AR Rahman invited Vishwa Mohan Bhatt to Chennai studio to record Lagaan’s ‘Radha Kaise Na Jale’ at ‘night’: ‘He asked me to…’

The artiste visited the composer’s Chennai studio to record the song at night. “He asked me to play Mohan Veena in that song. He made the arrangement for me in his Chennai studio. He also works and records at night. He is a very interesting and talented musician, a good composer. He made me listen to the track and then I composed my music and added it in the song. He said that he won’t tell me, I should just do whatever I feel like,” Bhatt added.

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Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt has also contributed to the music of several Vishal Bharadwaj films, including Ishqiya, Dedh Ishqiya and 7 Khoon Maaf. The instrumentalist has also composed music for the closing credits of the Hollywood film Dead Man Walking.

In an old interview with PTI, the Mohan Veena maestro said there is no place for classical music in the Bollywood industry. “There is no place for classical music in films. I would love to work in films. But it depends on the kind of cinema. The quality of films have changed, they are frivolous and full of slang. Classical music does not fit in the films. But there are composers like AR Rahman who value classical music. He called me for ‘Lagaan’ and ‘Sathiyaa’. I also worked with Vishal Bhardwaj and Aadesh Shrivastava,” he said.