Kaansen Khronicles #1: Revisiting Songs from years past, that have been lost in the chaos of Social Media-era content explosion!
Picture this. A girl returns from a bizarre trip to Corsica, where
she meets a stranger, and she falls in love with him. She doesn't know
his name, or anything about where he comes from or what he does.
Anguished at her foolishness for letting her soul mate leave without the
classic Bollywood "Kya Yahi Pyaar Hai" song in the Alps, she does her
best to get on with life, getting big promotions at work and all, but
barely hiding the fact that she is borderline clinically depressed, and
desperately needs to find herself the love of her life. Picture all
this, and then insert a quirky 4 man Bhangra Band that likes to
punctuate every sentence they sing with a stereotypical "Haye Hoye".
Misfit ? Nope. Just A.R.Rahman doing his genius thing.
Coming
at a time where his obsession with the Punjabi/Bhangra genre was at its
peak following Katiya Karoon and Patakha Gudhi in the years prior to
Tamasha, Heer Toh Badi Sad Hai, is a classic Rahman number with
symphonical layers woven together underneath the leading instrument - a
Tumbi and the Sarangi in this instance - and crisp vocals from Mika
Singh. The song generally has a peppy outlook, and the Bhangra Boys
singing it on the screen dont look too upset while they're singing in
celebration either - especially the older gentleman with his toothless
grin.
The song itself beautifully captures the effects
of Depression - a superficially content and satisfying life, but the
deep issues beneath the surface waiting to drag a person down. Irshad
Kamil's lyrics add another layer of simple language loaded with cliched
analogies that help the listener connect with Tara.
Indian
Film songs do not live in isolation - they are often pieces of a
bigger puzzle - the story the director is trying to tell. This song is
yet another showpiece of the crucial mental connection Rahman seems to
make with some of his repeated collaborators like Imtiaz Ali that helps
him set the mood with a song in the context of the larger story
surrounding it.
Some day, I hope to read a story about how Imtiaz Ali and A.R.Rahman
envisioned using this theme to highlight Heer, or Tara's despair, but in
the meantime, this song needs to be celebrated as one of Rahman's best
offerings in the past decade in Hindi cinema.
