Yeh Rishta - Meenaxi (2004)

Yeh Rishta from the film “Meenaxi: A Tale of 3 Cities” is a song very close to my heart. Every time I hear it, I am reminded of the beauty of friendship. I cannot say more, since I consider this quite personal, let’s just say, that through a very dear friend of mine I heard the beauty in this song, or maybe through the song I saw the beauty within my friend.
In the same movie you can hear Do Kadam, a very soulful song by Sonu Nigam, the very powerful Chinnamma Chilakkamma by the powerhouse voice of Sukhwinder Singh, Asha Bhosle in a very sensuous but strong Dhuan Dhuan and the colourful voice of Alka Yagnik in the evenly colourful (and melodically difficult to grasp (which makes it even more attractive)) Rang De. Also a soul stirring Noor-Un-Ala-Noor can be found, a power packed qawwali so it seems, to praise the Almighty. Further on the album, I find noteworthy, some percussion tracks by percussionists Shivamani and Hossam Ramzy.

I have unfortunately not yet seen the movie. It is directed by M.F. Husain, music by A.R. Rahman. The lyrics for Yeh Rishta are by Rahat Indori, and are sung by Reena Bhardwaj. This was her first song ever in a Bollywood movie. An extremely sweet voice, and the capability to bring lots of feelings in her songs: she sings awesome. I also know that she has sung tracks on Nitin Sawhney’s albums (Human and Philtre). Simply wow.

The song immediately starts with a mesmerizing humming or sighing of a female voice, in rhythm, over a dreamy pattern of strings and synthesized effects. “Someone showing a true dream, and becomes one with your eyes… this bond (relation)… what is the name of this bond?”
The drums start, are beautifully arranged and mix up to become a simple groove, with a clear pattern, to pave the way of the rest of the song. But as clear and firm as it stands, it holds great strength, and still feels gentle. Reena’s voice seamlessly blends with the rhythm. “When the sun starts to tire, and light grows dim, something unknown clings to my breath… I come closer to my heart and my heart closer to me… What is the name of this bond?”
The rhythm stops in the middle of these lines, to make way for a set of guitar chords together with more room for the bass guitar to play with the melody and some synthesized sounds. It has a wholly different feel than the full drums, and just gives enough contrast to be amazed of the creativity and the easiness with which A.R. Rahman seems to blend the totally different sounds. Also the sound of only Reena’s voice over the strumming of the guitar is a delight. And when the drums return at the end of these lines, a certain fullness is achieved, since the guitar and bass fill up all possible empty spaces that might have remained before.

Halfway the song, a somewhat drastic change makes all of the music stop with the reverb of a big drum. Slowly the sound of water arises, as if a boat is being peddled, or as if one is sitting next to a stream (not having seen the movie makes it difficult what exactly happens). On the sound of the water, slowly the music starts, very gently, flowing with the stream of water. The lyrics also dwell upon these waters: “If in these silent streams one drops a pearl, ripples appear, and the ripples become a storm… (drums start again) What is the name of this bond?”

“I keep on making pictures, on these broken voices… and keep searching for a face, on walls or doors… I am not near myself and someone calls me from far off… what is the name of this bond?” The song after a while ends with the humming of the melody of the main phrase, and the strings fade away.

There are many words in this song that keep haunting me. The words “Yeh Rishta” (this bond) in the first line, and every repeat of that, are so full of meaning and feeling. What is this bond? What is it that we feel, in a relation with someone? It does not matter what kind of relation. It does not matter how far you are from each other or how closely you know each other. The feeling and bond might seem to be as big as a mountain. And in some true friendships, or any other kind of loving relation, we are shown dreams that become realities, or realities that feel like the softness, joy and beauty of a dream… and we certainly find that we come closer to our heart, and our heart comes closer to us…
Sometimes we indeed keep on searching for that one face of the person that is on our mind. How often does it not happen that time passes by while we think of a loved one, minutes seem seconds and hours seem minutes… That we hope to find that person just around the corner of the street…
What does this bond tell us? What does it mean? What do we get from it, and why can’t we grasp it? What is so haunting about it? What is the reason it comes? And what is the name of this bond? :)

(The song can be found both on musicindiaonline.com and raaga.com for online listening. See for instance: Raaga.com :: Meenaxi Tracklist)