'Raanjhanaa' director in search of voice for Sonam

Actress Sonam Kapoor, who plays a 17-year-old in Aanand Rai's "Raanjhanaa" is trapped in a strange dilemma. Her character can't get older until a ghost voice is found to sing a song for her.

Rai is looking for a singer, who can express the 17-year-old character's emotions as she falls in love for the first time.

"Aanand has got a beautiful song written by Irshad Kamil about a girl expressing her first love. A.R. Rahman has come up with a flawless melody. Now the hunt is on for a ghost voice for Sonam to express the tremulous exuberance of a girl in love for the first time," said a source.

The problem is, the director has put forward an incredibly daunting reference point.

"Aanand wants a voice like Lataji (Lata Mangeshkar) in Raj Kapoor sahab's 'Bobby'. In that film, when Lataji sang 'Aksar koi ladki iss haal mein', she sounded like a 16-year girl experiencing the ecstasy of love.

"And mind you, Lataji was 40 when she sang for 'Bobby'. Aanand wants the same feelings to emerge when Sonam sings of her first love," added the source.

Meanwhile, the wait is on.

A source from Varanasi says: "The portions where Sonam and Dhanush play 17 are nearing completion. Now the two actors are expected to take a five-year leap to play 23.

"But Aanand has put the transition on hold until he finds the voice for 17-year-old Sonam's love song . Until then she stands frozen in time."

Adding to the voice-crisis is the fact that composer Rahman doesn't really favour the director's suggestions on the choice of playback singers. But Rai is not too worried.

"I am in no hurry. I am shooting here at my own pace. My actors Dhanush and Sonam are with me, and we're having fun.

"The voice that Rahman saheb and I are looking for may take time. That's okay. We don't need to rush. There is no one to express what Lata Mangeshkar did in 'Bobby'. But I can proudly tell you my song about first love has been as beautifully written and composed as 'Mujhe kuch kehna hai' in 'Bobby'," he said.