MAY 4– Thanks to Rahman-worshipping friends and colleagues, I have been sucked into a couple of mildly vituperative discussions these past days, after my views on the Raavan soundtrack snaked their way into press and, subsequently, into Cyberia. Here’s a mild-mannered attempt to lay out the salient points.
Accusation: The Raavan soundtrack is like this (as in, not appealing to the heart, the way you so callously put it) because Mani Ratnam is no longer interested in picturising songs. Most of these tracks will be used as background for montages. You should have taken that into account while writing about Raavan.
My rebuttal: Hmmm.. I’m not sure about him no longer being interested in picturising songs. But if that is indeed the case, why not release this as a soundtrack album, like Slumdog Millionaire? I think everyone, like me, thought this was a regular “song album,” and that’s how I viewed it while I wrote about it.
Accusation: That’s because it doesn’t make business sense to publicise an album as a “soundtrack.” And the audio market is already down…
My rebuttal: So you’re saying I should buy a regular “song album” and listen to all the “songs” but write about it as a “soundtrack album?” I’m not even sure what that means (or if that makes sense). Besides, even if it is a “soundtrack album,” what prevents the tunes (the melodic aspect) from being more appealing? Aaromale was a pure-soundtrack number, used throughout the film in mutilated bits and pieces. But it worked as an audio-only experience too, right? Just like other non-lip-sync Rahman tracks like Masakkali (again, a montage situation) or Khoon chala? That’s what (and that’s all) I’m saying.
Accusation: But give it more time and you’ll see that the melodic aspect, too, will begin to appeal. You can’t review a Rahman album in just a week. Some of these songs need a lot of careful listening, on the right kind of headphones…
My rebuttal: So what are you saying? People writing about Rahman’s music should only do so after six months? A year? Ten years? How much time is a valid interval? And I’m sorry. I cannot be investing in hi-tech equipment just to listen to music. Whatever comes through the average pair of headphones works just fine for me.
And then the Raja aspect of the accusation, inevitably, kicks in, that I’m a product of the Raja era and therefore not, ideally, the best-suited to analyse Rahman. (I wasn’t born in the MSV era either, so that music is out of bounds too? Seriously!)
And then I’m hauled over coals for liking, say, the ensuing Vijay Antony number. Rock-solid rhythms for a characteristically lively Vijay dance number (even if, lately, they’ve all begun to seem the same). Lovely flavour of Kaapi. (Paadhamilla paadhamilla pachirisi saadham.. Aaah!) Of course, silly lyrics, and a sillier chorus. (“Come on and get me with your loving machan!” Ulp!). But who said life, these millennial months, hands you everything at once?
I bring up Vijay Antony (who’s quietly been bringing out some of the more catchy raga-percolated numbers of late, and with really good singers to boot) because that was another part of the discussion — that pure “heart music” is meant solely for the movies meant for B- and C-centres, and that “class” films will increasingly go the Raavan way, all esoteric experimentation and (relatively) less emotion.
If that’s so, I’m a little scared. Is it really such a bad thing to want to feel music, anymore?
PS: The discussion then veered into the contention that the overall feel of the Raavan music was intentionally non-melodic (and more percussion-laden) because it was supposed to be “tribal.” And I just shut down from sheer weariness. I knew that bringing up Raja, at this point, would just lead to bloodshed, so I refrained from mentioning his “tribal” efforts, like Raaman aandaalum (raga shadings from the little-heard Andolika, plus a really inventive rhythm pattern that stretches from the middle of one line to the middle of the next, as opposed to starting where the line starts and ending where it ends) or Kanni ponnu kaimela (with its pounding tattoo of a drumbeat, indicative of the pounding heartbeats of the youngsters falling in love perhaps?)…
But I’m sure there must be non-Raja instances of such sound, which functioned as stimulators to both head and heart, and which are presently escaping my rapidly decaying mind. Any suggestions?
PPS: I reallyreallyreally wish I could label these articles something other than “Reviews” (whether film or music). I mean, who am I to pass judgment on Ilayaraja or Rahman or Mani Ratnam or even Sajid Khan, for that matter? But yes, like everyone else, I have opinions on the work they create, and those opinions I like to lay out as discussion generators. But I don’t suppose my editor, in his lifetime or mine, is going to let me rename “The Sunday Review” to “The Sunday Discussion Generator.”
Baradwaj Rangan 
Adithya
May 6, 2010
I do agree about the theory that Mani doesn’t look for picturising these songs but then I also believe that Raavan turned out to be quite an uninspiring album.
Apram yen enna ipdi accusers group la anyayama pottutenga?!
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brangan
May 6, 2010
Adithya: No, no.. this isn’t about blog commenters at all. It’s a distillation of phone conversations and suchlike. I do interact with others, from the real world, you know 🙂
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Harish S Ram
May 6, 2010
this reminds of the time when my interaction with the outer world was filled with why I had aberration towards Aayirathil Oruvan, where all were saying – you should have seen it this way and that way.
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Vamshi
May 6, 2010
Increasingly i see a disgusting fan-boy adulation for whatever stuff that Rahman churns out regardless of merit. They can’t take criticism, however mild. Your article was not as scathing as it could have been. The album was trash, accept it. If the credits did not have ARR but Vishal-Shekar, one would not have given it the mild treatment that it gets. This is usually the case when artists reach their apogee. I remember Raja getting also getting similar reverence in the late eighties and early nineties, where your regard for a god holds you back from criticising him when he does not churn out miracles often.
I think from even Mani’s angle, it is time he moved on from ARR. There is something in their collaboration which is just not working out either as pure music or in a larger way, in conjunction with the movie too.
I have dire predictions for the movie. But let me not be prejudiced and hold back my views till the movie comes out.
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Mysorean
May 6, 2010
Dear Baradwaj,
I see that you are trying to be objective about the whole issue. While that’s good, what’s wrong in someone saying I didn’t like the music of Raavan? Why get into accusations and defenses? You didn’t like it. So be it.
Me, for one, just loves the music. I am unable to stop listening to it. I guess I am entitled to this and you are entitled to whatever you wish to have as an opinion.
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Nithya
May 6, 2010
I don’t understand this whole thing about Mani being no more interested in picturizing songs. Weren’t Barso Re, Tere Bina, Mayya mayya, Ek lo ek muft picturized as “just songs” in his last venture? When he does stunning visuals like in Alaipayuthey, people go on about how he excels in bringing songs to life, which is very true. If the songs are crap then they convince themselves with some other reason like he isn’t interested in songs anymore. Beats me!! Right from the days of Mouna Ragam and Nayagan, there have been lip synced songs as well as montages. So what’s so new about that now?
The fanboys trying hard to convince themselves and the rest of the world that it will “take time”, “grow on you” etc is beyond my comprehension. Why would anyone in their right mind subject themselves to a hundred listens of some trash, when the first listen itself is the ultimate test of endurance? Have you heard the tamil ones yet? From the pen that gave “Yakkai thiri”, I wonder if this is the best Vairamuthu could give. But then not his fault entirely, as the lyrics have been fitted into the tunes and they just don’t gel. Kedaakkari, really Mr. Vairamuthu?!!
I LOVE LOVE Kanni ponnu kai mele.. Totally kick ass song which I think doesn’t get it’s due because of cult ones like Panivizhum malarvanam from the same movie. Love the lelele chorus in Mulum malarum as well. But then, don’t want to bring up IR or other names to the discussion at all, this album is very below average by ARR’s own standards.
Phew! Had to get that off my chest!
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kamil
May 6, 2010
Rangan – Perhaps you must have mentioned that it would have been prudent to see how the songs have been visualized before passing final judgment?? and Vijay Anthony!?! He’s a bloody crook that plagiarized Rihanna for tamil songs!!
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Saritha
May 6, 2010
Hi Bradwaj,
While I totally tripped on Karikalan, another song in Vettaikaran seems (and I use the word ‘seems’) plagiarized. See my post on this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CIWnCF9NwQ&feature=related
Raman aandalum is a fabulous piece! As for tribal beats, there’s also Aasaiyai kaathule thoodhuvittu from Johnny.
Cheers!
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MumbaiRamki
May 6, 2010
Kamil ,
The song credit for the lift has been given to director, if you care to watch the CD label !
As far as in my opinion, i feel like coming out of a concert that i enjoyed , but wouldnt care to buy the album for multiple listens !
In music we have only – Like , Don’t like , like a bit – thats it , all technical details are fine , but finally to these three . Why we like a song can be explained , but cannot be justified if you apply all other factors into consideration.
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brangan
May 6, 2010
Mysorean: I am not “trying” to be objective or any such thing. I’m just replaying recent conversations I’ve had, and these are not with “fanboys” as such. At least, age-wise, none of them would be “boys” (or, for that matter, “girls”) 🙂
Saritha: I was asking for non-Raja numbers, and I just recalled one lovely Kishore-RDB song from Shalimar — Hum bewafa, with a tribal chorus.
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sureshkumar
May 6, 2010
‘Ambum Kombum’ from Pazhassi Raaja -recent Raaja tribal song that liked very much.
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sureshkumar
May 6, 2010
One recent Raaja tribal song that I liked very much – ‘Ambum Kombum’ from Pazhassi Raaja.
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sammy
May 6, 2010
Those video songs you have posted are all puke-worthy. God knows how you can stand those.
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Zero
May 6, 2010
rAman ANdAlum, kannip poNNu kai mEla, viLakku veppOm (and that’s 1993 for the “post-90s-challenged” :)). Enough said.
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brangan
May 6, 2010
Zero: Aathma-vaa? I’m not even going there 🙂
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NullPointer
May 6, 2010
Not sure what the appeal to the head should be as far as music goes but for the first time I feel I was a tad too hasty to buy the entire album from the iTunes store. Not all that it’s cracked up to be. And haven’t got back to listening to it for almost a week now.
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prasanna rs
May 6, 2010
Baddie: All the best!
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Shalini
May 6, 2010
Tribal sounds in film songs? A personal favorite is this one by Anil Biswas from Sautela Bhai. A perfect fusion of rhythm AND melody.
The Shalimar mention reminded me of another by RDB – this one from the very obscure Jaan-e-Jaan
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Anu
May 6, 2010
I haven’t heard the soundtrack from Raavan – but I am not a Rahman fan.
I’m so glad someone out there is able to make objective comments about Rahman’s music.
I look forward to your Raavan review – something tells me it’s not going to be good…
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Satyam
May 6, 2010
Superb set of responses Baradwaj!
I think there’s a larger point to be made here. The inability of many to really separate informed opinion from the opposite kind. In other words I find your writing interesting irrespective or whether I agree with you or not. On the Raavan(an) soundtrack(s) I like it a great deal so my impressions here are obviously different. But it doesn’t matter! Because your piece ‘informed’ me, educated me, enlightened me.
There isn’t a ‘correct’ view in these matters as indeed anywhere else in art or entertainment. Even the very greatest works can be and are debated. But again some authors ‘justify’ their views, some don’t. It’s too facile to believe that Rangan does not like Raavan. The way to understand it is that Rangan has issues with the Rahman of Raavan and he lays these out lucidly and whether one likes the album more than him or not one can ‘understand’ his argument. This is all that matters. There should not be this monomania on matters of informed opinion.
One can certainly have a debate with you on your review but it should also be of the informed sort that somehow tackles the terms of your argument or at least launches a separate one in an equally rigorous sense. One is not obliged to do this, one can assuredly offer impressionistic one liners (‘I loved it’, ‘I hated it’ and so on) but this does not really address the points you make. This would normally be fine except that (and as in the examples you’ve cited) there is too much ‘defensive’ posturing.
Nothing is beyond debate, nothing at all. At the same time not all opinions are ‘equal’.
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Vishal
May 6, 2010
vamshi labels Raavan music as ‘trash” and we should accept it! Oh please. Talk about thinking ones opinion is the final word! Personally I’m enjoying the music. Accept that! 😉
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Sandhya
May 6, 2010
BR – Off-topic, I’m amazed that none of the 86 commenters for the Rahman post reacted to THAT one comment (You know which one). Ignoring the elephant in the room perhaps? You’re lucky to have this much adulation and genuine affection, hopefully it balances some of the vitriol you get (undeservedly, paavam).
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Vinod
May 6, 2010
I am so reminded of that evening some years back when I was surrounded by a set of Raja fans in my hostel room. They spent nearly an hour raving about “Rakku Muthu Rakku…” and for some reason I detested that song. It was a gory experience “Appa, samma beate da…” and all.
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Kiruba
May 6, 2010
“because Mani Ratnam is no longer interested in picturising songs”. Well, this theory is as old as Alaipayuthey at least, but that picturisation of songs in the same film and those he made in the future (except Ek lo Ek muft & Tere bina perhaps) seemed to say the opposite. This reminds me of a brief chat I had with Mani on this topic. The Alaipayuthey crew was in Music World on a cassette signing promo (remember it was still the casseette, even as recent as 2000). The rumour mills in Tamil magazines had been saying that Mani was making a starkly realistic (?) film on love without any songs, and I had been eagerly awaiting it, hoping this would disprove his distractors’ theory that he cannot make really serious films like, say even Kamal. (Gosh! How naive have I been!)
So I must have sounded mildly angry when I asked him why he had resorted to songs again in AP? He replied cheerfully “Paattu illainna neengellaam padam paakka varuveengalaa? Illa, cassette thaan vaanguveengala?” Then he mentioned that it was ARR who had persuaded him to have songs in AP. He said he was looking forward to making such ‘songless’ films, but in the existing situation, they made no commercial sense.
BTW, I am not exactly pleased with Raavan(an)songs, and this may be the least appealing album from this duo, but it surely is not a dud as many here are making it out to be. And again, once you get over the initial temporal inertia and exasperation of substituting Keda kari for Kata kata and the like, the wild and fiery imagery of Vairamuthu’s lyrics will surely grow on you. (At least Vairam doesn’t disappoint in Raavanan, comapred to the utter nonsense he wrote for Guru)
If someone cares to explain:
Benny Dayal sings
“கள்ளிக்காட்டுப் புள்ளைத்தாச்சி
கல்லைப் பெத்த வீரனடா” in “கோடு போட்டா”(Thok de killi). Not able to get over it ever since I caught that line as its meaning eludes my hare brain. Hoping I have been hearing it wrong, I consulted the lyrics booklet and it is the same as what he sings. Can someone explain to this maramandai, or is it simply “கள்ளிக்காட்டுப் புள்ளைத்தாச்சி
கல்லைப் பெத்தா வீரனடா?”
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Vamshi
May 7, 2010
To Vishal – my line was more intended for the reviewers. To word it better, if they found the album trash – they should call it out instead of handling ARR with kids gloves. Nice to see that you are liking it.
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Abhishek
May 7, 2010
I think you should publish.Your writing is really amazing.Are you by any chance planning to write a screenplay or something?
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vijay
May 7, 2010
And here I was thinking that your telephone chat friends would be of the same age/taste group-meaning that they would rather go back to early 80s IR, than give Rahman, a 17th try after a week 🙂
And as for other tribal-like sound/percussion, prelude of hoton me from Jewel thief comes to mind
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Venkatesh
May 7, 2010
“that pure “heart music” is meant solely for the movies meant for B- and C-centres, and that “class” films will increasingly go the Raavan way, all esoteric experimentation and (relatively) less emotion.”
Proud C-centre denizen reporting for duty sir.
My response to arguments like these is – i am a C-centre viewer. End of Argument.
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vikram
May 7, 2010
Hi BR, very good points on head music vs. Heart music…just because ARR is a much-feted music composer, we don’t have to necessarily condition ourselves to like all of his output…imho, Ravan’s music seems too discordant(no alibis but maybe he is in keeping with the theme), and worse.. he is plundering his own earlier work..:( let’s hope he can do better in his next outing)…also, I can’t but help feeling that probably Vishal Bharadwaj would have been a better fit…
Also, looking at Vishal’s varied output (satya, maachis,ishqiya, kameenay) it looks like we hv a contender to the joint thrones of Ratnam-Rahman ;))
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Babs
May 7, 2010
I think ppl shd understand u r being critical of their particular work, if they fail to then no point in arguing cos they r going to pull every other work into the picture and being a fan boy they will……Have not heard Raavan yet but Beera number is quite catchy from the trailer.
On a side note, I go by goose bump meter 🙂
This
produces more bumps than this
(which I consider his best in recent times almost compares to Bombay theme)
Mottai enna rembu pularika vacharu, ARR enna mei maraka vacharu….thanks to their brilliant work..they both r totally different composers, comparing their work is only satisfying our egos (whose taste is better)..said that ARR grows into u who wud have thot Jai HO will become many ppl fav 🙂
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brangan
May 7, 2010
NullPointer: Appeal to the head… in the sense, you can see and appreciate how something has been crafted and put together, what the intent must have been, and so forth, even if that effort doesn’t translate to an emotional (i.e. from the heart) reaction. Just because something doesn’t appeal to the heart doesn’t mean there’s nothing worthwhile going on in the song. Even with recent Raja, you have to acknowledge the still-gorgeous ideas in some of the music (even if personally speaking, the translation of these ideas into “heart music” leaves something to be desired).
Satyam: “It’s too facile to believe that Rangan does not like Raavan. The way to understand it is that Rangan has issues with the Rahman of Raavan and he lays these out…” Yes, that’s exactly it. But over the years I’ve seen that regardless of how much I try not to “evaluate” the music (and merely “analyse” it), readers almost always read the piece with that “evaluation” aspect in mind. As in: Did I like it? Or did I not like it? That’s all that’s usually taken away at the end of the read.
Vamshi: But your argument is based on the supposition that I “did not like” it and yet I treated it with kid gloves. I had reservations and questions about certain aspects and I thought I expressed them as I saw it. But I certainly did not find it “trash.” Where did you get that idea?
vijay: Office colleagues and social-gathering acquaintances come in all shapes, sizes, ages 🙂 The friends that really know me know how I process music and they wouldn’t even be getting into such arguments.
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Vamshi
May 7, 2010
I know that you don’t like labelling something as a thumbs up or down or liking or not liking something. But when countering grating fanboys, an aggressive stand is required to shut up mouths. An objective stand and nuanced arguments do not work – unless you say that it is “absolute trash”, “i do not like it” – it will not pierce thick skins. Fanboys otherwise will take what they want from your review and put a positive spin on it. Like picking and choosing select lines from dismissive book reviews and putting them as blurbs.
As Sudhir Mishra once wrote on PFC (i think in the context of the movie Black), it is nothing but cultural fascism that one has to like a certain work because the media has this spin on it. When countering these kinds of fascism, you can choose to protest through a candlelight demonstration (like what you are doing) or choose to do it like in a radically violent way. It is up for debate.
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Arun
May 7, 2010
Fool!
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baskar
May 7, 2010
Could it be that this is the heart of the matter?- 🙂
“…open and intellectually engaged individuals, and those with higher IQ scores, tended to use music in a rational/cognitive way, while neurotic, introverted and non-conscientious individuals were all more likely to use music for emotional regulation (e.g. change or enhance moods). ”
“Personality and music: Can traits explain how people use music in everyday life?” from British Journal of Psychology, Volume 98, Number 2, May 2007 , pp. 175-185(11) via http://www.bakadesuyo.com/does-your-personality-determine-the-way-you-u
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ramesh
May 7, 2010
it doesnt really matter that you didnt like ravan’s music. it matters that i didnt.
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ramesh
May 7, 2010
more seriously, people get rediculous when rahman makes bad music. i remember when he sold us some turkeys in a rajini film called padaiyappa and a whole bunch of madurai theni vellai veshti and mouchtace types went and held demonstrations and burned effigies because the songs rahman man=de for rajini were bad.
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NullPointer
May 7, 2010
Rangan- Going by what you meant by “head music” I am not sure if most of Rahman-Raavan fanboys liked the music because it appealed to their heard. I suspect, most folks operate on the premise that its a Ratnam-Rahman combo ,its better to like it because that has come to represent classy stuff. If this were Rahman’s first, would the fanboys still go gaga over it!
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brangan
May 7, 2010
NullPointer: Ah, but therein lies the seed for a fascinating experiment. A friend told me once, “Take one of Deva’s more classy-sounding songs (violin-cascade interludes and all, from the time he was explicitly aping Raja) and take one of HJ’s songs. Assuming the listener did not know these songs earlier, if you told him they were from Deva and HJ, he’d be more reserved in his appreciation. But if you told him they’re from Raja and ARR, the reactions will be completely different.” I think there’s some truth in this.
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vijay
May 7, 2010
BR, of course there’s truth in that. I have done that experiment myself 🙂 Taj mahal thevai illai by Balabharathi, oru kaadhal devadhai by Shankar-Ganesh, medhuva medhuva oru kaadhal paattu by Chandrabose are all prime candidates for that experiment 🙂 You have to just catch hold of some guys who don’t exactly remember song, movie names and such, but are nevertheless hardcore fans of a particular MD, and test it out on them.
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vidyut
May 8, 2010
Another “tribal” song from Raja that worked well is “Meenkodi theril” from Karumbu Vil although I am not sure about the head-heart equilibrium of its appeal.
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Satyam
May 9, 2010
NullPointer: That could however be said for many things in life. For many fields of art, for many illustrious names in the arts. Remove the name Tolstoy from a story.. does one like it as much?
There is a flip side to this however. Sometimes one does give the benefit of the doubt to the artist if one is persuaded that nothing quite happens within that artist’s work ‘without reason’. Which hardly prevents misfires of course.
I’d make two other points about Rahman. People keep referring to a Rathnam-Rahman combo. Yes this has often delivered fine music but these have not always been the most ‘superlative’ soundtracks from Rahman. But these have always had an afterlife where these have been re-imagined as the most cutting edge works. I think it’s more useful to think of he Rahman-Rathnam combo as being a very distinctive one irrespective of whether one likes the music or not. Connected to this is another point — Rahman does not quite repeat himself. The soundtracks have been canonized and it’s harder at this stage to be ‘objective’ about them. Kannathil.. for example has a title track which to my mind is one of the jewels in the maestro’s oeuvre but I do not find the rest of the album extraordinary by Rahman’s lofty standards. But there are other factors at play (the lyrics of Vellai Pookkal for example) that enhances the experience for many people and this then bleeds into a more ‘objective’ understanding of the album. Let’s take also the example of Iruvar (which I consider Rahman’s most ‘exquisite’ soundtrack, which does not mean ‘the best’). Narmugaiye is again one his great composition. Is anything else as remarkable on the album? Yes, he is limited by the fact that he is also ‘recounting’ Tamil film history and a lot of the song reflect this but every film has such limitations. On the other hand Thiruda Thiruda has Rahman going almost from strength to strength.
But also I think Rahman is never too burdened by history. I don’t believe he starts out thinking that he needs to better every great collaboration with Rathnam.
Finally, it is also equally true that the ways in which Rahman appeared revolutionary when he first appeared on the scene simply cannot be replicated today no matter what he produces. Because the revolution was ‘institutionalized’ a long time ago, his traces survive on so many talents in both Tamil and Hindi cinema. He cannot represent the ‘shock of the new’ the way he once did.
I must make this observation — the Hindi media has certainly given Raavan superlative reviews which surprised me a bit because even as I love the soundtrack I thought it might be a bit of an acquired taste. Yes the Hindi media doesn’t give Rahman poor reviews (this perhaps makes your point) but even by those standards Raavan has been very well reviewed. Really on par with D6 which certainly surprised me.
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Ramesh
May 9, 2010
Satyam,
essence of the long post: iruvar good, KM good Ravan bad? but we already knew that.
re mani-arr, raavan somehow feels like a kamal arr soundtrack.
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Suresh
May 10, 2010
Coming to Baradwaj’s question about non IR tribal songs, here are a couple.
From that great man who has definitely inspired IR, Salil Chowdary, ‘zulmi sang ankh ladi’ from Madhumathi. Head, heart and soul. Salida touched all of them with consummate ease.
The same movie also had the more famous ‘chad gaya papi bichua’.
(Another lovely Bengali number by Salilda. Does this qualify as tribal? I don’t this so. My feeling is that Salilda did his own take of ‘the bear went over the mountain’ in the pallavi part of this song 🙂
The same song with some variations in Hindi
(The Bengali version has a more tribal/ folk feel.)
The Shalimar number Baradwaj mentioned does have the tribal aspects. One more RD number which has the tribal feel is ‘chunri sambal gori’ from ‘Baharon Ke Sapne’:
(The more I think of tribal parts the more I come to Raja, be it the ‘ambum kombum’ song or the songs of ‘bhoomi geethe’.)
A slight digression: What used to pass off as tribal or gypsy songs in olden days were songs like ‘naanga pudhusa kattikita jodi dhanunga’, with a huge half naked Gemini and a huger KR Vijaya as ‘nari kuravan’ and ‘kurthi’ respectively with their trademark ‘Dalda’ dabbas !!! The tribal aspect of the music would be taken care with one exclamation of ‘singi’ or ‘singa’ and everyone was happy!!!
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Suresh
May 11, 2010
… and yes, ‘karigalan’ is guilty pleasure alright. Forget head, forget heart, forget soul. Just enjoy maadi 🙂 I am sure I have already forgotten the song but when it is played you sing along. Like those Rajendra Prasad comedies in Telugu we used to watch and forget as soon as we stepped out of the theatre !!! But it was fun while watching. Not every creation need to be a classic.
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NullPointer
May 11, 2010
Behne De vs. Usure Pogudhey -Gulzar’s lyrics worked better(more intense and expressive maybe?) for me compared to the “maamman thee kuchi” whatever in Tamil.
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Aditya Pant
May 11, 2010
While we’re talking of tribal songs, my all time favourite is the rare Suraiya-Lata duet from Shokhiyan (1951), composed by Jamal Sen
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APALA
May 12, 2010
Ramesh,
Saying Ravan mucis was bad is onething……….
But saying that it sounds like Kamal-ARR combo is hitting below the belt – on Kamal! Kamal really never worked with ARR (except for Marmayogi – which is deeeelllllaaayyyeeeddddd now!), though ARR scored music for couple of his movies – they were more the handiwork of Shankar and Ravikumar. So that comparison is invalid.
BTW, the soundtrack in Tamil really sucked with some poor lyrics from Kaviyarasu! Did not expect that at all!! I really like Vairamuththu and was expecting some wonderful lyrics as he used to do with Mani-ARR combo but he really disappointed me (kedakkari – really?!!!).
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Sumita
May 12, 2010
BR,
First and foremost, thank you for writing this review. A friend of mine introduced me to your work and it’s been great reading through the pieces (amazing study breaks too!).
And secondly, I completely sympathize with the hullabaloo over the “review” aspect of the article. I wrote a review of VTV’s music for a student magazine that I help edit, and the comments were absolutely incredible. You’re right, it’s really not possible to pass judgement on Rahman and music directors of his caliber, and I understand what you meant by airing your opinions in order to generate discussion.
I also “reviewed” Raavan (http://nazaronline.net/arts/2010/04/raavan-initial-impressions/) and I’ve had several highly interesting discussions with friends who’ve heard both the Hindi and Tamil versions of the music. To me, most of the Tamil music didn’t match up to their Hindi counterparts (e.g. Kedakkari I thought was terrible, although I am now obsessed with Usure Poguthe). But others prefer the Tamil versions. What did you think?
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ramesh
May 12, 2010
apala
i meant films amal acted in, such as indian and thenali apologies.
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ramesh
May 12, 2010
sumita,
south asian? really? who even calls themselves that any more…except state department lotus eater types that dream of an independant kashmir and rolling back india’s neuclear program…
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Naveen
June 3, 2010
Another “tribal” song from IR, in a telugu movie Nireekshana – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_1zTwEX16I
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