The musical romantic drama ‘Taal’ featured Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Anil Kapoor, and Akshaye Khanna. The film celebrated its 25th anniversary this year. The film will be re-released in theatres on 27th September.
The filmmaker Subhash Ghai revealed that A.R. Rahman and lyricist Anand Bakshi did not interact due to their language barriers.
Anand Bakshi did not know English and A.R. Rahman did not know Hindi. Subhash Ghai placed a harmonium between them, hoping for a musical exchange.
Ghai said, “When I first made Anand Bakshi and A R Rahman meet, Anand ji didn’t know Hindi’. I placed a harmonium between them, hoping there might be some jugalbandi.
They politely asked each other, ‘No, you play something’, ‘No, you play something’. But after 15 minutes of silence, I realised there was a communication gap”.
Ghai also pointed out, “One didn’t know English, and the other didn’t know Hindi”. Ghai explained that A.R. Rahman composed the tune first, which then allowed Anand Bakshi to pen down his lyrics.
Ghai noted, “Rahman would create the music, and Anand ji would follow it up with his words. They understood each other through their art”.
Ghai said that their first song, ‘Kariye na’, showcased the creative partnership with A.R. Rahman composing the music first and then Ghai brought it to Bakshi to write the lyrics.
The filmmaker also revealed that A.R Rahman was paid minimal fees for composing the music for ‘Taal’. Rahman humorously responded to this disclosure, laughing and saying, ‘Let’s not go there!’.
‘Taal’ also starred Alok Nath, Amrish Puri, Mita Vashist, Saurabh Shukla, Sushma Seth, Manoj Pahwa and others in crucial roles.
‘Taal’ was premiered at the ‘Chicago International Film Festival’, the official selection at the 2005 Ebertfest: Roger Ebert’s Film Festival and retrospectively at the 45th IFFI in the Celebrating Dance in Indian Cinema section.
Subhash Ghai has produced many popular films like ‘Karz’, ‘Khalanayak’, ‘Ram Lakhan’, and ‘Dil se’. His last directorial was Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif starrer ‘Yuvvraaj’. The film will be re-released in theatres on 27th September.