Mesmerising. That’s the music of AR Rahman. His Oscar nominations wins have brought his music to a bigger world stage. But is Slumdog Millionaire Rahman’s best? You don’t even need to think for the answer.
As a salute to the Mozart of Madras, I’ve picked up some of his best works and compiled them into a single video.
Since it is very difficult to be selective about songs from Rahman’s oeuvre, I followed a simple procedure (though technically faulty):
Only his Hindi songs, or songs dubbed into Hindi, have been included. Because that’s what I’ve listened to the most.
One song from each selected movie. With the exception of Dil Se, arguably Rahman’s best work yet. How can you choose between a Chaiyya Chaiyya and a Dil Se Re?
Video – The Best of AR Rahman
The videos are in no particular order. If you disagree with my list (which I believe many would) please leave your suggestions (the songs that I’ve missed out on) in the comments.
List of songs included in the video (in order of appearance):
1. Dil Hain Chota Sa (Roja)
2. Humma Humma (Bombay)
3. Kabhi Neem Neem (Yuva)
4. Saathiya (Saathiya)
5. Azeem-o-Shaan Shahenshah (Jodhaa Akbar)
6. Mangal Mangal (Mangal Pandey – The Rising)
7. Roobaroo (Rang De Basanti)
8. Ye Jo Desh Hain Tera (Swadesh)
9. Rut Aa Gayi Re (1947 Earth)
10. Chaiyya Chaiyya (Dil Se)
11. Maa Tujhe Salaam (Vande Mataram)
12. Yai Re (Rangeela)
13. O Re Chori (Lagaan)14. Tu Fiza Hain (Fiza) (This isn’t a Rahman composition, as pointed out by Lyrical Craziness Personified)
15. Hum Hain Is Pal Yahan (Kisna)
16. Dil Se Re (Dil Se)
17. Masakkali (Delhi-6)
18. Jaage Hain Der Tak (Guru)
heyy… that was a sweet compilation… though i would have loved a few lesser known numbers like mil gaye mil gaye from love birds or mere yaara dildaara zara sun sun… (i don’t remember that jackie shroff-poojabhatt-anil kapoor starrer)… or a song from ada from last year… 🙂>>one thng wrong with the compilation – tu fiza hai is an anu-malik creation… the only song in fiza by rahman is piya haji ali… just correct that small blooper… i loved the compilation…!!
<>@Lyrical Craziness Personified<> Oops! Thanks for pointing that out. In my rush to put this together, I relied too much on my memory (and that’s not too reliable, it seems). Will remove the errant clip soon. Thanks again.
can we have a vote for a best rahman work. it will be exciting .
an awesome compilation.>Dil Se is no doubt good, but i believe Roja was the best. I say this because this was his first big movie composition and it was really special. The songs added a breath of freshness to the Indian music industry.>>In addition to this, I believe you should also include the Airtel jingle that hes composed. It has been and is still a craze among a large sections of the population.>>I’m hooked to your blog. Keep up the good work 🙂
i think so many people agree to u that actually vote for best rahman # is happening at ibnlive.in.com
Awesome – inspired me to blog my favs too. Love – Kay Sera Sera – (Pukar) and Nahin Samne – (Taal). Also the track that Lyrical Craziness Personified is referring to is from the movie Kabhi na Kabhi.
<>@Devank<>: I though of having a poll up, but wasn’t able to pick five of the best for that. It’s difficult. It’s good that IBNLive is cunduccting a poll, but (expectedly) I din’t quite agree with ther options.>><>@mRED<>: Since Rahman did music for a lot of jingles (since his Dilip Kumar days), I might sometime put together a collection of them all. And <>Roja<> was indeed a breath of fresh air.>><>@San<>: Oh yes. That each individual’s list of Rahman’s best differs is just an indication of the man’s genius.
I love Rehman’s music but he really really disappointed me when he did not mention Gulzar’s name while receiving the award for the song that was jointly written by them. Nobody seems to think that Gulzar also won an Oscar this year!! shows how media can carry you away in whichever direction it wants.