5 All Time Loved Songs by A R Rahman

The music maestro has given innumerable hit albums not just in India, but also in the West. While it is a difficult task to select a few favorites out of a plethora of superhit numbers, we bring to you a list of top 5 A R Rahman albums in all languages.

* Roja

At a time when Rahman was quite content composing for jingles, his mentor and ace director Mani Ratnam pushed him to further explore his talent. Holding admission forms to the prestigious Berklee College of Music in one hand and an offer of Roja in the other, A R Rahman decided to go with the latter, and the rest was history. The music of this film is undoubtedly one of his biggest achievements in music and a game-changer in his life. His compositions for the Hindi movie too, ensured his path-breaking foray into Bollywood films.

* Duet

In his first ever collaboration with legendary director K Balachander, A R Rahman weaved magic again with the music of Duet. With the use of saxophone in most of his compositions, the music of the film was refreshing, and ‘Anjali Anjali’ turned out to be one of the most soulful songs of all time.

* Thiruda Thiruda

The OST of the Tamil comedy thriller from 1993 is also considered to be a benchmark in his career. With songs like Chandralekha and Veerapandi Kottayile in the album, A R Rahman showed the majestic combination of a number of different instruments and techno pop elements infused with traditional vocals.

* Kadhalan

Songs like ‘Urvashi Urvashi’, ‘Pettai Rap’ and ‘Mukkala Mukabla’ combined the eclectic music of Rahman with Prabhudeva’s dance moves. The floating suit sequence in Mukabla was a smashing hit with the audiences, and the number of copies made of the song bagged in a Limca Book of Records for Rahman!

* Bombay

The OST of this film ranged from an explosive ‘Humma Humma’ to a divine composition like ‘Tu Hi Re’/’Uyire Uyire’. The movie also earned him global recognition as it made to The Guardians list of ‘1000 albums to hear before you die’. It features in every list of the top songs of 90s as well as the most memorable songs of Rahman, making it a must have in our A R Rahman jukebox.