A.R. Rahman knew that Ishq Bina (without love), no music could happen

 

After recently watching a snippet of an episode of The Voice which has gone kind of viral on Twitter, wherein A.R. Rahman joins in to sing “Ishq Bina” with a contestant to complete the song, I couldn’t refrain from not listening to the song. Although I’ve listened to it a million times before, or even more, I just had to.

The song “Ishq Bina” from Subhash Ghai’s 1999 film Taal, sung by Anuradha Sriram, Sujatha Mohan, Sonu Nigam, and A.R. Rahman, starring Aishwarya Rai and Akshaye Khanna in the music video, and written by Anand Bakshi, brings us back to the time when A.R. Rahman was still experimenting with the amalgamation of Hindustani Classical music with that of western music. Even then he knew exactly what tune would go with what particular genre, or with the theme of a particular film. Taal was a musical romantic film and Ishq Bina feels like a perfect go-to song for the same. 

It glorifies love the A.R. Rahman way- by taking it to a spiritual level, where it is hard to come back from. It emphasises the power of love and how one can't live without it. It also makes us rethink the way we perceive love; A.R. Rahman makes us to see love in the light of the impact it makes and which goes beyond a romantic girl-boy college relationship. Especially because it came at a time when films like Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam were in vogue. 

Surprisingly, the track has a soothing and tranquil effect on our hearing senses even after the use of traditional instruments like ‘manjeera,’ and flute, and a soulful one at the same time even with the use of a violin; it’s not even a qawwali or a typical 90s Hindi romantic song, yet it is both. 

The power with which Rahman carries it forward and the sheer beauty that comes with the brittle voice of the instruments and all of the artists combined is the reason why the Taal soundtrack is still remembered among its listeners.  

P.S. I wrote this a few days back.