Taal (film)
Taal is a 1999 Indian Hindi musical romantic drama film co written, edited, produced and directed by Subhash Ghai. Taal was premiered at the Chicago International Film Festival, the "official selection" at the 2005, and the 45th International Film Festival of India in the Celebrating Dance in Indian cinema section.
The film stars Anil Kapoor, Akshaye Khanna, Aishwarya Rai, Amrish Puri and Alok Nath. It was also dubbed in Tamil as Thaalam. It was very successful in India and overseas, becoming the first Indian film to reach the top 20 on Variety's box office list. Anil Kapoor, A. R. Rahman, Alka Yagnik and Anand Bakshi each won a Filmfare Award for their work in the film. Aishwarya Rai was nominated for Filmfare Best Actress Award and Star Screen Award Best Actress for her performance.
Synopsis
When the wealthy and affluent family of Mr. Jagmohan Mehta and his son Manav arrive in Chamba, India for a long vacation, they meet the beautiful daughter, Mansi of a poor spiritual singer named Tara Babu.Jagmohan Mehta, as the owner of the Mehta & Mehta Group of Companies, is looking into investing in Chamba with his adroit son Manav, and as days fly by, Jagmohan and Tara Babu become acquainted and friendly towards each other.
Eventually, Manav and Mansi also get to know each other and bond and then fall in love.
When Manav informs his father of his relationship and intention to marry Mansi, Jagmohan is reluctant because Mansi comes from a very poor social-economic status and might not fit in but, the Mehta and Babu families continue to remain friendly and cordial.
When she hears about this, Mansi is distressed with Manav's father's reaction to the marriage proposal idea, but her lover assures he will convince his father to change his mind, and Mansi gives him a shawl with the embroidery of their names juxtaposed as "Manavsi".
When Mansi's father learns of Manav and Mansi's affair he is at first angry, but soon agrees to travel to Mumbai to visit his cousin Prabha, who is a news reporter, and to meet Manav's family.
Unfortunately, Tara Babu is insulted by Jagmohan's sister-in-law, brother, and the employees and endure hostile treatment. She and her father then leave the Mehta household deeply hurt, and Mansi makes it clear to Manav to leave her alone from now on — no more relationship.
Mansi soon meets Vikrant Kapoor, a successful and famous music producer/director, who happens to be a fan of Tara Babu's work. With the encouragement of her uncle Prabha, she signs a three-year contract with Vikrant, and Mansi performs dance numbers and remixes of Tara Babu's songs as well as some of Vikrant's productions. She wins awards and becomes a sensation in India. In the meantime, Vikrant starts to fall in love with Mansi.
Matters are further complicated when Manav finds out that his family was in the wrong when they treated Mansi and her father ill and promises them that they will end up having a family photo with Mansi in it as well. Manav arrives to apologise to Mansi for what he and his family did, and she rejects him out of grief for how he treated her father. He tells her how she will come back to him. Manav's father also doesn't allow him to marry Mansi and promises his father that he will be the one who brings Mansi back to him.
Vikrant learns of what happened between Manav and Mansi, but he chooses to ignore it. He has a few encounters with Manav but takes them lightly.
Vikrant proposes to Mansi soon afterward, and her father, uncle, and aunt all encourage her to accept it, with the hope that it will help her forget Manav. She accepts the proposal even though she is not in love with Vikrant. After winning an International MTV Award in Canada, she returns to India to prepare for her marriage to Vikrant.
In the meantime, Jagmohan and Tara Babu patch things up after Jagmohan realises his mistake and apologises sincerely for his misbehaviour.
On the wedding day itself, Manav confronts Mansi one last time – hoping that she will honour her love for him and not marry Vikrant.
Vikrant soon realises, after seeing Mansi's reaction on seeing Manav, that she loves Manav. He assures her that the three of them can still be friends, and urges her to honour her love to Manav. Jagmohan and Tara Babu also encourage her with the same and give their blessings, to which Manav and Mansi finally embrace.
Manav's family takes a family picture at the Mehta household after the wedding of Mansi and Manav, as he had promised it would happen.
Cast
- Anil Kapoor as Vikrant Kapoor
- Akshaye Khanna as Manav Mehta
- Aishwarya Rai as Mansi Shankar
- Amrish Puri as Jagmohan Mehta
- Alok Nath as Tara Babu
- Jividha Ashta as Ila Shankar
- Tanya Mukherji as Shanno Shankar
- Mita Vashisht as Prabha Shankar
- Saurabh Shukla as Banerjee
- Supriya Karnik as Shakuntala
- Prithvi Zutshi as Shakuntala's husband, Jagmohan Mehta's brother, Manav's uncle
- Puneet Vasishtha as Shaukat
- Akash Karnataki as Siddhu
- Manoj Pahwa as Santram
- Rajesh Khera as Mohan Mehta
- Bobby Darling as Dress Designer
- Shahid Kapoor as a background dancer in song "Kahin Aag Lage"
- Isha Sharvani as a background dancer in song "Kahin Aag Lage"
- Anita Hassanandani in the song "Ishq Bina"
Soundtrack
The soundtrack was released on 12 June 1999 and it become a big critical and commercial success. At a press conference, Ghai remarked, "I credit the name of the movie to composer A.R.Rahman. This movie is a romance and I could have called it any thing – Dil, Pyaar, Hum Bhaag Gaye, but it was Rahman's presence in the movie that gave me the confidence to call it Taal. Taal means music and music means Taal. The whole credit goes to A.R.Rahman and Anand Bakshi. Rahman kept me awake many nights, but after listening to the songs, I felt it was worth all the trouble."
The soundtrack became a tremendous success, and was sold more than 1.85million units within a month of its release. It went on to sell 4million units, becoming the best-selling soundtrack for a 1999 Hindi film. The soundtrack made the list of "Greatest Bollywood Soundtracks of All Time", as compiled by Planet Bollywood.
'Hindi Track'
| Track # | Song | Singer | Length |
| 1 | "Ishq Bina" | Sujatha Mohan, Sonu Nigam, Anuradha Sriram, Chorus | 7:45 |
| 2 | "Taal Se Taal" | Alka Yagnik, Udit Narayan | 6:18 |
| 3 | "Nahin Samne" | Hariharan, Sukhwinder Singh | 6:04 |
| 4 | "Ramta Jogi" | Sukhwinder Singh, Alka Yagnik | 6:29 |
| 5 | "Beat of Passion " | Instrumental, Sivamani | 2:44 |
| 6 | "Kariye Naa" | Sukhwinder Singh, Alka Yagnik | 6:41 |
| 7 | "Ni Main Samajhh Gayi" | Richa Sharma, Sukhwinder Singh | 4:33 |
| 8 | "Raga Dance " | Instrumental | 2:53 |
| 9 | "Kahin Aag Lage" | Asha Bhosle, Aditya Narayan, Richa Sharma | 7:15 |
| 10 | "Ishq Bina Ishq Bina" | Kavita Krishnamurthy, Sukhwinder Singh | 8:13 |
| 11 | "Taal Se Taal " | Sukhwinder Singh | 2:34 |
| 12 | "Kya Dekh Rahe Ho Tum" | Vaishali Samant, Sunidhi Chauhan, Sukhwinder Singh | 2:26 |
'Tamil Track'
Lyrics by Vairamuthu
| Track # | Song | Singer | Length |
| 1 | Kadhal Illamal 1 | Sujatha Mohan, Anuradha Sriram, Palakkad Sriram, Srinivas | 07:45 |
| 2 | Enge En Punnagai | Shoba Shankar, S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Sukhwinder Singh | 06:20 |
| 3 | Kalaimaane | Hariharan | 06:05 |
| 4 | Kadhal Yogi | T. L. Maharajan, Swarnalatha | 06:29 |
| 5 | Beat of Passion | Instrumental, Sivamani | 02:44 |
| 6 | Sarithana Sarithana | Mano, K. S. Chithra | 06:41 |
| 7 | Naan Therinjikitten | Uncredited | 04:33 |
| 8 | Raga Dance | Instrumental | 02:52 |
| 9 | Unnaithan | Sujatha Mohan, Deepika | 07:16 |
| 10 | Kadhal Illamal 2 | Kavita Krishnamurthy | 08:13 |
| 11 | Enge En Punnagai | Shoba Shankar, S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Sukhwinder Singh | 02:34 |
Reception
Taal was a hit at the box office in India and was the third highest-grossing film of the year. It was also the highest-grossing film in the overseas markets that year. In the United States, it became the first Indian film to reach the top 20 on Variety's box office list. Taal also made the list of the weekly top ten grossing films in the United Kingdom. The film was screened at the Chicago International Film Festival and selected by Roger Ebert for his 2005 Overlooked Film Festival.Subhash Ghai wanted Shahrukh Khan and Mahima Chaudhary, but that didn't happen. Then the film offer then went to Manisha Koirala who had a strong background of films then, but could not do it. Aishwarya Rai was then cast. This film was a game changer for Aishwarya. Akshaye Khanna was then cast to replace SRK.