Taal released on 13 August 1999, coinciding with the Indian Independence Day weekend, and proved to be a major commercial success at the domestic and overseas box office, becoming the first Indian film to reach the Top 20 on Variety's box office list.[3] The film received widespread critical acclaim upon release, with major praise directed towards the direction, story, screenplay, dialogues, soundtrack, costumes, choreography and performances of the cast.
Jagmohan Mehta arrives in Chamba, India for a long vacation with his rich and affluent family, including his son, Manav. They meet Mansi, the beautiful daughter of an impoverished spiritual singer, Tara Shankar Manhuja. As the owner of the Mehta & Mehta Group of Companies, Jagmohan is looking to invest in Chamba with Manav. Over time, Jagmohan and Tara become friendly with each other.
Eventually, Mansi and Manav fall in love. Reluctant after knowing this, Jagmohan disapproves of Mansi due to her poor socio-economic background. After learning the same, Tara is initially angry but later reaches Mumbai to visit his journalist cousin, Prabha, and to meet the Mehta family for a marriage alliance. Unfortunately, they insult Tara. Deeply hurt, he leaves with Mansi, who breaks up with Manav.
Mansi soon meets the famous music producer and director, Vikrant Kapoor, who happens to be a huge fan of Tara's. She signs a 3-year contract with him, and performs dance numbers and remixes of his productions and Tara's songs. She begins to win awards and becomes a national sensation and celebrity. Slowly, Vikrant begins falling for Mansi. Meanwhile, Manav finds out that his family was in the wrong when they ill-treated Mansi and Tara.
Manav goes to Mumbai in the hopes of apologizing to Mansi for his family's behavior towards her and Tara. However, she rejects and refuses to see him, out of grief for how Tara was treated. Vikrant soon learns of Mansi's past with Manav. Ignoring it, he proposes to her. She eventually accepts it. After winning an award in Canada, Mansi returns to India to prepare for their marriage. Jagmohan and Tara patch things up after the former realises his mistake and apologises.
On the wedding day, Vikrant realises Mansi still loves Manav. He assures her they can still be friends, and urges her to honour her love to Manav. Jagmohan and Tara also give their blessings; Manav and Mansi finally get married. The Mehtas take a family picture after the wedding, as the film ends on a happy note.
Cast
Aishwarya Rai as Mansi Shankar Manhuja, Manav and Vikrant's love interest
Akshaye Khanna as Manav Kumar Mehta, Mansi's love interest
Anil Kapoor as Vikrant Kapoor, Mansi's love interest
The soundtrack of the film was composed by A. R. Rahman with lyrics penned by Anand Bakshi. The soundtrack was released on 12 June 1999 and it became a major critical and commercial success.[4] At a press conference, Ghai remarked, "I credit the name of the movie to composer A. R. Rahman. This movie is a romance and I could have called it any thing – Dil, Pyaar, Hum Bhaag Gaye, but it was Rahman's presence in the movie that gave me the confidence to call it Taal. Taal means music and music means Taal. The whole credit goes to A. R. Rahman and Anand Bakshi. Rahman kept me awake many nights, but after listening to the songs, I felt it was worth all the trouble."[5]
The soundtrack became a tremendous success, and was sold more than 1.85million units within a month of its release.[6] It went on to sell 4million units, becoming the best-selling soundtrack for a 1999 Hindi film.[7] The soundtrack made the list of "Greatest Bollywood Soundtracks of All Time", as compiled by Planet Bollywood.[8]
Track listing
Taal (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) – Hindi[9]
Taal was a critical and commercial success in India netting ₹22 crore in India on a budget of ₹11.50 crore, and also performed well internationally.[3] In the United States, it became the first Indian film to reach the top 20 on Variety's box office list.[3] The final worldwide gross collection of the film stands at ₹51.16 crore, making it the 4th highest grossing Bollywood film of 1999. Taal was screened at the Chicago International Film Festival[citation needed] and selected by Roger Ebert for his 2005 Overlooked Film Festival.[11]
^ abcBist, Raju (12 November 2002). "Bollywood takes on the world". Asia Times. Archived from the original on 21 October 2002. Retrieved 5 December 2008.((cite web)): CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
