Tu Hi Re, the simmering centrepiece of Mani Ratnam’s Bombay, which just completed 30 years, has travelled well. A low, hesitant invocation, it moves towards a crescendo and hits high notes of a kind — ones that playback singer Kavita Krishnamurthy, 67, cites as music’s non-existent “Z scale”.
In the long arc of Krishnamurthy’s five-decade career, the duet with Hariharan, was neither her debut nor her most-decorated song. Yet, it has stood the test of time. Just like so many others in the singer’s oeuvre of over 25,000 songs across languages. From the sultry romp of Hawa hawai (Mr. India, 1987) to the intimate Pyar hua chupke se (1942: A Love Story, 1994), the playful Aankhon ki gustakhiyaan (Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, 1999) the powerful Dola re (Devdas, 2002) — her duet with Shreya Ghoshal — to her graceful renditions of Tagore songs and other devotional bhajans, Krishnamurthy’s diverse journey has chronicled India’s streaming soundscape.
Tu Hi Re, the simmering centrepiece of Mani Ratnam’s Bombay, which just completed 30 years, has travelled well. A low, hesitant invocation, it moves towards a crescendo and hits high notes of a kind — ones that playback singer Kavita Krishnamurthy, 67, cites as music’s non-existent “Z scale”.
In the long arc of Krishnamurthy’s five-decade career, the duet with Hariharan, was neither her debut nor her most-decorated song. Yet, it has stood the test of time. Just like so many others in the singer’s oeuvre of over 25,000 songs across languages. From the sultry romp of Hawa hawai (Mr. India, 1987) to the intimate Pyar hua chupke se (1942: A Love Story, 1994), the playful Aankhon ki gustakhiyaan (Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, 1999) the powerful Dola re (Devdas, 2002) — her duet with Shreya Ghoshal — to her graceful renditions of Tagore songs and other devotional bhajans, Krishnamurthy’s diverse journey has chronicled India’s streaming soundscape.