Lata Mangeshkar had already popularised Meera bhajans in the film on the poetess-saint, and also through some private albums. Now Anuradha Paudwal comes up with her version of Meera bhajans in this album, which makes for a timely release on the occasion of Janamashtami.

The album stands out mainly because of the beautifully-penned bhajans by Meera, who has conveyed her devotion to Krishna, and because of the semi-classical tunes used to compose the bhajans, which lends them a different flavour. Music director Shri Vishwa Prakash has worked hard to make the classical-based bhajans appeal even to the layman. In this endeavour, a couple of raag-based tunes have been borrowed from Hindi films. For exapmle Barse badariya, the second bhajan on Side A is similar to the Vasant Desai-composed Guddi hit, Bole re papihara. Also, Ya ya Mohana, the first bhajan on Side B is inspired by Salil Chaudhary's Jiya jaye na from Anand.

And then you have Paudwal at her best here, putting her soul into the bhajans and almost leading us to visualise Meera singing in her voice. Somehow, Paudwal is always in great form when singing bhajans and bhaktigeets. It's nice to hear her sounding her mature self. Wonder why she changes her voice when singing for films?

All the eight bhajans in the album are soothing, but the ones that need special mention are Mhane lage Brindaban, Barse badariya, Mere to Giridhar Gopal and Ya ya Mohana. Go ahead and savour this classy fare.