#WhyRaajaIsGod

In the past decade, A.R.Rahman has been my music idol. But nonetheless there is another greater legend who single-handedly changed the face of Tamil music in the late seventies and the eighties and still continues to do so. His works still remain one of the best forms of music from Tamil industry, and there is no denial that his musical arrangements specifically the violins and the percussion are the best in the country. He was the man who put raagam (melody) into the mounam (silence), and vice versa. And this is #WhyRaajaIsGod

Raaja sir, wishing you many many more happy returns of this day. Your discography is a wonderful lesson in music for many of us. Thank you for all the music.

A few of Ilayaraaja's films/songs that will find a place in my list of all-time favorite songs are listed below:

- Mouna Raagam: It is hard to single out a favorite from this soundtrack. I oscillate between Mandram Vantha, Nilave Vaa and Pani Vizhum Iravu.

- Poo Maalaye - Pagal Nilavu

- Chinna Thayaval and Sundari Kannal - Dhalapathy

- Thoongatha Vizhigal and Ninnukori Varnam - Agni Natchatiram

- Naguva Nayana - Pallavi Anu Pallavi

- Anjali - Anjali

- Yedhedho Ennam Valarthen - Punnagai Mannan

- Katril Varum Geethame - Oru Naal Oru Kanavu

- Enakku Piditha - Julie Ganapathy

- Ilangathu Veesudhey - Pithamagan

- Poo Maalai Vaangivandaan - Sindhu Bhairavi

It's no surprise that his association with Mani Ratnam has yielded some of the best soundtracks in the late 80s and early 90s. As much as I like A.R.Rahman's association with Mani Ratnam, I yearn for a Mani Ratnam-Ilayaraaja soundtrack. I wish that happens sometime in the near future! :-)

And I definitely want to attend a live concert of this great legend!


Pic Courtesy: http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article75875.ece

Un-noticed A.R.Rahman albums and songs

A post on largely unnoticed Tamil albums and songs of A.R. Rahman.

Anbae Idhu from Rhythm - This song depicting one of the elements of nature, sky was largely unnoticed. A song of sheer brilliance in terms of music arrangement, lyrics and rendition (except a few mis-pronunciations) was probably not picturised well and not shown on TV to make it popular among the masses. A classy song, and will always remain one of favorites.

I Miss You Da - This song probably features in an earlier post, but did people even know that this song existed? Too futuristic in terms of the music arrangement and the rendition, this song was probably the one well picturized song in the movie 'Sakkarakatti.' The singer and her alter-ego ooze passion into this song, and this song definitely deserved a better recognition.

Kaiyil Mithakkum and Nenjae Nenjae from Ratchakan were probably over-shadowed by the more popular Soniya and Chandiranai songs. One of the very few melodies that were rendered with a full heart by the singers.

Thigu Thigu from Ah Aah, just like I Miss you da had a futuristic feel to it, and a excellent instrumental arrangement, just to be ruined by a over-acting lead pair on screen.

Kadhal Vettukili from Parasuram was one song that I didn't know ARR had composed. One of the fast paced numbers and beautiful orchestration, was largely unnoticed yet again by the masses. Apparently, an RJ in Chennai plays this song often, since it is his favorite.

Kuliruthu Kuliruthu from Taj Mahal has such a wonderful feel to it, and the singers Swarnalatha and Unnikrishnan have done such a good job in this flawless melody.

Udhaya had a few good songs including the popular title track, but thanks to the delay in the movie release, the songs found a disinterested audience. Pookum Malarai is a wonderful track by Hariharan.

Not a comprehensive list as usual, but features a few of the missed ones. It's a nice thing to note that Mani Ratnam's songs have not found a place in this list. He somehow does just to the songs, though he might cut short a major portion of the song. This includes my ever-favorite Ay Hairathey Aashiqui in Guru, one song that I will never excuse Mani Ratnam for not picturizing completely.

Slumdog - worth the hype?

It in fact was one of the very very over-rated movies I had ever seen. Especially with memories of India still afresh in my mind, it showed India in such bad light. India sure has its elements that were not showcased in the movie. For a lead actor who could not act for nuts, for a non-realistic quiz show host (can anyone mock at the contestant that way), and for a 1980's movie storyline of brothers seperated while young, it sure was a disasatrous package. If at all there was anything that made up for all this was the sincere portrayal of the roles by the kid actors. They were the best things about the movie :) .

And though I am really really happy for A.R.Rahman for getting an Oscar nomination, a BAFTA amongst many other awards, it honestly was not his best scores. With his best scores noticed in India itself being a great thing, I am glad he found his recognition outside the world. I personally like O - Saya and Latika's theme from the soundtrack and it sure deserves an applause. I hope to watch A.R.Rahman perform during the Oscar ceremony on TV :).

All said, Slumdog Millionaire is not an Indian movie - but just a movie based on India. I would call it 'Over-rated load of over-emphasized crap!'. Come on there are far far better movies, or may be was director Priyadarshan said - the ace director Mani Ratnam should have directed the movie and I am sure we Indians would have liked it too!

Guru - A Mani Ratnam Film - Music

The title says it all.

It was sometime during the Fall semester that I knew Maniratnam was doing a movie starring Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai. And mid-November I heard that there was a music release function, but the audio was out only by nov 18-19th(don't remember the exact date). I was on the website www.musicindiaonline.com and see that the Guru audio was already on there, while the music was yet ot hit the stores(which was a couple of hours away).

I heard the songs and I first one that I heard was Baazi Laga, which actually seemed very ordinary. And I was curious to see to how Bappi Lahiri sounds, becuase there was a hype surrounding the song he sung, this too failed to interest me(but only for the first couple of times).

After this came Ay Hairathe Aashiqui, Jagaa Man.. Pairo se zameen ...........(literal pause in the song). As written in one of the blogs, Rahman can do wonders with music and the "lack of it" as well. I fell in love with the song the first time I heard it. Alka Yagnik proved that she is a seasoned singer (a few of her other songs that like are Mehendi Hain Rachnewali, Maahi Ve, Taal Se Taal Mila, Kuch Kuch hota Hai, Ghoonghat hi Aadh se etc). I hadn't heard too many of her songs. But after this song, I went on to listen to her other songs and she seems to have had a lot of soul-stirring melodies to her share too. But her diction in this was too plain. [Her 'Ashiki' sound literally as 'Ashikuyi'(Supraja's observation)]

Then came Mayya Mayya, and this one is sung by Maryem Toller and Chinmayi. Maryem I believe is an Egyptian by birth and trained in Arabic singing. I just loved this, even though I knew this was picturized on Mallika Sherawat and I am no great fan of her. But, this seemed to have a distinct flavor apart from all the other songs that I listen to these days. And this turned out to be true. I was amazed to see how Mani had incorporated the title credits in the same song.

Next cam Jaage Hain, which I guess would be a theme that would be running through the movie. This had amazing vocals by Rahman and the Madras Choral group. And I love the lyrics
"jaage Hain Der Thak hamen, Kuchch Der sone dho..... thodi si raat aur hain Subah tho hone dho".

Finally I heard "Tere Bina" sung by Chinmayee and Rahman along with others. It started the same way as Ay Hairathe but in a paced manner. This was "THE" song that I was looking for. Chinmayee, earlier I had heard her in Oru Deivam Thandha Poove from Kannathil, and she was amazingly good in the song. And she was good in her rendition of the title track for the soap Anbulla Snehithiye. Overall I loved this song and knew that the song video was one to watch out for. But, seeing the 1 minute clip on Youtube, I felt this was a Sanjay Leela Bhansali kind of song, especially, I could see only Salman khan with Aishwarya throughout the song as in Hum Dil De chuke Sanam. But, the choreography for Abhshek was funny. In the movie this comes in a portion where Aishwarya leaves Abhi after learning he married her for the dowry, this sat in place and at the end of the song Abhi comes in a car and aish who is waiting comes and hugs him, and that's Mani, not losing time because of a song either.

I was waiting for the movie all through my winter break listening to this audio. And this came to the Tempe Cinemas on the 12th Jan and this was going to be my first movie of the year and perhaps only one too. This was a solid packaging of a 10 hr movie in 2 hr 45 minutes. I have no words to describe the movie. Maybe that would be another blog.