‘Rangeela’ soundtrack was an experiment: A R Rahman on completing 25 years in cinema

Music maestro A R Rahman says composing the music of his debut Hindi film Rangeela , which completes 25 years in cinema this month, felt like he was discovering something new.

The Ram Gopal Varma-directed romantic drama, starring Urmila Tatondkar as a backup dancer Mili, Aamir Khan as her tapori friend Munna and Jackie Shroff as Bollywood star Raj Kamal, is taken into account one among the landmark musical hits of the 90s.

The 1995 film, which marked the arrival of Rahman in Bollywood, had seven songs composed by him including evergreen hits like Tanha Tanha’, Rangeela Re’, Yayire Yayire’ and Kya Kare Kya Na Kare’.

His songs for “Roja” (1992) and “Bombay” (1995) were dubbed from Tamil.

Composing the songs of Rangeela’ was like discovering something new. The soundtrack arrived naturally and that we didn’t feel the pressure for this movie because i used to be enjoying the new company I had in Ramu and lyricist Mehboob. we might just talk and joke and celebrate . it had been my quite vibe, Rahman told PTI in an interview.

Crediting the film’s team, including choreographers Saroj Khan, Ahmed Khan, actors and producerJhamu Sughand, Rahman said he learnt tons while performing on the movie.

The first song that we worked on was Tanha Tanha’ then came Rangeela Re’. the foremost important decision we made was getting Asha Bhonsleji to sing. Her voice brought something extraordinary to the music She lent credibility to the soundtrack during a big way because Mehboob, Ramu and me, we were all new, the music maestro said.

Rahman still remembers Aamir’s yellow jacket that he says stood out during the scoring.

I was stunned, I still remember. and therefore the way he acted was brilliant. And Urmila was brilliant, Rahman recalled.

The composer added he was already an enormous fan of Shroff, having seen Subhash Ghai’s Hero .

What makes the film stand out for Rahman is that the incontrovertible fact that the team trusted their instincts while creating the music.

I think the entire soundtrack was an experiment. aside from Tanha Tanha’ and Yayire’, nobody does a ( raag’) Bhairavi for the start of a song, it’s used at the top but I didn’t know that information. i used to be like happy tuning Tanha Tanha’. there have been strains of Bhairavi constantly in it.

‘ Rangeela Re’, he said, had an old fashioned melody, a 1950s quite thing.

We just glided by the instinct of this is often right, it feels right, the Oscar winner added.
Mangta Hai Kya , the composer said, was another complicated song that freaked people out because they didn’t know what to expect .