I had watched a Hindi movie (99 songs) almost a year ago, that was released in 2021 and had been wanting to write my thoughts on it but kept on procrastinating. I heard the soundtrack of this movie and was in awe of it and was not surprised that it was composed by AR Rahman; however, what was intriguing was that AR Rahman also wrote the script and co-produced it. I am of the view that any person who is sensitive to music or is a musician should watch this movie and understand why its a masterpiece....
The story of the movie is about a musician (played by the newcomer Ehan Bhat), compelled to create 100 songs prior to marrying the woman he loves (played by a foreign actress Edilsy Vargas), who embarks on a profound and emotional odyssey through his music. The father of the actress is a controlling and arrogant person and puts forth a condition to the actor (who is a struggling singer and musician) that he can only allow him to marry his daughter if he can compose 100 songs for her. This comes as a response when the actor claims that music has the power and even one song can change the world...The actress is depicted as mute girl in the movie who cannot communicate via words but is shown to communicate via her art and paintings. As the actor sets out on his journey to compose the 100 songs, he travels away and comes across difficult experiences which change the course of his life.
One thing which is the highlight of the movie (and is shown in flashes) is that his own father is an abusive man who always prevented him to go anywhere near to music or play musical instruments or any kind or even buy them. But the actor in his childhood days just could not delete the intense attraction for music and sounds. So much so that he would often sneak away and try to rebel but only to be met with violent outbursts from his controlling father...Such was his pure desire for music, that in one scene of the movie (which particularly stays with me) he requested his father to buy a guitar for his birthday at a store but he instead gets him some kites to fly. Such is a purity of his longing for music, that he is shown flying six kites by the boat and then sits by the boat where all the six strings can be actually played like the string of a guitar due to the wind making them taut..The scene is both poignant and brilliant and leaves one to think from the eyes of a child who seems to find that bliss by himself (see scene shots below):
Interestingly, the mother figure of both the actor and the actress are absent in the movie. We do not get to know about the mother of the actress, but the mother of the actor was shown to die just after childbirth. And in the early half of the movie, one assumes that his father's anger towards the child could stem from him holding the child as inauspicious and the cause of his wife's death. However, the reason for this is revealed later in the movie's plot, which is also the turning point of the movie. As the actor lands in prison due to the mistake of his best friend (who redeemed him in the end), with no fault of his own, he is seen to come to terms with his own soul and his own self. The scene where he draws the keys of the piano on the prison wall and plays them is very beautiful. A psychotherapist (played by actress Manisha Koirala) is shown to enter the prison and acts like a mentor and tries to help him heal and play music again and believe in the magic of music. Her words "Music is duniya ka ek aakhri bacha hua jadoo hai..."are indeed sublime...And then there is the moment of truth when someone from his deceased mother's family comes to the prison and reveals the hidden secret about his mother's life and her death. It turns out that his mother was a gifted and famous singer (who would sing devotional songs of God) and it was her voice and singing that actually won the heart of his father who married her, but later due to the rising jealousy and his own insecurity, he turned violent towards her so much so that he asked all the musical instruments to be thrown out of the house or shut off. But the mother who was carrying her child (the actor) would secretly sing to the unborn son a melody and one fine day was caught by the abusive husband, who physically assaulted her which led to some medical complications, and we are revealed that she perhaps gave birth to the son and died due to trauma. This revelation of the actor who had been missing the mother figure in his entire life and the realization of the origin of his passion for music leave him both broken yet healed in a way. The scenes where his mother's spirit visits him and urges to play music and sing are the soul of the movie. We are shown that the actor had composed 99 songs by them, and was short of 1 song (to fulfil his supposed promise to win the woman he loved), and he is then shown to almost hear the voice of his own soul and compose a song and a melody (which happens to be the same melody his mother would sing to him when he was in her womb)...He sings that song with no desire to go live or public with it or any attachments, he just sings it in the prison before being released on the last day, and we are shown his friend (who was guilty of ruining his friends' life by landing him in prison) secretly recording the song and sending it to Indian radio stations where it becomes live on radio.
And the turn of events is such that, we are shown that one influential political minister (who was actually very corrupt) is travelling in his car and hears the song and is almost captivated by it, when all of a sudden the car crashes (and we are shown a beautiful moment when all the bribe money in his briefcase is circling his face in that death experience), yet miraculously he escaped alive although his driver is dead...With scratches and wounds, he has a change of heart and understands that he was not being true to the country and his motherland (India)..Somehow, the words of the song by the actor (where he is calling to his mother's love) awakened the love he should have had for his motherland.. And we are shown that he atones for his past sins by revealing names of all corrupt nexus in power, almost a redemption...
Towards the end, we see that the actor actually goes back to his mother's home after the 100th song (but one song for the world) and has no desire for the woman (actress) for whom he first set out on this journey, as he almost found his niche and contentment and was transformed and healed. However, we are shown the actress finding him and reconciling (as she was also under a misunderstanding about him earlier) and in the movie we are shown they both compose music together. Essentially, the actress is shown holding a wand like structure and waving it and the actor in the background plays the grand piano. Probably this could mean the actress is the one who gives words (via the wand symbolic of pen) to the musical compositions of the actor.
So, it did turn out that his promise of one song that can change the world indeed came true but in an unusual way. But it took 99 songs (inspired by the love of a romantic nature) to get to that state of one song (inspired by the love of the missing mother figure) ...And one wonders why the title of the movie would be "99 songs" instead of "100 songs". Moreover, the idea of banning music completely and throwing off musical instruments in the house of the actor by his father can hint to rigidity that is often heard in the religion of Islam, where some believe that music is haram in the religion and any instrument should not be played...Well, the story was written by AR Rahman, who himself was born a Hindu, but adopted Sufism as his religion, and his music and songs are heavily inspired by it, it's almost that he channels divinity through his music in the world....My interpretation is that the character of the actor's father might be inspired by a similar character AR Rahman may have known or come across, hinting at the rigidity of some religions...Moreover, in the key song, the lines talk of "hooron ki chaahat mein amrit piya", which indeed refer to the Islamic idea where 72 hoors are promised to the momin (believer) after the death and judgment....Moreover, Islam has 99 names of Allah, and I think that the title of this movie seems to be inspired from that idea...After watching this movie, I had a feeling that I understood perhaps, why there are 99 but not 100 names of God in Islam...It is because, perhaps the 100th name is that for the mother who is on earth here- referring to the mother's love, and as we know someone said that "god could not be everywhere so he made mothers" seem to resonate...No wonder, the key song (100th song) is in fact calling out to the mother after God...That song literally feels like a Sufi poetry, and I could not stop listening to it for such a long time...
Interestingly, the name of the actress in the movie is Sophie (that actually sounds like Sufi)...Plus, the idea of one song taking over the world by the protagonist who has an abusive father but who undertakes a journey to heal his soul in this movie is very reminiscent of the true story of MercyMe band whose song "I can only imagine" MercyMe - I Can Only Imagine (The Movie Session - Official Music Video took over the world in Gospel Music, and the story of that movie (by the same name and its melodious song is I Can Only Imagine Movie | Song Performance) bears some similarity to the movie 99 songs although there are different on many aspects otherwise. This song is also so beautiful, and the funny part is that I actually heard it in a car myself when I was being driven by a good woman (Julie), when she took me for Bible lessons back in Ohio., though the car did not need to crash for me to value the music and its words.
The 100th song (or the SONG that is the highlight of the movie) can be heard here and lyrics are after that:
O Aashiqa - (Film Version) 99 Songs|@A. R. Rahman|Ehan Bhat|Edilsy|Shashwat
"O ashiqa tune kya dil diya
Dil lene ke liye hi dil diya
Hooron ki chaahat mein amrit piya
Toh kya piya, o pyaseya
O jiya, tu jiya, tu jiya
Agar aise toh yaara kya jiya
O jiya, tu jiya, tu jiya
Hisaabo mein yaara kya jiya
Ki sabke Khuda se bas apni duaa
Ye kaisi dua ki, o jogiya
Gira ke imaan banaya mahal
Toh kya banaya o karigara
O jiya, tu jiya, tu jiya
Agar aise toh yaara kya jiya
O jiya, tu jiya, tu jiya
Hisaabo mein yaara kya jiya
Khuda ki koi ishq ki kahe
Baat koi Maa ki keh na sake
Kya bole Kabira, kya Bullah kahe
Maa na mile toh Khuda naa mile
O jiya, tu jiya, tu jiya
Agar aise toh yaara kya jiya
O jiya, tu jiya, tu jiya
Hisaabo mein yaara kya jiya.
O Maa kaise pukaarun
Kaise karz chukaaun
Tera diya, kaha bhi na jaaye
Tere sadke, jaan bhi meri jaaye
Khwaab tere, mere dil mein dhadke
O Maa, Rab ki saari duaayein barse
Maa.."
Check out other songs of this movie, all are brilliant, especially these one too:
Jwalamukhi - Official Lyric Video|99 Songs|@A. R. Rahman|Ehan Bhat|Edilsy Vargas
(amazing tune with sounds of hangdrum)
Teri Nazar - Official Music Video | 99 Songs | A R Rahman | Shashwat Singh | Ehan B | Edilsy V
(very melodious)
