Stalking Lata

Mumbai, 1948

Lata Mangeshkar was on a local train, on her way to meet her guru and music director Kemchand Prakash. It was when she alighted from the train that she noticed a man following her. There were no motor vehicles at that time, so you had to hire a horse carraige to travel. Lata beckoned one and much to her alarm, she saw the man following her in another carraige.

Lata got down at her destination and hurried to her guru's home. On seeing the other carraige stop outside the home, Lata told her guru, " That man has been following me all the time."

The man was already walking towards Prakash's home. Kemchand Prakash smiled and said, "This is Kishore, Ashok's little brother. He is here to learn too..."

That is how the Hindi film playback legends Lata Mangeshkar and Kishore Kumar first met.

Music review of JODHA AKBAR

Jodha Akbar
UTV music
Music: AR Rahman
Lyrics: Javed Akhtar

The music of the latest Ashutosh Gowariker film is finally here. Azeem-o-shaan Shenhenshah is an upbeat track, a ‘long live the king’ kind of song. A resounding chorus, a booming drumbeat, and a rhythmic clashing of swords too! A picture of a huge crowd collected before the king comes to the mind. The lyricist had tried to maintain a balance in the choice of words, hovering from Urdu words one wouldn’t find in a dictionary to plain Hindi vocabulary. Jaashne bahara is well, about the usual, the film hero yearning for the heroine’s love. The only difference, the concerned people here are the emperor and the princess. Javed Ali is a refreshing new voice, last heard in Jab We Met. Khwaja mere khwaja is a Sufi based qawaali. Unlike other film qawaalis, the instruments are to the minimum, accompanied with a gentle clapping of the hands, and Rahman’s vocals. Darmiyaan has Sonu Nigam singing an unusual duet with Madhushree. Yes, it is another love song, but the treatment is experimental. Kanhaa is a bit disappointing, yet another devotional song of Radha yearning for Lord Krishna, a repetition of a concept already tried in Lagaan and Swades – Gowariker’s earlier films. The instrumentals are a surprise too; Naveen’s flute improvises on jaashne bahar, and khwaja is recreated of all things with an oboe, a double reed musical instrument. The music may not be Rahman’s best, but will generally grow on you.
Additionally there is a bonus DVD, which has a four-minute trailer of the movie, about 10 film posters, film and character synopsis, all in text, but no video on the making on the movie.