Song: ‘Ramta jogi’
Film: Taal
Lyrics: Anand Bakshi
Composer: AR Rahman
Singers: Alka Yagnik, Sukhwinder Singh
Cast: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Akshaye Khanna, Anil Kapoor, Amrish Puri, Alok Nath, and others.
It’s Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s 44th birthday today, and there are far too many songs that one could use as a tribute to her. While there are the obvious songs from Iruvar, Guru, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, and others, her performance in Taal has got to be one of her best (and underrated) ones. Particularly in the song ‘Ramta Jogi‘, where we watch her innocence shed. Titillating, but classy. Her moves set the bar high, considering she began as a meek, young aspiring singer and transformed into Mansi, the seductress rockstar with this song.
The lyrics, too, refers to something ethereal, a wandering mystic much like Aishwarya’s persona in the music video. Words like ‘drinking the alcohol of love’, ‘an overwhelmed heart’, and talking about a ‘wave of ecstasy’ fills the song, with Aishwarya’s Mansi playing the seductress with such elan while Anil Kapoor sways, still unable to comprehend her character’s transformation.
Clearly Taal was a game changer for Aishwarya, considering the film went on to do terrifically at the box-office, domestic and overseas.