Music In The Mountains: Yeh Haseen Vaadiyan

"Roja" (1992) is a celebrated Tamil film written and directed by Mani Ratnam. It is a romantic thriller with patriotism woven in the story. Beautifully shot by acclaimed cinematographer Santosh Sivan, it tells the story of a young couple whose marital bliss is shattered by a heinous act of terrorism. The film was dubbed in Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam, and Telugu. It won several awards in different departments including best film and best music. This was A. R. Rahman's first film as a composer. Arvind Swamy and Madhoo play the lead couple.

Presenting a lovely duet from this film today. Enjoy the tuneful music and the breathtaking visuals!

Singers: Chithra K. S. , S. P. Balasubrahmanyam
Lyrics: P. K. Mishra
Music: A. R. Rahman

Saawan Songs: Paigaam Laaya Saawan

A duet from "Lakeer--Forbidden Lines" (2004) today. It is an action/romance drama that flopped at the box office. A. R. Rahman has reused his composition from a Tamil film, Rhythm for making this song. I am also including the clip for the Tamil song.

Singers: Kavita Krishnamurthy, Shaan
Lyrics: Mehboob
Music: A. R. Rahman

Garden Of Five Senses: Phoolon Mein Jo Khushboo Hai

Watch Aishwarya Rai and Prashanth frolicking around the seven wonders of the world in this romantic duet from "Jeans" (1998). It was made originally in Tamil and later dubbed in Hindi. It was the most expensive Indian film made at that time. India nominated this film as its official entry in the Best Foreign Language Film category for the Academy Awards in 1998.

Singers: Sadhana Sargam, Hariharan
Lyrics: Javed Akhtar
Music: A. R. Rahman

Garden Of Five Senses: Dheemi Dheemi Bheeni Bheeni

"1947: Earth" (1998) is a sensitive film based on Bapsi Sidhwa's novel "Cracking India" (also published as "Ice Candy Man"). Centred around the partition of India, the story takes place in Lahore. A beautiful composition from this film today. The video from the film does not include the full song. So, posting the full song without the video too.

Singer: Hariharan
Lyrics: Javed Akhtar
Music: A. R. Rahman

Rain Songs: Taal Se Taal Mila

Beautiful location, Aishwarya Rai, a melodious song, lovely dance in the rain...these were the ingredients of a solo from "Guru" posted some time earlier in this series. They remain more or less the same for today's song, the only difference being that it is a duet. Enjoy this one from "Taal" (1999).

Singers: Alka Yagnik, Udit Narayan
Lyrics: Anand Bakshi
Music: A. R. Rahman

Rain Songs: Ghanan Ghanan

"Lagaan" (2001) was a film in which rains--rather the absence of rains--formed the crux of the story. A very popular song from that film today. The whole village has gathered in anticipation of rain showers. Celebrations have already begun. But a hush descends as the clouds decide to give the village a miss and start receding.

Singers: Sukhwinder Singh, Alka Yagnik, Udit Narayan, Shaan, Shankar Mahadevan
Lyrics: Javed Akhtar
Music: A. R. Rahman

Rain Songs: Baraso Re Megha

A village belle dancing with abandon in the beautiful surroundings of her home. It is raining. Lovely lakes and wondrous waterfalls thrown in for good measure. Well, that is the setting of today's song from "Guru" (2007).

Singer: Shreya Ghoshal
Lyrics: Gulzar
Music: A. R. Rahman

Her Story: Marital Home! - 2

The new bride will take some time to get acquainted with her new family. Presenting a folk song from Chhattisgarh which was used in "Delhi-6" (2009) very beautifully. The sasuraal is being likened to a genda phool (marigold). Just as so many petals come together to form a lovely flower, all members unite to make a joint family.

It is a catchy tune with warm, endearing visuals showing a family on a terrace in Old Delhi, busy making red chilly pickle on a mild winter day. But it is not just work. There is singing and dancing too. When Waheeda Rehman is dragged by other ladies to join them in the dance, she lights up the screen with her elegance and grace that hasn't diminished a bit with age.

Singers: Rekha Bhardwaj, Shraddha Pandit, Sujata Majumdar
Lyrics: Prasoon Joshi
Music: A. R. Rahman, Rajat Dholakia