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Taal
Film poster
Directed by	Subhash Ghai
Written by	Subhash Ghai Javed Siddiqui (Dialogue)
Screenplay by	Sachin Bhowmick Subhash Ghai
Story by	Subhash Ghai
Produced by	Subhash Ghai
Starring	Anil Kapoor Aishwarya Rai Akshaye Khanna
Narrated by	Akshaye Khanna
Cinematography	Kabir Lal
Edited by	Subhash Ghai
Music by	A. R. Rahman
Production company	Mukta Arts
Distributed by	Mukta Arts Tips Internationals
Release date	13 August 1999 (1999-08-13)
Running time	181 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	₹15 crore
Box office	₹51.16 crore

Taal (transl. Rhythm) is a 1999 Indian Hindi language musical romantic drama film co written, edited, produced and directed by Subhash Ghai. The film stars Anil Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai and Akshaye Khanna in lead roles, while Amrish Puri and Alok Nath feature in supporting roles. It was dubbed and released in Tamil as Thaalam. Taal was premiered at the Chicago International Film Festival, the "official selection" at the 2005 Ebertfest: Roger Ebert's Film Festival, and retrospectively at the 45th IFFI in the Celebrating Dance in Indian cinema section.

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. 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.

At the 45th Filmfare Awards, Taal received 12 nominations, including Best Film, Best Director (Ghai) and Best Actress (Rai), and won 6 awards, including Best Supporting Actor (Kapoor), Best Music Director (Rahman) and Best Lyricist (Anand Bakshi for "Ishq Bina").

Plot

Tycoon Jagmohan Mehta arrives in Chamba, India for a long vacation with his extended family, including his son, Manav. He meets Mansi, the beautiful daughter of an impoverished folk singer, Tara Shankar Manhuja. As the owner of the Mehta & Mehta Group of Companies, Jagmohan is looking to invest in Chamba. Over time, Jagmohan and Tara Shankar become friendly with each other.

Eventually, Mansi and Manav fall in love. Jagmohan is against their relationship due to Mansi's poor socio-economic status. Tara Shankar 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 three-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 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 her pain for how her father 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 wedding. 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.

Cast

• Anil Kapoor as Vikrant Kapoor
• Aishwarya Rai as Mansi Shankar Manhuja
• Akshaye Khanna as Manav Kumar Mehta
• Amrish Puri as Jagmohan Mehta, Manav's father
• Alok Nath as Tara Shankar Manhuja / Tara Babu
• Sushma Seth as Nani, Manav's grandmother
• Mita Vashisht as Prabha Shankar Manhuja
• Jividha Sharma as Ilavati "Ila" Shankar Manhuja,
• Saurabh Shukla as Surjoy Banerjee
• Prithvi Zutshi as Deepmohan Mehta
• Supriya Karnik as Shakuntala Deepmohan Mehta
• Manoj Pahwa as Santram Singh
• Rajesh Khera as Brijmohan Mehta
• Ekta Jain as Mansi's first cousin
• Puneet Vashisht as Shaukat
• Akash Karnataki as Siddu
• Bobby Darling as Dress Designer Narwendra Khanna
• Asha Bachani as Dolly Brijmohan Mehta
• Sunil Nagar as Police Commissioner
• Anita Hassanandani in the song "Ishq Bina"
• Subhash Ghai as man with walkman at market (Cameo appearance)

Music

Soundtrack

Review scores
Source	Rating
Planet Bollywood	link

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. At a press conference, Ghai remarked, "I credit the name of the movie to composer A. R. Rahman. This film 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."

The soundtrack became a tremendous commercial success, and was sold more than 1.85 million units within a month of its release. It went on to sell 4 million units, becoming the best-selling album of the year. The soundtrack made the list of "Greatest Bollywood Soundtracks of All Time", as compiled by Planet Bollywood.

Track listing

Reception

Critical reception

Taal received widespread critical acclaim upon release, with major praise directed towards its direction, story, screenplay, dialogues, soundtrack, costumes, choreography and performances of the cast.

Commercial performance

Taal emerged as a major commercial success in India, netting ₹22 crore in India on a budget of ₹11.50 crore, and also performed well internationally. In the United States, it became the first Indian film to reach the top 20 on Variety's box-office list. The final worldwide gross collection of the film stands at ₹51.16 crore, making it the fourth highest-grossing Hindi film of the year.

Taal was premiered at the Chicago International Film Festival, and was screened as the "official selection" at the 2005 Ebertfest: Roger Ebert's Film Festival, and retrospectively at the 45th IFFI in the Celebrating Dance in Indian cinema section.

Accolades

At the 45th Filmfare Awards, Taal received 12 nominations, including Best Film, Best Director (Ghai) and Best Actress (Rai, who won the award for her performance in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam), and won 6 awards, including Best Supporting Actor (Kapoor) and Best Music Director (Rahman).

1. Awards, festivals and organizations are in alphabetical order.
2. Date is linked to the article about the awards held that year, wherever possible.
3. as Zee Gold Bollywood Awards.
4. also for Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam.

See also

• Asai Man Piyabanna, a 2007 Sri Lankan remake

References

1. ^ "Taal". boxofficeindia. BOI. Retrieved 5 April 2017. Worldwide Gross: 51,15,95,000
2. ^ Archived 16 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
3. ^ Bist, 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)
4. ^ "Taal - Movie - Box Office India". www.boxofficeindia.com. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
5. "Taal Music launch".
6. "Rediff on the NeT: Transcript of the Taal Music Launch Chat and Commentary". rediff.com. Archived from the original on 19 January 2000. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
7. "Taal". Deccan Herald. 25 July 1999.
8. "Music Hits 1990-1999 (Figures in Units)". Box Office India. Archived from the original on 2 January 2010.
9. "100 Greatest Bollywood Soundtracks Ever – Part 2 – Planet Bollywood Features". Planetbollywood.com. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
10. Taal (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), archived from the original on 28 August 2021, retrieved 11 October 2022
11. Thaalam (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), archived from the original on 19 January 2019, retrieved 11 October 2022
12. "Taal movie review & film summary (1999) | Roger Ebert".
13. "Aishwarya, Sanjay win Filmfare awards". The Tribune. 14 February 2000. Retrieved 5 December 2008.
14. Gregory, Andy (2002). The International Who's Who in Popular Music 2002. Routledge. p. 420. ISBN 1-85743-161-8.
15. "US edition: Mixed bag at Zee Gold Bollywood Awards show". Rediff.com. 8 June 2000. Archived from the original on 31 August 2000. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
16. IndiaFM News Bureau. "The 45th Filmfare Awards 2000 Nominations". Bollywood Hungama. Archived from the original on 19 November 2000. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
17. IndiaFM News Bureau. "The 45th Filmfare Awards 2000 Winners". Bollywood Hungama. Archived from the original on 17 October 2000. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
18. "The 45th Filmfare Awards 2000 Winners". Indian Times. The Times Group. Archived from the original on 25 March 2012. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
19. "The 1st IIFA Awards 2000 Nominations Polling". CatchUsLive.com. International Indian Film Academy Awards. Archived from the original on 20 June 2000. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
20. "The 1st IIFA Awards 2000 Winners". International Indian Film Academy Awards. Archived from the original on 12 December 2005. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
21. "The 1st IIFA Awards ceremony". International Indian Film Academy Awards. Archived from the original on 14 July 2017. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
22. Express News Service (8 January 2000). "Sixth Annual Screen-Videocon Awards nominations". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 28 October 2020. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
23. "6th Annual Screen Awards – Nominees & Winners for the year 1999". Bollywood Hungama. Archived from the original on 18 January 2004. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
24. "The 3rd Zee Cine Awards 2000 Viewers Choice Awards Nominees & Winners". Zee Cine Awards. Zee Entertainment Enterprises. Archived from the original on 17 May 2020. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
25. "The 3rd Zee Cine Awards 2000 Popular Awards Nominees". Zee Next. Zee Entertainment Enterprises. Archived from the original on 14 January 2001. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
26. "The 3rd Zee Cine Awards 2000 Popular Awards Winners". Zee Next. Zee Entertainment Enterprises. Archived from the original on 19 June 2000. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
27. "The 3rd Zee Cine Awards 2000 Technical Awards Nominees". Zee Next. Zee Entertainment Enterprises. Archived from the original on 14 January 2001. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
28. "The 3rd Zee Cine Awards 2000 Technical Awards Winners". Zee Next. Zee Entertainment Enterprises. Archived from the original on 14 January 2001. Retrieved 17 August 2021.

External links

• Taal at IMDb
• Roger Ebert on Taal

• 1999 films
• 1990s Hindi-language films
• 1990s romantic musical films
• 1990s musical drama films
• 1990s dance films
• Films directed by Subhash Ghai
• Films set in Himachal Pradesh
• Films shot in Himachal Pradesh
• Indian romantic musical films
• Indian musical drama films
• Indian dance films
• Films set in Canada
• Films scored by A. R. Rahman
• Films with screenplays by Sachin Bhowmick
• Hindi films remade in other languages
• 1999 drama films
• Films set in Mumbai
• Films shot in Mumbai
• Films about music and musicians
• Films about film directors and producers
• Films about Bollywood
• Films about singers
• 1999 musical films