#11 Lagaan: Top 100 Bollywood Albums

Music: A.R. Rahman

Lyrics: Javed Akhtar

Label: Sony Music 

Director: Ashutosh Gowarikar 

2001 was a landmark year for Aamir Khan, with two of the biggest movies of his career coming out over a span of just three months. It was a real treat for music aficionados that both these movies had stellar soundtracks steeped in totally different soundscapes. While Dil Chahta Hai was representative of urban coolness, Lagaan's period album was very rooted in its sound with dominant folk and classical influences, with a smattering of Western classical elements. Among the soundtrack's brilliant lineup of musicians that composer AR Rahman featured in the album were Hindustani veterans Ustad Sultan Khan (sarangi) and Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt (mohan veena).

Best Song of Lagaan: There are few songs that can give me the kind of inspirational high that O Mitwa does. While Javed Akhtar and the singers were top notch on their part, the star of the song was AR Rahman for the way he structured the song with its brilliant shifts between soothing melodic passages and the electrifying central refrain.

On a related note: Though the album's official credits mention just Javed Akhtar as lyricist, the English segments of O Ri Chhori were reportedly penned by Farhan Akhtar.

1. Ghanan Ghanan (Singers: Udit Narayan, Sukhwinder Singh, Alka Yagnik, Shankar Mahadevan, Shaan, Chorus)
2. Mitwa (Singers: Udit Narayan, Sukhwinder Singh, Alka Yagnik, Srinivas)
3. Radha Kaise Na Jale (Singers: Asha Bhosle, Udit Narayan, Vaishali Samant, Chorus)
4. O Rey Chhori (Singers: Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik, Vasundhara Das)
5. Chale Chalo (Singers: AR Rahman, Srinivas, Chorus)
6. Waltz for a Romance (Instrumental)
7. O Paalanhaare (Singers: Lata Mangeshkar, Udit Narayan)
8. Lagaan.. Once Upon A Time In India (Theme) (Singers: Anuradha Sriram, Chorus)

Listen to the entire album of Lagaan here:

(With contributions by Praveen VR, co-founder of musicaloud.com)

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