In a world full of hustle and haste, take a few minutes off for O paalanhaare. The song will move you to stillness and surrender.
The Ashutosh Gowariker-directed Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India, which released 25 years ago this month, hit it out of the park for many reasons. Bollywood’s most rousing ode to cricket and patriotism yet, Lagaan had an unusual premise to justify its three-hour-and-44-minute runtime, a brilliant score by A.R. Rahman with lyrics to match by Javed Akhtar, and memorable performances by a cross-cultural ensemble cast led by Aamir Khan. And yet, O paalanhaare, sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Udit Narayan, is not just Lagaan’s heartbeat; it has a life beyond the film.
It’s not difficult to see why. The prayer-song cracks a complex code: faith.
Music, one of the greatest emotional manipulators, can make us feel and believe almost everything. But O paalanhaare is that rare song that gives us peace from surrendering our life’s burdens to a higher power.
This bhajan is a collective prayer, but Rahman’s music is intimate, using minimal orchestration, the barest of beats and a chorus that feels like a whisper. The voices of Lata and Udit soar, at once pure and strong, resonating with Javed sa’ab’s heartfelt words. Rahman’s signature trait of irregular metres — check out his latest gem Tere paas main from Imtiaz Ali’s partition drama Main Vaapas Aaunga to see how he breaks standard musical patterns — makes this prayer personal.
O paalanhaare, nirgun aur nyare/ Tumre bin humra kauno naahin/ Humri uljhan suljhao bhagwan/ Tumre bin humra kauno naahin (O nurturer, beyond all descriptions, the unique one, we have no one but you; ease our problems, o lord, we have no one but you).
Lata sings these lines as only she can, her expressions fleshing out the words’ emotional depth. She must have remembered Allah tero naam, ishwar tero naam, her iconic prayer song written by Sahir Ludhianvi for Hum Dono in 1961, exactly four decades before Lagaan. O Paalanhare is right up there. Fittingly, India’s nightingale was awarded the Bharat Ratna in the year of Lagaan.
In the film, the makers used Lata’s voice for Suhasini Mulay, Aamir’s onscreen mother, and Sadhana Sargam for Gracy Singh, who plays his romantic interest, possibly to create a sonic distinction. But in the film’s audio, it is Lata alone.
Udit, who adds youthful energy to the song, gets some of its most remarkable lines — Dukhijan ko dheeraj do, haare nahin woh kabhi dukh se/ Tum nirbal ko raksha do, reh paaye nirbal sukh se (Give fortitude to the sad so that they don’t surrender to sorrow, protect the weak so that they can be happy).
In the film, the song is sung in front of a Radha-Krishna temple. It ends with the sound of a temple bell. But its appeal transcends religion, which both ARR and Akhtar said in a recent interview with Spotify India. Makes sense. When you speak to your maker directly, there’s no space for labels.
Akhtar, who confessed in several interviews that writing O Paalanhaare challenged him the most as an atheist, has given millions a prayer to turn to for comfort. Not surprisingly, cover versions of the song flooded the Internet during the Covid pandemic.
Lagaan hit the big screen at a tumultuous time; it was the year of the devastating Gujarat earthquake, 9/11 and the US-led coalition’s attack on Afghanistan. A quarter of a century later, there are newer wars and newer reasons for despair. That’s why O paalanhare, which glows like a steady flame, can never age.