If you are a diehard fan of the Rahman-Rathnam combination and follow every single news item about them, you will remember that they were both working on Lajjo seriously until the summer of 2007 but were forced to give up the project later. Now, the buzz is that A.R. Rahman has decided to use the tunes he had composed for Lajjo in Mani Ratnam's new project Ravana (this tentative title is also referred to as Raavana). It is also heard that Mani Rathnam has also permited him to do so.
For those who do not know about the film, Lajjo is Mani Rathnam’s Bollywood project which was supposed to star Aamir Khan and Kareena Kapoor. As usual, Mani invited his favourite music director A.R. Rahman to compose the music of this period film. The project was supposed to start in 2005 but Aamir was busy with Mangal Pandey then, so it got postponed to 2006, a time when Mani was busy with Guru (Abhishek Bachchan). Again, Lajjo got postponed. When finally Mani returned to the project in 2007, speculations were rife that the film would be dropped and the film’s producer Bobby Bedi did not scotch that rumour. But unfazed by these rumours, Mani Rathnam and A.R. Rahman kept working on the project diligently until August 2007. Mani formulated a perfect screenplay for the film which he discussed with Rahman regularly and the latter came up with several beautiful compositions. But with no response from Bobby and the different tracks Aamir and Kareena have gone after Mangal Paandey and Jab We Met respectively, the project’s future seems too bleak.
Whether Lajjo is revived or not, the music originally meant for it will definitely get a new lease of life in Ravana/Ashokavanam.
Check out the links below:
Kareena Kapoor's photo gallery
Aishwarya Rai's photo gallery
