Chhaayaageet #70 - "Dance however you want."
“Where are you right now?”, the filmmaker asks over the phone.
“I am in London”, replies the composer.
The filmmaker is on location in Jaipur in the midst of a shoot schedule. He’s got a large film crew with him.
The composer has finished recording the film’s sound, score and tracks and is in London for other business.
“I have reached that point in the script where the characters are on the verge of awakening and transformation. I feel there needs to be a song here”, the filmmaker explains the situation.
“When are you planning to shoot?”
“Tomorrow morning if I can get a track tonight.”
It’s already “tonight” in Jaipur, and not much time left for “tonight” in London.
“Tonight?”, asks the composer incredulously.
Deep into the night the filmmaker’s phone rings. It’s the composer calling from London.
”I have emailed you an audio file. Is there an Internet cafe somewhere that you can download it from?”
It is late. The city is fast asleep. There is a Java Cafe nearby somewhere. The Internet has been switched off.
Someone locates the owner of Java Cafe, and he is persuaded to open shop. A computer whirrs into action. The assistants start downloading the 3 min long audio file. After some time they leave.
“Did you get the file?”, asks the filmmaker.
The assistant puts his hand forward with the USB drive.
“Sir, we could not download it completely. We only have a little over a minute.”
In the morning, the filmmaker tells his actors there is to be a song at that point in the script. But, there are no lyrics. This is a last minute addition. There is also no choreographer.
“Dance however you want. I have 70 seconds of music, and I am going to play it in a loop. Do whatever you want. I want it to be random and wild.”
AR Rahman composed the music for Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra’s 2006 film, Rang De Basanti.
Rahman was in London for the production of his Bollywood-themed musical, Bombay Dreams, produced by Andrew Lloyd Weber.
As he was passing by a bar, Rahman heard a tune, which inspired him to record a track for Mehra in short order. Of course, later he embellished the song with orchestration to the lyrics of Prasoon Joshi, who wrote all songs in the film.
Rang De Basanti was released globally on 26 January 2006. The film broke all opening box office records in India, becoming the country's highest-grossing film in its opening weekend and holding the highest opening-day collections for a Bollywood film. It received critical acclaim, winning the National Film Award for Best Popular Film, and being nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2007 BAFTA Awards. Rang De Basanti was chosen as India's official entry for the Golden Globe Awards and for the Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category, though it did not ultimately yield a nomination for either award.
Before venturing into the film industry, Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra and Prasoon Joshi were in the ads business making ad films. Mehra’s first Hindi film, Aks, with Amitabh Bachchan and Manoj Bajpayee, bombed at the box office. People thought he would be discouraged and go back to ad film making. But Mehra was undaunted. It took him seven years to research and write the story and three years to develop the script of Rang De Basanti.
Rahman's soundtrack, which earned positive reviews, had two of its tracks, Khalbali and Luka Chhupi, considered for an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score.
Here’s Rahman singing Khalbali live in concert.
Singer: AR Rahman, Mohammad Aslam, Nacim
Lyrics: Prasoon Joshi
*ing: Aamir Khan, Sharman Joshi, Kunaal Kapoor, Siddharth, Soha Ali Khan, Alice Patten
Director: Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra
Film: Rang De Basanti (2006)