A. R. Rahman is again at his prodigious best. His score for Aamir Khan’s period drama Lagaan is a delectable blend of Indian classical music, folk melodies and jazzy snazzy tunes.
The film is a period drama set in 1890 in a remote village in central India. In his compositions, Rahman carefully incorporates the feel of that era. The songs in film are musically rich and have an earthy appeal.
Opening song Ghanan Ghanan has vocal contribution from six singers and is one of the best draws in the whole package.
Javed Akhtar’s lyric makes the song one of the best draws in the whole package.
Rahman’s command over instrumentation and percussion is evident in Mitwa spiritedly rendered by Udit Narayan. The peppy teaser Raadha Kaise Na Jale, a song low in tempo and with some impressive vocal inflection by Asha Bhosle.
Rahman brings a lot of western influence too. The signature tune Lagaan: Once upon a time has some good orchestration structured in the fashion of some Mozart-like symphony. Alka Yagnik-Udit Narayan rendered O Re Chhori is soft and scintillating. It is about a boy and girl falling in love with each other and also has lyric in English sung by Indipopper Vasundhara Das.
A. R. Rahman sings Chale Chalo with full gusto. Album closes with a rather sad note in O Paalan Hare, a prayer that has Lata Mangeshkar traversing the lows and highs of the octave.
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