Ranaji

Anurag Kashyap is out with a new movie today, Friday, the 13th - Gulaal. After 3 brilliant movies - Satya (scripted by AK), Black Friday and Dev D. (we can safely ignore the mindless 'No Smoking'), I am very eager to watch this new movie. The interest is also quite considerably piqued because of a song - Ranaji - from the movie. Now don't get me wrong, it is not the mujra in the song that has captured my attention. The lyrics of the song, are most interesting. And of course, the haunting voice of Rekha Bharadwaj who has Namak from Omkara and Genda Phool from Delhi-6 to her credit. She certainly seems to be thoroughly enjoying the proceedings and one can rest assured that there would be whistles and catcalls in the auditorium when the song plays on screen. Some of the lyrics of the song go thus:

Rana Ji Mhare Gusse Mein Aaye,
Aiso Bal Khaye,
Agiya Barsae,
Ghabrae Mharo Chain;
Jaise door des ke tower me ghus jaaye re aeroplane

Jaise sare aam iraaq me jaake jam gaye uncle Sam

Sajini ko dear bole, Tharre ko beer bole
Mange hai english boli, Mange hai english choli
mange hai english jaipur, english bikaner
Jaise bisleri ki..
Jaise bisleri ki bottle pike bangaye english man

Jaise har ek baat pe democracy me lagai lagao ban

Jaise bina baat afgaanistaan ka baj gaya bhaiyya band

Composed and written by Piyush Mishra (who is in fact the composer and lyricist for the entire album), this is yet another quirky number making an appearance in an AK film , after 'Emosanal Atyachaar'. There are references to quite a few real life issues in the song (all in light humor though), and one just hopes that there are no controversies around it in days to come and it is accepted with as much interest and enthusiasm as 'Emosanal Atyachaar'. The number is as whacky as it gets. In a lighter vein, it manages to make a serious statement about today's socio-economic condition of the world. It makes references to such diverse topics like 9/11, Uncle Sam, Saddam Hussein, Afghanistan, mineral water, democracy etc. How inappropriate for a mujra number, yet how appropriate for today's times!

Political lyricism thus finally makes a strong occurrence in Hindi filmdom. And it is indeed well sung by Rekha Bharadwaj's intrinsically folksy tones. Ranaji definitely sends out vibes of an ethnic collage of events and stirs it up well with amiable folksy music that can set the desired pace for this blood-curdling political warfare saga.

P.S.: Read Anurag's blog post on the story behind the creation of the movie Gulaal here.