Music maestro A. R. Rahman has launched his latest album "Raunaq – A Conversation of Mystery and Poetry" on 29 September in Mumbai.
The album comprises of seven songs and the lyrics are penned by Kapil Sibal. The music composer dedicated his album to the Vogue Empower, a social awareness initiative that focuses on women empowerment.
The music launch was held at Mumbai and the composer revealed the song "Ladli", sung by legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar. At the event, Rahman confessed that it took him more than three months to convince the veteran singer to croon the song.
"Initially she refused to sing the song and then I did not try to convince her too much, as I was already working on a Hollywood movie. But when I came back, I told her that if she does not sing, I would not launch the album. I waited for three months," Rahman said to RadioandMusic.com.
The visual of the song "Ladli" is directed by Bejoy Nambiar and the cinematography is done by Sanu John Varghese.
Meanwhile, former Union Minister and lyricist Sibal said that the song is dedicated to all the women in the world who spread joy and cheer to the people around them.
"This song 'Ladli' is for all the women in the world who spread cheer among the people around. For me a woman is someone who stands tall despite difficult situations. She is a creator, nurturer, which is why we thought we would pay respects to a woman," added Sibal.
Sibal also said that he did not begin writing these songs with a particular intention, but ended up writing 25 to 30 songs. It was Rahman, who selected seven poems out of the choices he had.
The other songs are "Sach Kahoon" sung by K. S. Chithra and Rahman, "Geet Gaon" by Jonita Gandhi, "Kismat" by Shreya Goshal, "Aa Bhi Jaa" by Jonita Gandhi, "Kho Jaayein Hum" by Shweta Pandit and Jyoti and "Khatta Meetha" by Mohit Chauhan.
Rahman, who was influenced by the paintings of Raja Ravi Varma wanted to incorporate the concept in his album and accordingly, developed concepts for the visuals. He even played the role of a visual storyteller in the song "Aa Bhi Jaa" in which Yami Gautham plays the lead.
The introductory launch of "Raunaq" was done by Bollywood superstar Salman Khan on 27 February 2014. Commercial music streaming service Gaana.com released the first track "Kismat Se" on 27 February 2014 and the track "Aa Bhi Jaa" was released on 13 May 2014.
