It's yesterday once more - with the music of "Bose The Forgotten Hero".

This isn't the first time that A.R. Rahman has gone into a historical biopic. He had earlier composed some truly gritty songs for Raj Kumar Santoshi's "The Legend Of Bhagat Singh".

Now he teams up Javed Akhtar (after "Lagaan", "Zubeida" and "Legend...") to create a symphony of nostalgic sounds that celebrate the life of the uncelebrated hero, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

The most remarkable achievement in "Bose...", is that the sounds, though steeped in the ethos of a specific historical chapter, are no slave to any era.

And if in "Legend...", Rahman got Sonu Nigam to warble "Rang de basanti chola" and "Sarfaroshi ki tamanna" wondrously, in "Bose...", the singer's talent is harnessed in "Desh ki mitti".

You can almost hear the ache and pain of the homesick statesman in every word of the song.

Another gem is "Ghoomparani". Sapna Mukherjee, who never found her melodic metier before, comes into her own in this sweet and tender lullaby tinged with a Bangla flavour - a reminiscent of Rahman's "Door kahin ek aam ki bagiya" in "Zubeida".

Rahman himself renders "Aazadi" with the rising gusto that we heard him adopt for the title song in "Swades".

Side two of the album is interestingly composed of variety of sweltering sounds - ranging from an Afghani theme to a Bangla boatman's song to convey the epic spectrum of Netaji Subhas Chandra's Bose's life.

The soundtrack of "Bose..." isn't as exceptional as the ones Rahman has done earlier in the genre. But it's filled with feelings that are often inexpressible without the support of music.

You may not find the sounds of this album modern enough to warrant a sole-tapping response. But the music aim at more - they go for the heart and soul.