Bombay (soundtrack)

Release history

The soundtrack album was originally released in Tamil in 1995. It was also released in Hindi by Universal Music and in Telugu by Polygram in the same year.

Critical reception

Since its release, the soundtrack for Bombay has been influential, both nationally and internationally. The soundtrack also found success across India in its dubbed Hindi and Telugu versions. In 2007, the soundtrack was included in The Guardian's "1000 Albums to Hear Before You Die" list, and the Hindi version of the song "Kannalane", titled "Kehna Hi Kya", was included in their "1000 Songs Everyone Must Hear" list in 2009. The Hindi version of the song was also sampled by Ciara for her 2009 song "Turntables", featuring Chris Brown.

Vairamuthu won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Lyricist, and K. S. Chithra won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Female Playback for the song "Kannalane". A. R. Rahman won the Filmfare Best Music Director Award (Tamil) for the soundtrack.

Bombay Theme

The track "Bombay Theme" is an instrumental orchestral piece composed and arranged by A. R. Rahman. The track became an international sensation and has been featured in several compilations besides being sampled by many major artists. Major compilation albums on which it appeared include Chakra Seven Centers (1995; in which it was credited as "Ajna Chakra"), Anokha - Soundz of the Asian Underground (1997), Café del Mar Vol 5 (1998), Ambient Chillout Mix Vol. 1 (2002) and Paradisiac 2 . The track is alternatively credited as "Bombay Theme Tune," "Mumbai Theme Tune" or "Bombay Theme Music" in compilations. It was featured in the Palestinian film Divine Intervention in 2002, in the 2005 film Lord of War, and in Julian Schnabel's Miral. Rahman reused the track as "Bombay Theme Intro" in the score of the 1996 film, Fire, by Deepa Mehta. It also appeared on a French TV commercial for Volvic starring Zinedine Zidane in 2000. The theme was also sampled by the German band Löwenherz for their song "Bis in die Ewigkeit".

Uyire/Tu Hi Re

The track "Uyire/Tu Hi Re" has become one of the most popular and acclaimed songs of the nineties. It was sung by Hariharan, who believes it is the best one he has ever sung. After composing the song, Rahman had three choices for the vocalist - S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, K. J. Yesudas and Hariharan. Rahman says: "I had three options for that song. SPB sir, Yesudas sir, Hariharan. Then I imagined all of them singing it. Since I had not heard Hari in a non-ghazal kind of song, I decided to take the gamble. Then when he did , he had a whole new flavour for the song." The female vocals has been provided by K. S. Chithra for Tamil and Telugu and for Hindi Version was sung by Kavita Krishnamurthy.

Track listing

All lyrics written by Vairamuthu; all music composed by A. R. Rahman.

All lyrics written by Mehboob; all music composed by A. R. Rahman.

All lyrics written by Veturi Sundararama Murthy; all music composed by A. R. Rahman.