Top 10 Bollywood Songs of Alka Yagnik composed by A. R. Rahman

Music maestro A. R. Rahman is best known for promoting young talents and less-heard voices. For the same reason, he has recorded only less number of songs with established singers like Alka Yagnik. In fact he always tries to bring some kind of freshness to his songs. That may be the reason why he is not perfectly bound to record songs with a particular singer, whether he/she is established or not. Yet we can’t deny that A. R. Rahman has always given some of the career best songs of almost all known playback singers, whether he/she is established or not.

Rahman has recorded only a few songs in Alka Yagnik, though she remained the most sought female voice of Bollywood in the 1990s throughout mid-2000s. Yet we can easily pick 10 of their best combo songs. And here is my playlist. 9 of the 10 listed songs are duets with a few back vocals added, and most of them were recorded aside Udit Narayan.

1. Taal Se Taal from Taal (Lyricist – Anand Bakshi) – Co-singer: Udit Narayan

Let me begin the list with 1999 musical – Taal. The title song with rain in the backdrop was filmed on Aishwarya Rai and Akshaye Khanna. Alka Yagnik won Filmfare award for best playback singer, while composer received award for best music. It’s Alka’s first Filmfare award winning song in Rahman composition. Second time, she won it for ‘O Re Chori’ song from Lagaan, and both are duets with Udit Narayan. Needless to say, the duo has some of the finest duets of their respective careers in Rahman’s music.

2. Ramta Jogi from Taal (Lyricist – Anand Bakshi) – Co-singer: Sukhwinder Singh

This sizzling dance number was filmed on Anil Kapoor and Aishwarya Rai. All the songs from the movie were huge chartbusters, which played a magnificent role in film’s success too. The movie included a third duet of Alka Yagnik – Kariye Na aside Sukhwinder Singh. But it was not as popular as other tunes.

3. Saawariya from Swades (Lyricist – Javed Akhtar) – Solo

This is the single solo to be featured in this list. It’s not easy to sing this soulful melody. But Alka Yagnik rendered this song with perfection, and earned a nomination at Filmfare awards too. The song was filmed on newcomer Gayatri Joshi, aside Shah Rukh Khan.

4. Suno Zara from Swades (Lyricist – Javed Akhtar) – Co-singer: Udit Narayan

The movie included one more melodious track sung by Alka Yagnik, and it’s a duet with Udit Narayan. This slow romantic song was also filmed on SRK and Gayatri Joshi.

5. O Rey Chhori from Lagaan (Lyricist – Javed Akhtar) – Co-singers: Udit Narayan and Vasundhara Das

Lagaan is a highly acclaimed film for its screenplay, direction, performances, music and everything. The song grabbed almost all musical awards at different award nights. Both A. R. Rahman and Javed Akhtar received Filmfare and National film awards, while Alka Yagnik earned it for this particular song. It’s the only romantic track of the album, filmed on Aamir Khan and newcomer Gracy Singh. Vasundhara Das provided the vocals for Rachel Shelley, who completed the love triangle.

6. Mitwa from Lagaan  (Lyricist – Javed Akhtar)  – Co-singer: Udit Narayan

This song with a positive vibe was filmed on Aamir Khan, Gracy Singh and other supporting actors, who played villagers in the movie. The song was lovely choreographed too. Udit Narayan won Filmfare award for best playback singer. The rain song – Ghanan Ghanan also had Alka Yagnik as the female voice.

7. Tu Muskura from Yuvraaj (Lyricist – Gulzar) – Co-singer: Javed Ali

The song is a finest rendition of Alka Yagnik and Javed Ali with back vocals provided by Rahman. Who says Rahman can’t tune classical songs? And Javed Ali perfectly nailed it at the song climax. The song was filmed on Anil Kapoor, Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif. 

8. Sona Nahi Na Sahi from 1 2 Ka 4 (Lyricist – Majrooh Sultanpuri)  – Co-singer: Udit Narayan

1 2 Ka 4 is one among the less heard albums of Rahman, with wonderful songs sung by Lata Mangeshkar, Alka Yagnik, Udit Narayan and Sonu Nigam. The movie had two duets of Alka Yagnik, both filmed on Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla – Sona Nahi Na Sahi aside Udit and Dil Ke Baazi aside Sonu Nigam.

9. Hai Na from Zubeidaa (Lyricist – Javed Akhtar) – Co-singer: Udit Narayan

It has been a hard choice for me to choose between two Alka Yagnik melodies from the album released in year 2001 – Hai Na (a duet with Udit) and Mehndi Hai Rachnewali (a soft solo filmed as a wedding song). I finally decided to go with the duet, a less-heard and underrated beautiful duet of the album. Zubeidaa – a period drama is one of the underrated works of Rahman’s career, though its tunes were unique. The movie included some of the finest tracks of Kavita Krishnamurty such as Dheeme Dheeme and Mein Albeli. This particular song was filmed on Manoj Bajpai and Karishma Kapoor.

10. Agar Tum Saat Ho from Tamasha (Lyricist – Irshad Kamil) – Co-singer: Arjit Singh

The song was filmed on broken couple – Deepika Padukone and Ranbir Kapoor. It can be said that it’s the last hit song of Alka Yagnik’s career, that too after a long time. It has been a long period since we heard such a melodious song from Alka. This song released in 2015 gave her the final nomination at Filmfare awards for best female voice.

The list is not ending here….

1. Mehndi Hai Rachnewali from Zubeidaa (Solo)

2. Ghanan Ghanan from Lagaan (Co-singers – Udit Narayan and Sukhwinder Singh) 

3. Ringa Ringa from Slumdog Millionaire (Co-singer – Ila Arun)

4. Ay Hairathe from Guru (Co-singer -Hariharan)

5. Kariye Na Ha Kariye Na Koi Vada from Taal (Co-singer – Sukhwinder Singh)

6. Hawa Sun Hawa from Ada… A Way of Life (Co-singer – Sonu Nigam) 

7. Milo Wahan Wahan from Ada… A Way of Life (Co-singer – Jayachandran)

8. Dil Ke Baazi from 1 2 Ka 4 (Co-singer – Sonu Nigam)

9. Jogiya Jogiya from The Legend of Bhagat Singh (Co-singer – Udit Narayan)

10. Mil Gayee Mil Gayee Woh Manzilen from Kabhi Na Kabhi (Co-singer – Kumar Sanu)

11. Ruki Suki Roti from Nayak (Co-singer: Shankar Mahadevan)