Vidhu Vinod Chopra has always provided us with excellent soundtracks for his films. His period saga 1942- A Love Story was one of Rahul Dev Burman’s last soundtracks and indeed he left the industry with a lot to remember. This drama featured the likes of Anil Kapoor, Manisha Koirala, and Jackie Shroff. Clearly such a powerful cast would require such excellent music.

Gone are the days where music can compliment such poetry that Javed Akhtar has penned for 1942- A Love Story. The rarity in which such albums are released is just another reason to listen to the melody of this soundtrack. Mellifluously over laid, the tunes all express great emotions.

In all his glory, Kumar Sanu sings, “Ek Ladki Ko Dekha”, the song is as whimsical and breezy as it is picturized. The light soft tune has a backdrop of a soft drum backdrop, which is complimented superbly by the sitar. The song being on of Sanu’s biggest hits cannot only be identified by the classes but the masses as well. The adornment of a love has been brought out simply excellently here.

The violin opens up to a fantasy like musical, “Pyar Hua Chup Kaise” in which Kavita Krishnamurthy carries of the soft toned tune to areas of musical extraordinaire. The dholak and tabla that follows is simply beautiful as Krishnamurthy transforms what seems like a regular romance fare into a classical ghazal styled song. But the beauty of this tune comes towards the latter portions of the song when the sitar and a tribal like chorus enters, once again setting the tune to the time period like a hand to a glove.

The teaser number, “Rooth Na Jana” brings us back to the golden era with its backdrop consisting essentially of the flute areas. The song is at times upbeat, sweet and Kumar Sanu once again emotes excellently.

“Kuch Na Kaho”, is featured twice, once by Kumar Sanu and the other by the illustrious Lata Mangeshkar. The slow tune is once again delightfully intertwined with the R.D. Burman touch in a violin orchestrated tune that is a must listen to put it lightly. A chorus of the song has also been featured on the soundtrack. Of course Lata Mangeshkar out do all of them in a tune where she sounds like she has sung twenty years prior to the original release of the album. Her rendition reaches the heights that Javed Akhtar has hoped for when penning the album, clearly.

I would go as far as to say, “Rhim Jhim” is the best song of the soundtrack and one of the best in the past ten years. Perhaps that is because it is my favorite and at the very least a great tune. We are not often treated to Kumar Sanu and Kavita Krishnamurthy together anymore, but many fail to see the spark the two create. They obviously create a melodic resonance that not all duets have. Javed Akhtar’s lyrics are irresistibly romantic and the picturizations of the tunes in a rainy sequence was perfect. The pace has been utilized by the backdrop to create a consensus between every other note of the tune. Usage of the flute shows R.D. Burman’s superlative command over a fast disappearing creative musical field. “Chalte Hai” is the addictive line that you will be repeating thereafter.

R.D. Burman introduced Shivaji Chattopadhyaya into the singing world in the slow, meaningful, “Yeh Safar”. The tune speaks about the sad journey through hardships and while Shivaji’s voice was truly meant to suit Jackie Shroff’s character, the voice also creates a deep, dark, sad mood for the song, allowing it to touch the chords.

We are currently treated to Javed Akhtar’s beautiful lyrics for these period films but it is more of a treat to go to the classics, which have made Akhtar the simply superb lyricist that he is today. There is simply no other way to do it. The emotive love expressed in these tunes is simple and homologous to dew drops of sweet smelling flowers. And so is the music.