an edge.  Speaking  of his  early association with Mani Ratnam, Rahman  once told me, “As a soundtrack the music in Alai Pathai is not as concentrated as Roja or Bombay.It caters completely to the film.The songs of Alai Pathai were done at a very short notice.Mani decided to have songs at the last minute..He’s always full of new ideas,so I guess he must have initially thought that a love story without music would work.”
2. Chotisi Asha(Roja):  What happened to the impish Minmini who sang Rahman’s sprightly  number to  eternal fame?   Rahman  says  Ratnam wanted  a  song  that  conveyed the innocence  and zest of  a young woman.  They  got it right.
3. Tu hi re(Bombay): Hariharan and Kavita Krishnamurthy  belted   out this dizzying love ballad as if there was no tomorrow. Hariharan counts this among his finest chord  moments. “I’ve sung numerous  songs  in many languages that I hold close to my heart. But Tu hi re is…something  else. Singing for film  of Mani Ratnam and  Rahman is an experience  beyond words.’

4. Jiya jale(Dil Se): Lataji first  song with Rahman was  also her  first  song for Mani Ratnam. Rahman doesn’t take long over his recordings. Jiya jale was recorded in forty minutes.  Said Lataji, “Jee haan. I was sitting and humming an alaap for Jiya jale to myself. He overheard me and said, “Please continue singing. I want something like this for the song. Don’t worry about where the song will end. You just keep singing.” I just went on. Later when I heard the complete song, mujhe bahut achha laga. People who don’t follow the language at all have even enjoyed the Malayalam passages in Jiya jale.”
5. Chaiyyan chaiyyan(Dil Se):  Did  singer Sukhwinder  compose  this chartbuster, one of Shah Rukh  Khan’s swoon songs?  Gulzar Saab  recalls  the writing of  it. “ In ‘Chaiyyan chaiyyan’ for ‘Dil Se’ some people objected to the use of the word ‘tabeez’. I’m very very careful about the words that I use. In fact, I left ‘Billu’ (featuring Shah  Rukh Khan) midway for this reason. There have been a number of occasions when I’ve opted out because I wasn’t comfortable with the words that I was supposed to write.”
6. Bhang(Guru):  Bhang was  a number  where a tipsy Abhishek Bachchan  freaked out on  screen. The number  is akin to Abhishek’s legendary father Amitabh Bachchan’s   evergreen  Khai ke paan benaras wala which interestingly enough Shah Rukh Khan  reprised  in  the remake of Don .   But did   Bappi’s voice match Abhishek?   “Why not?” shot back Rahman.  “I think Bappi’s voice was  fine on Abhishek. I personally avoid singing for leading men.  Even in Mani Rathnam’s Dil  Se  where I had a  song  filmed on Shah Rukh Khan(Dil se re) I didn’t sing  in the foreground.  “I’ve always  liked Bappi-da. He’s some  kind of an innovator. In the  1950s he was  the first  composer to  do disco. He  was   the first to record in London. And I like  his voice. When we recorded   a fun-filled  mischievous  dummy track   for Mani  Ratnam’s Guru  in   the voice  of a Bengali  guy in Chennai   we  thought of a  matching a voice  to do  the final  recording.  Gulzar Saab  who wrote the lyrics for  the song  suggested Bappi-da’s voice. We immediately invited  Bappi-da to  Chennai. He came heard  the song, said  he  liked it, recorded it . It  was  all very pleasant and cordial.”
7. Fanaa(Yuva):  The  most disappointing  Mani-Rahman collaboration  . Only Fanaa, filmed  on Vivek Oberoi and Kareena, and that too in  the  background,stood out.  Rahman was  not happy with the  way his music  was used. “In Yuva  Mani Rathnam didn’t want songs  in the first place.  The songs were done largely  for the background . I knew from the start that there would be  very high expectations from our combination. I knew they were in  for  a  letdown, though not as much as they finally were…I’ve been making too many sacrifices, specially with the way my songs were used .”
8. Lajjo:  Rahman and Ratnam were  to do  a film called Lajjo  which never  got made. Speaking  on the  subject Rahman   had told me, “It will  be a whole  new   musical vision…. Lajjo will  star Aamir Khan who always selects  his films carefully.  Being a part of Aamir’s  films  like 1947—Earth,  Lagaan and Rang De Basanti where the endeavour is to excel, I feel my career in Bollywood  has benefited immensely.”