AR Rahman reveals 'Rangeela' soundtrack was an 'experiment'; Read more

Ram Gopal Varma's iconic film, Rangeela, featuring Urmila Matondkar, Aamir Khan, and Jackie Shroff, is considered to be a landmark film of the 90s in terms of its music. The movie recently completed its 25 years this month. Recently, in an interview with PTI, music maestro AR Rahman opened up about composing the music for this film.

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AR Rahman on composing Rangeela’s soundtrack

In an interview with PTI, the ace musician told that the soundtrack of Rangeela arrived naturally and they didn’t feel the pressure for this movie because he was enjoying the new company he had in RGV and lyricist Mehboob. He said that they talk and joke and have fun. Further crediting the film’s team, he said he learned a lot while working on the movie.

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

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He further noted, “I was stunned, I still remember. And the way he acted was brilliant. And Urmila was brilliant. I think the whole soundtrack was an experiment. Apart from ‘Tanha Tanha’ and ‘Yayire’, nobody does a (‘Raag’) Bhairavi for the beginning of a song, it is used at the end, but I didn’t know that information. I was like happy tuning ‘Tanha Tanha’. There were strains of Bhairavi constantly in it”.

The Oscar winner also said, “We just went by the instinct of ‘this is right, it feels right. Mangta Hai Kya was a song that “freaked people out because they did not know what to expect. It was just going on, almost like a trip rather than having the proper ‘mukhda’, ‘antara’. I believe some people said the song won’t work, but once it was picturised, people liked the novelty of it, they loved it. The way Ramu picturised it was very cool”.

There have been many tributes to Rangeela by a lot of artists, and he said that he is moved by the love and appreciation for the film’s music. The composer lastly added, “I’m very moved because that means the music has spread a lot. It’s a kind of validation for the music. And it’s probably the payoff that we all need in our work. We’re blessed that we do something different, and it gets recognised. So I always feel grateful”.

(Source: PTI Inputs)

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