ROCK AROUND THE CROCK
An “Amadeus”-inspired saga has wonderful musical segments, but a woeful dramatic heart. Plus, a feeble fantasy.
NOV 1, 2009 – IT’S ODD THAT A SOPHISTICATED rock-musical like Rock On was comfortable situating itself in Mumbai, while Vipul Amrutlal Shah’s London Dreams – also a rock-musical, but crammed with crude melodramatic conventions – feels the need to unfurl in NRI-land. The ostensible reason is the finale at the enormous Wembley Stadium, which is supposed to serve as redemption for Arjun (Ajay Devgn, playing the founder-lead singer of the eponymous band). His grandfather, a Sufiyana vocalist, froze in front of the dizzyingly large audience, and Arjun wants to avenge the old man by rocking the very same arena. But when the moment arrives, we’re denied even a cursory shot of Arjun recalling the past or feeling the weight of the present. We cut right into his celebration-of-victory song, Jashn hai jeet ka – he’s already won. He could have been at Wankhede Stadium and it wouldn’t have felt any different.
London Dreams would have worked better in India. The concerts are staged wonderfully, and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy serve up a fantastic soundtrack (though admittedly one that doesn’t instantly stick to your head) – so the musical portions are just fine. It’s the surrounding drama – inspired by Amadeus; invested with a tint of the relationship-angle from Abhimaan – that screams for local colour. It’s in the scenes that take place in Bhatinda that the director is most comfortable. He revels in the handfuls of Holi-pink that smudge the camera, and he winds down visibly when confronted with the cool blues of the West. You can hear the gears churning: how to make a classy (i.e. Western) film with massy (i.e. Indian) material? The question should simply have been: why make a classy film at all? Why not take a cue from Salman Khan’s performance – he plays Manjeet, Arjun’s chaddi-buddy – and throw sophistication to the winds?
Perhaps it’s because of the tony antecedents – an Oscar-encrusted Miloš Forman film, adapted from an equally lauded Peter Shaffer play. The central conceit of the latter is replicated exactly. The hardworking Arjun finds himself increasingly embittered as Manjeet joins the band and shines effortlessly. And Arjun retaliates by railing at God, who, really, is the motor of this story. (There’s a reason Shaffer named his play not Wolfgang or Mozart but Amadeus, beloved of God.) It’s the unfairness with which He doles out his boons that rankles Arjun. Why can’t he be the one with the greater talent? Why choose the boorish Manjeet? (There are a couple of additional touches that reinforce the religious angle. Arjun’s antagonistic father is taken by God, seemingly in an act of Providence, and Arjun takes to almost-ritualistic self-flagellation, either to punish himself or practice self-control.)
But despite all this high-mindedness, the individual episodes are right out of any old lowbrow Bollywood movie. The formation of Arjun’s band, the roping in of Manjeet, the plan hatched by Arjun to bring about Manjeet’s downfall – all of this occurs in the most haphazard fashion. There are juicy plot points begging to be exploited but which are frustratingly elided, like the early portions of Arjun’s life when he finds himself alone in London. (A few glimpses of his struggle might have rendered this character more sympathetic.) Elsewhere, Arjun pleads with Priya’s (Asin) conservative father to let her perform on a tour. (She’s some sort of glorified backup dancer.) The scene should have carried an electric charge, considering that Arjun is reliving – at this moment – a very familiar scenario. His father, too, objected to his being a musician, so there’s an additional resonance to Arjun’s attempts. But we feel nothing.
In truth, it’s hard to feel anything for Arjun. For one, he’s a righteous bore. At a party, when asked what music means to him, he quotes Byron: “There’s music in the sighing of a reed,” and so forth. The unsophisticated Manjeet, on the other hand, simply says, “Jo baat kehne mein ajeeb hoti hain, woh gaane mein kamaal hain.” (And isn’t that the very essence of our film music, that it gives vent to words that cannot be spoken?) The other problem is that Devgn’s performance is practically a carryover from the brooder he played in Omkara. (He even has a lead guitarist pouring Iago-like poison into his ears.) And there’s no compensatory sunshine. If there’s a loosey-goosey joy that erupts within Arjun as he commandeers the stage, we’re not privy to it. (That’s probably why Devgn comes off so stiff in his comedies. He’s wound up all the time.)
To be fair, Salman Khan, too, isn’t a name that readily springs to mind when you’re casting headbangers who feed off the frenzied energies from the mosh pit, and the actor isn’t up to the more dramatic demands of his character (after Arjun has engineered his downfall) – but he makes up for these failings with sheer energy. When the young Manjeet is asked in class what he wants to be when he grows up, he replies that he doesn’t ever want to grow up. That’s Manjeet – the perennial Peter Pan, the bad boy who draws the opposite sex like moths to a flame (as opposed to the ascetic Arjun, who, at one point, is assumed gay), the man-child who has little sense of propriety, and the uncouth comedian armed with a quip for every occasion. He’s the least classy thing in the film, and the most fun.
THE SNEAK PEEKS AT SUJOY GHOSH’S ALADIN didn’t exactly set the pulse racing, and the film proves our instincts were regrettably right. Ghosh has his heart in the right place – he attempts a riff on the Arabian Nights tale by setting it someplace modern enough to accommodate television sets, yet old-world enough to resemble a picturesque never-never-land. And Riteish Deshmukh is a perfect Aladin, a lightweight actor embodying a pleasantly lightweight character. After all, the heavyweights in this modern-day fairy tale are the duelling good and evil genies, Genius and Ringmaster – the former played by Amitabh Bachchan (mugging madly; it’s a wonder there’s any scenery left after he exits his frames), and the latter in the form of Sanjay Dutt (who gets into the spirit of the film with appropriately twinkly-eyed hamminess). An Aladin with too much presence would have thrown the story off-kilter.
The initial portions show promise. I enjoyed the whimsy in a store for ancient things being called, simply, Ancient Things Store. Along the way, Ghosh shows a good eye for accumulating visual detail. No sooner than Aladin’s parents express a wish to be together forever, a villain, outside, tears up a photograph of the couple. The two halves drift down and catch fire – cut to a pair of funeral pyres. And the scenes with Ringmaster unspool with the sort of bravado that suggests a just-this-side-of-surreal Tim Burton caricature painted with the gonzo cinematographic technique of the early Coen brothers. In particular, a stunt where he upends a truck on a mountain road made me giddy with joy – it says as much about the character as the kind of film he’s supposed to be in, silly enough to delight children, and just sinister enough so grownups won’t be bored.
But for some inexplicable reason, Ringmaster is shoved aside to make room for an utterly banal love story between Aladin and Jasmine (Jacqueline Fernandez). This leads to one pleasant-enough duet, with Genie prompting the dumbstruck Aladin (reminiscent of the balcony scene in Cyrano de Bergerac, with Cyrano prompting Christian in the latter’s wooing of Roxane). But the other numbers – staged in a brassy, generic Bollywood-style, and popping up far too frequently – are serious mood-killers. The non-stop invocations of Bachchan-era cinema are even more annoying, with variations on the “mushkil nahin namumkin hai” line from Don and even songs – Anhonee ko honee kar de from Amar Akbar Anthony, and Kab ke bichhade from Lawaaris. Why bother creating a brand-new fantasy universe if you’re going to keep yanking us out of it, with constant nods to a world we know only all too well?
Copyright ©2009 The New Sunday Express. This article may not be reproduced in its entirety without permission. A link to this URL, instead, would be appreciated.
a
October 31, 2009
London dreams in many ways echoes the “wannabe hollywood but I am from bollywood-still syndrome” that you comment on,this month(?)(in the anticipation that the cliffhangers continue for a month).And in a way, it was even more pretentious than “Blue” becaus of the insertion of psuedo-pschological scenes like the self flagellation and scenes tinted in dark shades as if this was some dark brooding expose of the soul!!- And like you said, several cinematics highs were countered by sloppy scenarios-like the revenge plan (the most spoofable plan of the century!!!)-and then as if to lay claim to desiness , we have mustard fields ,holi and dupattas in the field!
and asin looked like she was modelling for shampoo right through the film and where o where do they find such rocker girl outfits..preferred her adavus any day!!must say, the iyer caricaturing had the audience i was in splits..hmm…really could not even find it remotely funny..
all in all,disgruntled and felt I had been to a buffet which served fish and chips,thair shaadam and aloo parathas!!
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Harish S Ram
October 31, 2009
another week of duds … thankfully we have d decent remake of JWM in tamil 🙂
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Tejas
October 31, 2009
Actually I have the same problem with the music of London Dreams as you have with the film. It tries to hard to be classy. You have a song starting with heavy metal beats, melodramatic aalaps thrown in between sung by a mellow singer and ending with Hanuman Chalisa, so much to our relief. I keep thinking what Barso Re wanted to be actually, because it ends as nothing when tries to be everything.
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Shankar
October 31, 2009
It’s really hard to visualize Ajay Devgan and Salman as members of a rock band…that too at Wembley stadium!! Wouldn’t these characters probably fit some younger actors(like “Rock On” for instance) better? Unless of course, you are making the story of a band in its twilight years…Why do our folks just not play roles closer to their age? Our film makers (and actors) really struggle to realize that it’s time to move on…
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brangan
October 31, 2009
Harish S Ram: So it’s good, then? I’ve been hearing really nice things about it.
Tejas: That particular song begins as a hard-rock number, then Ajay hands the mike over to Salman (who’s just arrived from India), and he takes over starting from “laakh take da ishq hai yaaron” and goes on to complete the song with Hanuman Chalisa. So the song fits better when you see it.
I had more of a problem (conceptually, though I like the song very much) with “Man ko ati bhaave” because a UP flavour makes inroads into a film set in the Punjab for no apparent reason. That’s odd. The bhangra-rock of “Tapke tapke” works very well though.
Like “Rock On,” this is another full-length rock album with a variety of flavours — from bhangra-rock to a pitch-perfect recreation of the kind of power ballads popularised by the big-hair metal bands of the eighties (“Khwab jo”). The soundtrack really worked for me. Besides, if you listen to Indian rock groups, there *is* a lot of mixing of rock and raga-type elements.
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brangan
October 31, 2009
Shankar: I’m surprised you say that because there are rockers of all ages. (I mean, look at the Stones.) I can understand if you fault Salman and Ajay for not “acting” the part or some such thing — but age has nothing to do with it.
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Aditya Pant
October 31, 2009
your comment about the unwarranted UP flavour, reminds me of Priyadarshan’s Chupke Chupke where a Gujarati household sings a Punjabi flavoured song…but then Priyan’s Hindi films have always had a disconnect between the setting of a film, the language, and the surroundings
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Pallavi
October 31, 2009
By the day, your reviews are getting tediously critical and fault-finding. Your reviews are really biased by ur own highly opinionated notions. I think your expectations are too high because you watch these foreign language movies all the time, you want our bollywood to be able to depict that sort of slow-moving detailing maturity. “London dreams” does not fit into that sort of detailing sort of movie.
I thought it did really well to have consistency in characterisation and story telling. The movie did really well for itself, we were not supposed to feel his clinching of Ajay’s victory of singing in Wembley. There was no need to show his grandfather, it was more of a victory of his vanity, thats all. And all the actors did a good job, in fact, Ajay Devgan did really good, in even “all the best”, you r just way too critical. I am sure I am judging your review right, ’cause I dont even like Devgan that much and also I have read almost all your reviews. This could be a feedback from your regular reader.
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Tejas
October 31, 2009
Rangan – I am not against Indian bands mixing ragas and all. Heck, I recco you watch MTV Rock On if you already don’t, and you would see how amazingly those bands mix and experiment.
My problem with *this* album was that it tried being very classy with those experiments. May be because I saw the trailers first and heard the songs afterward, but I kept feeling that the songs wanted me to get into trance-like exhilaration, which they were not capable of. The lyrics were being too heavy, too classy as well. The song length was not holding the interest either.
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Harish S Ram
November 1, 2009
actually yes .. there has been some changes – but minute though, which compelled me to write a review on it – i have posted it in my blog too do check it out.
http://harishfilmviews.blogspot.com/2009/10/kanden-kadhalai.html
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Shankar
November 1, 2009
Baddy, you are right…there are rockers in all age groups. I guess my thoughts were more driven by visualizing Ajay and Salman as rockers. I haven’t seen the movie yet…but as I said, given their past portrayals, I find it hard to slot them in such roles.
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Shankar
November 1, 2009
However to my point about age, nowadays, I find myself getting tired of watching 40-50 somethings prancing around heroines, trying to act cool, as though they still look as good as what they did 20 years ago…this includes southern cinema too. For instance, if the story and movie had a believable plot/angle that allowed these middle aged types to indulge in such acts, maybe it’s passable. However when our actors live in the past, I find it quite frustrating.
I can go back and watch movies from the past and still enjoy them however I cannot stand actors from the past, act in the present, as though they still acted in the past!! 🙂
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brangan
November 1, 2009
Aditya Pant: I’m amazed that you actually remember the name of the film. The Priyadarshan films (except for notable ones like “Hera Pheri”) are a blur inside my head. Tell me a plot point, and I don’t think I could tell you the name of the film without Googling it up 🙂
Shankar: I see your pain. It annoys me too to see Kamal opposite Simran and Aamir trying to be a college student. But then, there’s such a dearth of good actors, I guess we’ve become accustomed to go with what you get. In a roundabout way, I suppose that’s also how you know Aamir is a good actor — because *despite* his visible age, he makes you buy into his part in RDB.
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Elizabeth
November 1, 2009
This has nothing to do with the movie (I haven’t seen it), but why on earth has “Devgan” become “Devgn”? Did I miss something or is it just another pretentious change of spelling for no logical reason? When I first saw it I thought it was a typo.
I’ve been really curious about Kanden Kadhalai, so it’s good to know they haven’t messed with the original too much.
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Raj Balakrishnan
November 1, 2009
Baradwaj,
What did you think of Jackie Fernandez?
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Raj Balakrishnan
November 1, 2009
As for Aamir still playing a college student, thanks probably to Botox!
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Pradyumna M
November 1, 2009
Off topic.
Br : What did you think of the first look of 3 Idiots?
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Saju Dey
November 1, 2009
LONDON DREAMS is a fantastic film to watch.AFTER a long time
I watched awesome film.
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Saju Dey
November 1, 2009
LONDON DREAMS treat to watch for the salman & ajay’s chemistry. VIPUL SHAH’S best direction till date. don’t miss it guys. thanks.
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Saju Dey
November 1, 2009
IN LONDON DREAMS salman & asins chemistry rocks. films music just outstanding.very good story & very good performences. thanks.
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Sagarika
November 1, 2009
The first two lines are so true. My first summer back home from BITS marked my first trip to (1) the beautiful Ranganathittu bird sanctuary, and (2) the Brindavan gardens (not counting the trip I made with mom and dad when I was barely two that I remember nothing of). I was invited over by perima and perippa (the latter’s name, FWIW, is Ranganathan, and after years working in Nigeria, he’d just then moved back to B’lore and built a house there), who took me on a road trip to Mysore…unforgettable (now).
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Srikanth
November 1, 2009
As for the reference that the film could,as well,have been set in India,probably the makers wanted to deepen the dichotomy between Ajay’s sober rather intense disposition(videsi bred et al) and Salman’s(uncouth)rustic,casanova ways.Atleast,that was what I felt.
Also,you are spot on vis-a-vis the music.It does take time to grow.As Tejas here remarked,Barso came across as a mish-mash,pot pourri of sorts with disjoint melodic structures.But soon I developed a taste for it particularly due to the raw energy in it.My pick,though,would be Khwab Jo.Outstanding jugalbandi between two outstanding singers.Shankar is,especially,in fine fettle here launching into breathtaking alaaps literally out of nowhere!But apart from these and Khanabadosh,the rest didn’t pass muster for me especially when you label this a *musical*.
PS:Do give us some music reviews.Your last one was Yuvvraaj,if I’m not wrong,and that was an year ago!
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Harish S Ram
November 1, 2009
random thoughts on watching London dreams 🙂
borrowing the famous quote salman says music is to film when telling it through words will look stupid … devgn also borrows another quote but when he says that we feel like he is not interested to speak at all – the oversmart know it all (in music) part of writing in devgn’s role is what makes me boring when he is there – they have made him to be too much of self indulgent person who likes people to be with him – oh just the people who ll not eat him up, because then why should asin who has practically nothing to do in the band still be present? maybe for love some suspect … but if thats the case what was a so called talent dancer doing in the band? doesn’t she have any ambition in her life? if her only aim is to freak out then sallu is really her pair… and sallu is not the properly defined character too – or at least the way salam plays it – because he fits well for the rouge and not the “as a matter of factly i also know” music guy. … there seems to be a lot of attempts to make the logic work for this movie to stage in london but like you said why? why this enforcement – afterall the writer gets into so many compromises in writing just for the sake of it being staged in london – and when did london people get so much involved in indian bangra – we as an audience when given the london dreams soundtrack we were not that much interested but as a movie it worked for us – but if you were a first timer as an audience in stage that too a foreigner subjected to this kinda music will we like it in 1 listen? even Rahman failed to capture Broadway at first attempt in his LOR and Bombaay dreams and only after Bombay dreams came out in cds it gained momemtum … (again a weak writing from Idian writing point of view in musicals) …
yet i liked the movie as a time pass for it still had this genuine attempt to be unique and to make a nice movie within the parameters of NRI,bollywood cliches and so on .. this is another namastay london for us. and ppl will like this movie if we dont start thinking much which is difficult when Devgn is present and salman trying hard to be what ever his role means and asin just giving good reaction for no reasons.
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Harish S Ram
November 1, 2009
i just forgot to mention the highlight of the movie – the internal battle of ajay wid salman – the main reason i could relax the over critical mind to let the egoistic emotions engage me… we know from the first time the visual of some1 being lifted by audience is salman (sorry vipul – salman’s physique gave way ur twist in screenplay) and yet when the scene comes and aided by the song and bgm and the decent editing showing several stages of ajay’s changing expression is wonderful watch same goes for the scene where he finds out salman n asin are pair – the usual flashback cut to rememberance mode technique … yet one shot we are shown ajay anger – cut flash back – cut – anger wid tears – flashback – cut tears – cut flashback – cut fustrations – so simple and usual but still effective .. ( on the lighter note it did remind me of the SVe.Sekar comedy in Kaatila mazhai – park cut – dance cut – beach cut .. lol)
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Shankar
November 1, 2009
Elizabeth, looking at Devgn’s present spelling, we truly know that we are in the twitter era!! 🙂
As for Kanden Kadhalai/Jab We Met, I know some parts of the original were good but I’m still wondering what was so great about the original. I always felt that it was a DDLJ khichdi!! 🙂 As for Tamannah playing an effervescent character (just as Kareena in the original), I can guess where that would go…given her recent performances.
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Tambi Dude
November 1, 2009
Pallavi “By the day, your reviews are getting tediously critical and fault-finding. Your reviews are really biased by ur own highly opinionated notions. I”
LOL.
6 yrs back in ramli newsgroup I wrote this
“I am also curious that why this Rangan dude never trashes a movie.
In all his reviews, he will find something redeeming in a movie.
I wonder whether this is an occupational hazard 🙂 ”
To which another poster replied
“RK, tumne meri muh ki baat chiinli..
I noticed that Baradwaj is yet to reject a movie outright. He has this way
of honey coating even the yucky ones like Boom for example. What a
difference in what Shishir thought about Boom and how Baradwaj painted it?
I think your “occupational hazard theory” might be right on. ”
And this was Rangan’s reply
“I thought I trashed Mango Souffle because that *was* unbearable.
Otherwise, don’t most BW films have at least some elements that you
enjoy, at least on the big screen? (That does make a difference,
though.)
Seriously, though, one cannot (and maybe should not) *trash* a film in
a mainstream publication like in newsgroups. You look at the film,
then list pluses and minuses and then which one outweighs the other.
(e.g. I’ve said that Abhishek was ‘out of his element’, what I meant
was that he was not good. But a reader should get that drift right?)
The other thing is that *every* film has an audience, even something
like Zameen. So when I say it’s a Sunny Deol kinda film, it’s supposed
to work for the people who get their thrills from seeing cars fly in
the air. Frankly, Zameen didn’t work for me, that’s why I said “it’s
just not very good”. Now, how should I have said this? “It SUCKS”? 😉
As for Boom, I had a blast, that’s why I said it was a trip. I really
couldn’t see why people would even begin to expect sense in a story
like that after seeing previews thatb themselves promised just this
kind of halluciantory trip. anyway, to each his own.
And thanks for reading and the feedback. ”
How things change 🙂
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The other poster
November 2, 2009
@Tambi Dude
Interesting !! Once upon a time BR was accused of being good to all movies. Now when he does criticize, somebody else doesnt like it.
Poor BR, aage kuan to peeche khai.
@BR – Love your reviews anyway. Keep up the great job.
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Tambi Dude
November 2, 2009
I saw Aloo Chaat and I loved it. It is heartening to see alternate bollywood movies growing. These movies are made with a shoestring budget. They hardly have big stars and production quality no big shakes. Yet these movies are immensely more watchable than the ones involving Khans or Bachhans. Some movie in this genre are
1. OLLO
2. A Wednesday
3. Beja Fry
4. Khosle Ka Ghosla
5. Aloo Chat
6. Straight
probably more I am not able to recollect.
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Ajai
November 2, 2009
Not one comment on Aladin?
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Harish S Ram
November 2, 2009
yeh mera india, sankat ciy, dil dosti etc, and so on…
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brangan
November 2, 2009
Srikanth: The thing with Barso Yaaron isn’t just the energy. It begins with a classic, time-tested rock structure. The four-line opening (‘Khushiyon ki lehren gaaye’ to ‘Aaja pyaar main ghul jaayen’) that’s varied ever-so-slightly to end on a higher note to lead to the ascent ahead (‘Aaj na khud ko roko’ to ‘Shikwon ke saare parde kheench do’). Then the ascent begins (‘Aasman pe chhaana hai, gungunana hai’) and then there’s a stay (‘Ban ja badal, dil kehta hai’) before the glorious descent (‘Bheeg ja bheeg ja yaara’).
It’s like how, for instance, Pinball Wizard builds and builds and there’s a stay (‘That deaf, dumb and blind kid’) before the gloriously crashing descent (‘Sure plays a mean pinball’). And after this start and one antara/stanza, it deviates into a very “Indian” structure, with “laakh takey da” and then both the Indian and Western modes are put in the blender for a vigorous workout. The other songs too have a lot going on in them, and this isn’t an “easy” album by any means (in the sense of just letting it wash over you).
Shankar: I’m surprised you felt JWM was just a “a DDLJ khichdi.” I personally prefer Socha Na Tha or Love Aaj Kal to this one (the second half doesn’t do much for me), but it’s far removed from the DDLJ universe. The latter is a romantic melodrama in the truest sense, where plot matters most and the whole thing is constructed entirely around archetypes, whereas Imtiaz Ali’s films are completely un-archetypal and are all about the found moments. In tone and temperament the two couldn’t be farther apart.
Tambi Dude: I don’t think my way of looking at films has changed at all — because I still get hauled up for writing sympathetic (i.e. all-aspects-considered) reviews of films like RNBDJ or Saawariya, which are mostly trashed elsewhere. I still maintain that it’s a reviewer’s duty to point out good things in a film that’s otherwise bad (and vice versa), and not give blanket “it sucks” or “it rocks” judgements.
What has definitely changed is the way I write. I’m more confident about expressing my opinions now, and I think that’s what you’re seeing. Earlier, I used to filter my thoughts as if I were writing for all audiences. Over the years, I’ve realised the futility of this and I’ve gradually changed my point of view to the extent that I now write only for myself. That’s what’s changed, not the way I look at films 🙂
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Shuchi
November 2, 2009
A word of support for poor scorned second half of JWM: I enjoy it thoroughly 🙂 . Among other things, Anshuman’s “Hello, Listen!” always cracks me up.
PS: What is with TV and JWM re-runs? Switch channels any day, any time, and there you find it.
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Shankar
November 2, 2009
Baddy, I agree with how Imtiaz Ali’s films differ from other such films in terms of moments, but JWM didn’t work for me that much. I wasn’t able to invest as much in the leads or on what was happening to them. Just my opinion.
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brangan
November 2, 2009
Shankar: I get the fact that the film didn’t work for you. That’s fine. What I didn’t understand was your apple-orange comparison of it with DDLJ. Because Imtiaz Ali’s films are about untethered individuals, whereas Aditya Chopra is a more traditional filmmaker, in that his characters aren’t just individuals but also representative of social values and suchlike, and therefore the last thing from untethered.
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Shankar
November 2, 2009
Baddy, for one…both had a Punjab/Bhatinda setting and flavor. Also, in both cases the loser (fiancee) is shown to be a jerk. in JWM, it’s Shahid who gets irritated during the initial meetings while in DDLJ, it was Kajol who couldn’t stand SRK and his loud mouth. So, I was looking at this more basically rather than from a characterisation aspect.
I get your point about the difference in film making by Imtiaz and Aditya Chopra and fully agree with that.
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Srikanth
November 3, 2009
Wish I could dissect a song like that! But by energy what I meant was that in recent times I haven’t seen one with such overpowering intensity. Which is your pick from the OST?
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Tambi Dude
November 3, 2009
Srikanth
So far I have liked two songs,
Barson Yaron and my favourite Khanabadosh. What type of guitar is used in that song? Acoustic.
There is a smooth jazz player who uses that kind of guitar. Chuck Lob?
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Tejas
November 3, 2009
BR – possibly following that EXACT formula of a rock song didn’t work for me. What worked in that song was the Hanuman Chalisa, and that’s it!
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Harish S Ram
November 3, 2009
an out of discussion ques .. i couldn’t locate the article, the comments section of which many books for screenplay and all were put forth by you there.
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brangan
November 4, 2009
Srikanth: I like the entire OST, But if you want me to pick just one song, I’d probably go with Khanabadosh. On second thoughts, I’d probably go with Tapke masti, easily the best Bhangra number since the title track in Rahman’s awesome RDB soundtrack.
Harish S Ram: Probably the Delhi-6 review? Can’t recall exactly now?
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Srikanth
November 4, 2009
BR..I like Tapkey Masti for the most parts,but the refrain was implemented in a most facile manner.SEL have done such hooks to death and here those lines are just laughable….
@Tambi Dude
Yup it is the acoustic guitar.The jazz influences are striking in Khanabadosh but the show stealer is the qawwalish Aa Zamane Aa refrain.Great
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Anirudh
November 4, 2009
While I agree with you on the point that “Man Ko Ati Bhave” does not fit into the settings of the movie, I thought the song brought some variety into the music of the movie. All the other songs sounded too similar to me. SEL should have put some silent songs and a proper sufi song in the album could have brought the right flavour to the album.
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Shankar
November 4, 2009
Baddy, don’t know if you got a chance to see this
http://www.paathefilm.com/
The trailor is in the “my videos” section. BTW, the theme music is a rework of the prelude from the song “Kaattu Vazhi” from “Adhu Oru Kanaa Kalam”. It does seem to fit this trailor very well too.
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brangan
November 5, 2009
Shankar: Yup, saw that. Nice. Very nice. And after ages, that golden IR “sound” again. Can’t tell you what a relief it is 🙂
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Shankar
November 5, 2009
Baddy, that “sound” has been around…just that it has not been offered in a platter. People have had to dig around for it!! 🙂
Typically, nobody would think of Amitabh and IR in the same sentence, but ABCL and IR do seem to have a long, unusual association…Ullasam (KR), Miss World and now Paa…
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brangan
November 5, 2009
Shankar: Really? Because even the IR songs I’ve really enjoyed of late haven’t really harked back to *that* sound, the all-alive, rich, stereophonic-splendour sound that we associate most with him (or *Him* 🙂 ) — not the watered-down version he’s been content with of late. Maybe I’ve just been looking in the wrong places (like Valmiki). Please recommend something that you feel I haven’t “dug around enough for” 🙂 (And just to clarify again, I’m not talking about the quality of the musical ideas themselves; I’m talking about the execution, the final *sound* of his music, which consists of the instruments being played and the way they are recorded. As an aside, any idea who does his sound engineering?)
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Santosh Kumar T K
November 5, 2009
Shankar!
Namma IR and that good-for-nothing amita pachan ore sentence le va? What sacrilege! Thank god it was that Pachan fellow, not the other useless alternative sarug kan. The pachans and kans have a long way to go even to share the same poster with IR. Cross your heart and tell me if not for the rich background strings would you fall for that pachan gimmickry?
BR, it’s funny you talk of the golden IR “sound” again because with him it was a given. Adhukkudaan naan sollitein, this generation fed on farah gan-siris gunder-pheerozzz nadiadwala padams can never fathom what the god sounded like. If you think konjum laterally, it is a well orchestrated anti-Hindutva conspiracy, I say!
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Shankar
November 5, 2009
Baddy, actually if you listen to the Kaattu Vizhi song, this exact theme is played, atleast to me, in a much better “sound” with some WC elements. I liked the execution there better than the bit from “Paa”. However if this is a central theme music in “Paa”, I’m sure IR would have really “played” with variations of it. That’s what I meant by saying that the “sound” has been present…but not noticed that much. But if you are looking for that rich, stereophonic sound, that might be gone for ever. The sound engineering and synth intrusions are things to cringe right now. However, the mind is still there in terms of musical ideas…I can see that. I’m looking forward to the BGMs of both Pazhassi and Paa and hoping there’s some interesting work there.
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Shankar
November 5, 2009
From a recent album, “Unnai Pattri Sonnal” from “Mathiya Chennai” is a really nice song…
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Sureshkumar
November 6, 2009
‘Mumbai Express’, ‘Cheeni Kum’, ‘Music Messiah’, ‘Naan Kadavul’ all had that pure Raaja sound.
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Tambi Dude
November 6, 2009
Mumbai express – Yes. Path breaking. Korangu Kai (Bandar Kee Dug Dugi) should be considered as a primer on Jazz.
Cheeni Kum was a rehash of his old 80s songs.
No idea about other two which I suspect would be damp squib.
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Harish S Ram
November 6, 2009
wat about Nandala – its the contemporary raja creating wonderful melody 🙂 ..
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VJ
November 6, 2009
well there can’t be a raaja discussion without a Suresh Kumar comment 🙂
btw waht is this ‘Music Messiah’ never heard of it .
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raj
November 6, 2009
Baradwaj, I said listen to pazhassi raja 🙂
As shankar said, its been around. Check out suresh’s recos.
I am tired of cheeni kum rehash allegations. These are completely different musical ideas with the same tune. Why is that difficult to understand? Nostalgia disorder is the name for this affliction
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Shankar
November 6, 2009
Absolutely raj, I loved the re-interpretation of songs in Cheeni Kum. It would be terrible to term them as rehashes.
Here is a link to a song snippet from “Paa”
I caught a whiff of the 3 note song IR composed and presented in the live concerts but the snippet does provide a enticing glance at “Paa” and perhaps the musical treat that awaits us.
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brangan
November 6, 2009
Shankar: Reg. “the mind is still there in terms of musical ideas” — that’s not where I was going at all. You only have to listen to the Uliyin Osai soundtrack to know what he’s still capable of. I’m talking only about the sound — NOT the music. If you’ve noted his albums of late, there’s a “tinniness” to the sound, even in Uliyin Osai. (So if I really like the songs, I do so *despite* my issues with this sound.) But listen to how “soft” the violins are in the “Paa” trailer. (Was the recording done in Mumbai?)
So my question wasn’t about whether or not Raja still has it in him, but more along the lines of *why* Paa sounds so much like the Raja of yore. It was an academic question, which is why I asked who his sound engineer in Chennai is. In other words, who’s the person I’ve got to put out a hit on? 🙂
You say, “if you are looking for that rich, stereophonic sound, that might be gone for ever. The sound engineering and synth intrusions are things to cringe right now.” I agree. Who’s responsible is what I was asking. I mean, how come Yuvan’s strings sound so much mellower than Raja’s?
Sureshkumar: MX is one of the few albums where Raja’s new sound worked completely, because the album deviated away from his “classical” style. I love that entire album.
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brangan
November 7, 2009
Tambi Dude: Cheeni Kum was so not a rehash. See here 🙂
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Tambi Dude
November 7, 2009
OK all pedantics, shall I say CheeniKum was a multiplex-remix of his 80s songs. Does that make you guys happy 🙂
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Shankar
November 7, 2009
Baddy, I knew you were only referring to the sound and I fully agree with you there. I’m not sure who’s doing his sound engineering now but I wouldn’t be surprised if it were some of his decades old team member who has learnt the new skills and is trying to translate IR’s musical ideas into the new technologies (with little success, if I may add!) 🙂 I am more concerned about how IR (the classical composer who has to cross the Ts and dot the Is) lets this get out of the door!!
Also, as I have remarked before, the recordings done in Mumbai seem to have a much richer sound…the mastering seems to much better than the output from Prasad Studios.
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sureshkumar
November 7, 2009
VJ – ‘The Music Messiah’ is a non-film album of Ilaiyaraaja. It is a reworking of his background score from Malayalam movie ‘Guru’ (which had a grand score recorded with Budapest Symphony Orchestra). It is purely instrumental. Though it has got musical themes, it is one of the rarest ambient, soundscapish music works of Ilaiyaraaja.
Here is a track from ‘Music Messiah’
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VJ
November 7, 2009
thanks Suresh .. I will definitely buy this CD I love his orchestral albums How to Name it? and Nothing but his wind .
Strange I never heard of it , when did it release ?
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raj
November 7, 2009
Shanka, what do you think of pazhassi in terms of sound?
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Venkatesh
November 7, 2009
sureshkumar : Thanks for the track from ‘Music Messiah’ , brilliant , it gave me goose bumps , i hadn’t known about it before.
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Tambi Dude
November 7, 2009
Music Messiah track reminds me of India 24 hrs, a superb instrumental album. After a long time I listened to it yesterday and loved it as much as I loved it in 1997 when I first heard it.
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Shankar
November 7, 2009
raj, Pazhassi had a really good sound..I’m not sure where it was mastered though. Also, I think IR used a number of native instruments as well as the Symphony Orchestra which were recorded live…that makes a huge difference. Ultimately, even if you record live orchestra, the sound engineering and mastering has to be good othewise it can destroy the sound. I have had personal experience here. 🙂
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zasu
November 8, 2009
Yeah, it’s not great- but at least it’s an attempt at an adult, character driven story – there doesn’t seem to be too many of those around nowadays. But it is undone by its haphazard script for all the reasons you point out.
The one scene that worked for me cinematically – where we are shown something about the characters or story rather than just told – was the moment when Mannu, in his first performance with the band, overcome by the music and crowd reaction – spontaneously dives into the audience – physically demonstrating the connection he is able to makes with the public. Arjun looks on in disbelief – this upends his way of making sense of the world, which is one of calculation and premeditation.
Setting it in England had the potential to add interesting layers to the story – (probably all NRI clichés I’m not so familiar with!). The idea of the transplant (Mannu) , coming to the West and made to feel inadequate because he is seen as backward and unsophisticated; or perhaps having his heritage exploited – especially by earlier immigrants (Arjun) who have a feeling of shame of where they came from. The movie could have played a lot with the themes disrespect and dislocation that many new immigrants feel. People can relate to feelings of disrespect – as they can to jealousy.
Which brings up another big problem of the film – it’s hard to relate to Arjun. I agree that as played by Ajay, he’s a royal bore. He seems more jealous of the adulation Mannu elicits – not necessarily the music he creates. Compare that with Salieri in Amadeus – who is actually a more unsavory character than Arjun in a lot of ways – but still we can relate to him. Salman, on the other hand, captures perfectly what his character is supposed to be about – joyful spontaneity. He’s always in the moment and his willingness to do whatever he can to entertain his audience, even if it is at times groan inducing, is infectious. Normally I don’t laugh at toilet jokes but I did in this movie.
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Shankar
November 12, 2009
Baddy, I just found this…it’s amazing
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Shankar
November 12, 2009
Here’s another one…Vaali and IR
Wonder where people find these treasures… 🙂
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Shankar
November 12, 2009
Also, this guy who lives in the Bay area does some real hard core research into IR’s music…there are also some youtube videos that he has made analyzing music. It’s pretty interesting.
Check this from his blog…especially the second song that he has referenced. I’ve loved this song from the day I listened to it…
http://geniusraja.blogspot.com/2009/11/rajas-rhythm-innovation-stage-13.html
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brangan
November 12, 2009
Shankar: Thanks. Reminds me of the music sittings for Guna, where Gangai Amaran apparently switched on a recorder as Kamal, Santhanabharathi and Raja were discussing the songs for various situations. (You’ve heard that, right?) Great stuff, despite the bit-much mutual back-patting 🙂
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brangan
November 12, 2009
Shankar: On crap. This *is* that recording. There’s actually much more, IIRC. I have the entire cassette. [Yes, I said “cassette.” 🙂 ] BTW, if there was a song made for Raja’s voice, it’s Appanendrum. What gooseflesh! Fuck, how I miss that sound.
There’s a reason Mudi mudi (from Paa) works so well *despite* having the new Raja sound — because it’s light-pop stuff. The fake synth-iness doesn’t affect the composition one bit. But imagine if Appanendrum had had the same sound.
That’s what I meant earlier. Some songs need “weight” and my problem with today’s Raja is that his compositions still have that “weight” but his sound doesn’t. More often than not, it’s a very odd fit.
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Shankar
November 12, 2009
I see what you are saying with regard to IR’s sound. It is true…
As for IR’s voice, I have always loved “Thendral Vanthu” from Avatharam even though there is the fake synth-iness in it. The song is awesome on multiple levels…one being the fit of IR’s voice to Nasser and his character. Imagine the level that the song would have risen with a real bass track!! 🙂
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