Raavan's melody

At the recent music release of Raavan, everybody was taken in by a soulful rendition of a song, Jaa re udd jaa re, by AR Rahman.


Penned by fellow Oscar winner Gulzar, most of the audience present for the music release of Raavan assumed it was part of the CD given out that evening - but it wasn’t. Even Mani Ratnam wasn’t aware that Rahman would be singing the song.

A source from the unit reveals, “The song that Rahman performed live was an absolutely last minute inclusion. Rahman and Mani share a special bond that goes beyond their professional association. Rahman has given music for all of Mani’s films and even sung in a couple like Dil Se and Guru. Mani was very keen to have Rahman sing in Raavan.” Which he did, eventually.

But the song itself hadn’t been set to music. So Rahman burnt the midnight oil to give Mani a musical surprise. The night before the launch, Rahman closeted himself in his Mumbai studio and worked through the night to compose the song. In the wee hours, he recorded it in his voice.

The source adds that the final CD of the track did not contain the song, and the entire team of Raavan, including director Mani Ratnam, heard it for the first time at the launch. The song may be included at a later stage.