After nearly 20 years in the business, is the Mozart of Madras likely to be concerned by the reactions to ‘SuperHeavy’ and ‘Rockstar’? We think not.
The latter days of September were an important time for AR Rahman. No, scratch that. They would have been an important time for AR Rahman had he not been ushered into cinema, nearly twenty years go, with a gilt-edged invitation from one of our most celebrated filmmakers; had he not won a National Award for that stratospherically successful score; had he not, like no film composer before or since, straddled the chasm that cleaved the musical ethos of the northern and southern halves of the country; had he not gone on to sell millions upon millions of albums; had he not ventured outside Indian cinema and scored for international theatrical productions and Hollywood films and come away clutching Grammies and Oscars; had he not become the musician sought out to add a splash of showmanship to somber occasions like White House state dinners and Nobel Peace Prize concerts.
Had that AR Rahman existed – in a parallel dimension, alongside a swarthy struggler named Rajinikanth and an economic underachiever named China – he might have been found mopping a clammy forehead in a darkened corner, awaiting the world’s verdict on two fiercely anticipated albums. The first, named SuperHeavy, reached US stores (or should we say, today, “became available for download”?) on September 20; the second, the soundtrack for Imtiaz Ali’s Rockstar, arrived ten days later. That AR Rahman, the parallel-dimension AR Rahman, would have withered under the coolly unsparing assessment, by international publications, of the eponymous first album of the group where he breathes rarefied air alongside Mick Jagger, Joss Stone, Damian Marley and Dave Stewart. The New York Times labelled him a purveyor of “goopy synthesizer passages.” Rolling Stone appraised his function in the supergroup with the vaguest of generalisations, as someone “adding Bollywood flair.” They might just as well have called him the token Third World presence.
The real Rahman, I suspect, is emphatically unconcerned – about the initial reactions to SuperHeavy, about the furiously multiplied expectations from Rockstar that no earthly album can possibly fulfill (though early raves from fans suggest that the portals to heaven have been breached), and about what the month of September means to his career. This lack of concern is partly a function of the Sufi-Zen calm that the composer wears like a second skin. But it is also a fact that his career has been – and continues to be, like no one else’s – strikingly impervious to hits and flops and how we complain about the music when it comes out and how we sigh, time and again, that he’s lost his magic. It appears that in his case – and only his case – we have united in a countrywide pact to look forward, to the ways he can delight us, and not backward, on the ways he’s disappointed us. This has never happened before with an Indian composer.
There are, of course, conspicuous exceptions, but the story of the Indian film composer generally follows a hidebound script. He struggles during a period no one knows his name. He delivers that first hit and finds everyone smiling unctuously at his doorstep. The years in between, the years of crushing anonymity, have created a vacuum inside and he strives to fill this emptiness, this loss of a sense of self and security, by signing every offer that comes his way. He sticks to the industry that finally opened its doors upon his persistent knocking and shone a spotlight on him, and even if he strays outside for the odd collaboration he returns to his roots. He rarely steps across languages and styles and genres because he knows what his producers want and what his listeners want and what will vault his songs to the top of the charts, and whenever he chafes, inwardly, about being typecast, he remembers a past filled with struggle and a present glutted with comforts. He is like the Indians of the pre-liberalisation era, who were grateful for opportunities and knew that boats weren’t meant to be rocked and taught themselves to be happy with what they got.
Rahman, on the other hand, is like the global Indian who emulates American kids finishing school and taking a year off to backpack around Europe while pondering upon what they want to do in life, or middle-aged parents who forsake successful careers and enroll in college to pursue long-cherished degrees alongside friends of their mortified children. Rahman’s choices – the music he creates, the people he collaborates with, the projects he chooses – reflect not the steady reassurance of the done thing, the viable thing for long-term survival, but the adrenalised excitement of what he really wants to do at that instant. That’s perhaps what we respect, what we respond to and look forward to, and that’s perhaps why we never give up on him, because he marches to the beat of his own drummer and we wish we could do the same in our lives and be rewarded with the same successes. With other musicians, we feel we have the upper hand. We can bestow on their works pleasure or supercilious disdain and we can change, on a capricious dime, the course of their careers. But with Rahman, we have trained ourselves to be indulgent, even if we suspect that he is never going to give us an album that we take to instantly, and even if we fear that we are going to rush out in droves to purchase our copies of Rockstar only to register the initial response of bemusement.
That, after all, is how we reacted to Jhootha Hi Sahi, Rahman’s last soundtrack, which was released almost exactly a year ago, in the September of 2010. In the interim – after repeated listens, after patient hours and months devoted to chiseling away at its impenetrability – it has neither spawned belated hit singles nor has it ripened into a connoisseur’s cult item. But that hasn’t impacted a whit the frenzied expectations for Rockstar, which has just been released as of this writing. Will it rocket to instant immortality, like the sublime soundtrack for Delhi-6? Will it fail to take off, like Jhootha Hi Sahi? Will it hover in between, like an anxious aircraft circling the skies awaiting permission to land? It doesn’t matter. We will soon begin speculations about what lies ahead of Rockstar, which is why these latter days of September were of scant concern to AR Rahman.
An edited version of this piece can be found here.
Copyright ©2011 Biblio. This article may not be reproduced in its entirety without permission. A link to this URL, instead, would be appreciated.
Arvind
October 8, 2011
Hi BR- As usual brilliantly written…you write like a ARR song…don’t know what to expect next !What’s your view on “Rockstar” the album per se?
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Priya
October 8, 2011
///”Rahman’s choices…reflect not the steady reassurance of the done thing, the viable thing for long-term survival, but the adrenalised excitement of what he really wants to do at that instant. ”
“…. he marches to the beat of his own drummer and we wish we could do the same in our lives and be rewarded with the same successes.”///
So true and how beautifully you’ve put it!! I guess that’s why Rahman is my Hero along with so many people who’ve gone ahead and followed their hearts. I’m sure Rahaman will continue to be my hero irrespective of anything.
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rameshram
October 8, 2011
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sureshkumar
October 8, 2011
Also, the incredible “Cairo to India” composed by A.R.Rahman for the album “Rock the Tabla” ( Hossam Ramzy)
You listen to the piece here http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_10216873
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Shankar
October 9, 2011
Dei, rombha general, da!! Almost felt like you were compelled to write something about ARR because it had been a while….
Anyways, I’m sure you have the right reasons to feel motivated to write about something, I was just voicing my thoughts 🙂
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sachita
October 9, 2011
Every music director has ups and downs – one odd album did not break their career – series of bad ones did.
Personally, he is also at a different space, I suppose.
This is what the man has to say recently in an interview.
“What about the talk in the industry that ‘Rahman is back’ with Rockstar after a rough patch? The legend shrugs and smiles, “I don’t mind what anybody is saying. As long as I am occupied, feel creatively challenged and have fun, it is all good. This year has been really good. I haven’t been pushed to the core, I had my space and I even did a scriptwriting course from UCLA.
I have got it all – the Grammies, Oscars. I have done all this for 20 years. Now let me enjoy the process without the pressures. Every day should be a bonus for me.”
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Harish S Ram
October 9, 2011
it has been hard for me to swallow that ‘jhoota hi sahi’ album didnt do well. oh well maybe i buy into anythin Rahman offers from his heart 😀
But as a practical person i think its got to be the movie’s reach that pushes the music further. Yes ‘delhi 6’ didnt do well but everyone spoke a lot abt it – it got the reach that ‘JHS’ didnt get coz the movie was a damn squib. So its inevitable that ‘Rockstar’ will reach out big time.
Speaking of ‘Super heavy’ rnt d theme n idea on the lines of ‘jai ho’ – so the comments aren’t outlandish 🙂
but do we care abt all these aspects? his music has always been on an one-on-one relationship with us – teasing us, testing us, engulfing us. it really doesnt matter for us as well, like i said in my blog – http://bit.ly/q0zx4O
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sureshs65
October 9, 2011
Baradwaj,
I was surprised when I read this article. I wasn’t thinking you would impose your own romantic notions on Rahman. The notion of an artist as an impulsive creature, not caring for applause and following the diktats of his heart and probably art. This has nothing to do with what is really happening on the ground. Hence my surprise.
Watching Rahman grow in the music field I am as much amazed by the way he changed the Indian film music as I am by his impeccable business sense. Unlike his famous predecessors down South and North, Rahman did not take the business of business lightly. Every step was measured one with a clear goal in mind. The first North bound movement and then the West bound movement were well thought of and wonderfully executed.
I must applaud him and team for building such a brand that when you just announced that the CDs will be available soon, the album skyrockets to the first place. His team has assiduously built his image and taken steps to maximize the value of the brand Rahman. It is just not about the money, it is a lot more. It is about connections, networking and the works. Whether it be the multiple stage shows that were done, the multiple state anthems that were composed, the jingles that were composed, the collaboration with Super Heavy, everything has a clear agenda and is a part of a larger goal. I will definitely appreciate Rahman and his team for their clear vision and purpose. So I do not buy your ‘everything he does he does from his heart’. As I said that is probably a romantic notion you hold. I haven’t see any such collaboration from Rahman where you can say that though it may not have been good for him, he still did it because he listened to his heart. If you have any examples, I am ready to listen.
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bran1gan
October 9, 2011
suresh65: When you talk about ground reality, I’m not sure things like an artist’s career can be looked at that way — because only the artist knows why he did the things that he did. Besides, a lot of things just happened to Rahman — eg. Andrew Lloyd Webber happened to catch Dil Se and was mesmerised by Chaiyya Chaiyya and hence Broadway happened. I don’t know that Rahman was even thinking of Broadway or Hollywood. You can have a great head for business but you still need the opportunities and the risk-taking ability to say “yes, even though this will cost me a few Indian films and even though I may not have a market by the time I return and even though someone else may be number one, I am going to pursue this Hollywood opportunity (or whatever).”
So even your claims about his whole career being this planned military maneuver (which are entirely possible/plausible in the “theoretical” sense; that might have very well been the case), cannot be proved as Hard Fact. That is your theory. This is mine. And the only thing a long-time Rahman-watcher like me can do is to hypothesise, at various points of his career, what led to where he is and what he is doing. (And this is the music director I’ve been asked to write about the most because ever since I became a writer, he has been at the forefront of the Indian film music scene.)
This article came about because I noted two things in late September — (1) the SuperHeavy reactions and (2) the Rockstar expectations. I have never seen this kind of frenzy for an artist who is going to complete 20 years and who is still a monster commercial force to reckon with. So this article (in a sense) isn’t about his music at all. It’s about why we continue to be intrigued by this man (and why reactions to his albums don’t seem to matter to him at all).
About the “romantic” notion — again, this is an opinion piece and not a hard-fact essay. I don’t know if I’ve called him “impulsive” — merely that he’s taken a lot of risks in his career from the film-industry-longevity point of view. There was no guarantee that he would conquer Hindi. That he would do these successful Broadway/Hollywood things. He could just as easily have stayed in Tamil and become a very successful musician. He didn’t — and my theory (call it “romantic” if you want) is that we respect him because of that. Because he rocked the boat at every stage.
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Harish S Ram
October 9, 2011
couples retreat 🙂
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rameshram
October 9, 2011
” I even did a scriptwriting course from UCLA.”
now he’s going to claim mughal e azam’s script is his?(after giving credit on the sleeve, of course)
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rameshram
October 9, 2011
To this piece,
I guess brannigan is also operating under the sound principle that all publicity is good publicity.
Mick JAgger is a Has been, Andrew Lloyd weber is a has been . The pussy cat dolls is a never were and Apache Indian is an unknown still.
ARR’s collaborations with other internationals are even more obscure. One with the guy that made warriors of heaven and earth, a couple with deepa mehta.
That leaves us with Slumdog, which was what Hollywood used to spoil the market for Bollywood in the west (Imagine where bollywood was before slumdog and look at where it is now!) ARR can be credited with being the instrument of mass bollywood destruction by the west, and his two oscars are proof of this.
The thing is Bollywood is So stupid it doesn’t even knows it has been disassembled by the expert manipulators in H land.
Rahman knows.
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Jahanzeb Tippu
October 9, 2011
Nice article.
> we have united in a countrywide pact to look forward, to the ways he can delight us, and not backward, on the ways he’s disappointed us. This has never happened before with an Indian composer.
Maybe it’s because he actually never disappointed us? There’s always been delight in his work, no matter how hidden or instantly apparent.
Anyway absolutely loving both SuperHeavy and Rockstar. Especially the latter I consider one of his finest works to date. Vintage Rahman.
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rameshram
October 9, 2011
“Anyways, I’m sure you have the right reasons to feel motivated to write about something, ”
I think his motivations are this: http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/tamil/article/71709.html
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bran1gan
October 9, 2011
rameshram: “The thing is Bollywood is So stupid it doesn’t even knows it has been disassembled by the expert manipulators in H land.”
Surely you don’t believe this! Are you saying that had Slumdog Millionaire not happened, Bollywood would have gone wide? I cannot see this at all. Even the Chinese martial arts wave (the one predicted after Crouching Tiger) never really happened.
I think Bollywood has been stupid *inside* India — not outside — by taking this long to figure out that there is an audience still for the mass-market masala movie. To me, that’s the big duh! But outside India, Bollywood was, is and will always be a marginal presence in the non-diaspora market. And the few foreigners who do see Bollywood films see it as “oh what kitschy fun” — not as anything else. (I get this feeling from the reviews of BW films in NYT and other publications.)
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sureshs65
October 9, 2011
Baradwaj,
“Rahman’s choices reflect not the steady reassurance of the done thing, the viable thing for long-term survival, but the adrenalised excitement of what he really wants to do at that instant.”
This is what I am calling a romantic notion and “that instant” stuff is what I am countering. I believe Rahman and his team believed their long time survival lies in expanding far beyond the Tamil films. Yes, there was a definite risk associated with it but it had its own rewards. When you are actively looking out to expand your borders, you get lucky. It is not about how the first break came but how were the subsequent things dealt with that give us an idea of the artists thinking. Rahman, once he got his break in Hindi, made many good choices in terms of films and directors. He gave some excellent scores thereby establishing himself well in Hindi. Similarly in Hollywood he has been trying to get out of the ‘Indian composer’ image very proactively. One reason why he choose a film like “Couples Retreat” (‘127 hrs’ was not in the horizon those days.) Similarly for a wider audience acceptance in West he collaborated with people like Mick Jagger. Contrary to your thinking, I think Rahman and team would be definitely analyzing the failure of ‘Super Heavy’ and charting out their next move in Hollywood.
Maybe I am being too MBAish in my analysis here but I believe to understand the Rahman makes you also have to understand the business side of his as much as you have to understand the artist in him.
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sureshs65
October 9, 2011
That should read “choices Rahman makes” towards the end.
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rameshram
October 9, 2011
” Are you saying that had Slumdog Millionaire not happened, Bollywood would have gone wide?”
No Im saying that prior to Slumdog, Bollywood was doing what a good business should do- build a customer focus. The audience was growing for bollywood films and they were a brand.
now bollywood has become “boring” mostly because , instead of intrigueing them, the audience thinks bollywood films are the same old ….
Bollywood’s stupid is not in how it makes its films or its creative choices. it is , like all india, rot at the top. every bollywood production house and their mother were selling out to the studio system that only cared about stopping them from building an audience in the US.
fucking idiots.
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rameshram
October 9, 2011
“And the few foreigners who do see Bollywood films see it as “oh what kitschy fun” — not as anything else. (I get this feeling from the reviews of BW films in NYT and other publications.)”
and you have been misinformed by the echochamber as usual.
NOONE watches foreign movies in the US..it is a fringe passtime reserved for university types. yet, bollywood was growing at an unimaginable 3-5 million from 40-50 screens for major releases. Imagine that 5 million us dollars from 40 screens. that’s bigger than just a desi audience. (it is). You have no idea the number of places (arkansas, vermont, St Louis) I have seen people interested in Bollywood. BY drinking thae cool aid that “bollywood is a fringe presence in the US” you are just being a useful idiot in the manipulation.
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rameshram
October 9, 2011
It’s too late now. Im not helping ambani build a bollywood audience.
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Tambi Dude
October 9, 2011
I felt all songs of Rockstart sounded the same. Easily one of the most mediocre albums of ARR
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Gradwolf
October 9, 2011
This comment space not disappointing. *start meesik*
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Gradwolf
October 9, 2011
All ok, but adhu enna “Rahman and team”? Who is/are the IIM/Harvard/Kellog fellows doing this consulting en al?
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rameshram
October 9, 2011
” but adhu enna “Rahman and team”?”
he means the bharatbala ganapathy mafia (not IIM/Kellog, UCLA/USC.)
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sureshs65
October 9, 2011
Grad,
I personally do not know who is doing his consulting but I do believe that whoever are part of his team, (his manager / friend / agent) they are doing a great job. I assume Rahman is not doing everything in this front on his own. If he is, then I am obviously wrong but my belief is he has a team working with him on this.
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KayKay
October 9, 2011
Jhoota Hi Sahi….”after repeated listens, after patient hours and months devoted to chiseling away at its impenetrability – it has neither spawned belated hit singles nor has it ripened into a connoisseur’s cult item.”
Pity…it’s a lovely soundtrack. The indifference in which it was greeted meant even this sublime track by Sonu slipped under the radar:
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KayKay
October 9, 2011
As for Rockstar, am still undecided on the album as a whole. But Kun Faaya Kun and this Mohit gem have drilled their way into my cranium and stapled itself to my brain cells:
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Venkatesh
October 9, 2011
Ramesh Ram : “yet, bollywood was growing at an unimaginable 3-5 million from 40-50 screens for major releases. Imagine that 5 million us dollars from 40 screens. that’s bigger than just a desi audience. (it is). You have no idea the number of places (arkansas, vermont, St Louis)” – Citations needed.
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Pradip Patil
October 9, 2011
Hey bran1gan, Didn’t you write an article about Raavan’s music when it was launched? Or is it my memory playing games with me? And if you did write it then when are you going to write on Rockstar?
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Prash
October 9, 2011
Lovely article . And I can’t stop myself from posting the link to this youtube vid of ARR’s interview in Surabhi , when the music of Roja was released and he was kind of “discovered” . Weird coincidence . I read this piece today and I found that vid when randomly going through some old Indian commercial videos .
And definitely listen to the last line the narrator says . Pretty much what you have said in this article . So , I guess almost 20 years down the line , nothing’s changed about our opinions of him .
( I wanted to embed the video but not sure how I can do that 😦 )
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Anu Warrier
October 10, 2011
Rangan, there is a huge, not enormous but huge market for Hindi films amongst Americans today, and while some of them view it as kitsch, most of them genuinely love our entertainers for what they are. Reviewers, not so much, but there are *many* Americans who come to the theatres and pay good money to watch our films. 3 Idiots, for instance, ran for 5 weeks to packed houses in a mainstream Regal Cinemas in our town. When we went to see it in the third week, the hall was half full of Americans. Monsoon Wedding, Bend it like Beckham etc., were both well-received by the viewing public here. Go into the blogosphere and you will see many blogs about Hindi films written by (white) Americans. memsaabstory at wordpress and PPCC come to mind.
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rameshram
October 10, 2011
@kay kay, uwwwaaaaaiiii
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rameshram
October 10, 2011
white bloggers are a joke, but they sometimes pay money to see indian films which is nice.
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sureshs65
October 10, 2011
“I have never seen this kind of frenzy for an artist who is going to complete 20 years and who is still a monster commercial force to reckon with”
I would have fully agreed with you had you said music director. Since you said artist, I think this is not surprising given that even after 30 yrs, Rajni and Chiranjeevi are still monster commercial forces and you would know more about the frenzy associated with their release. Rajni understood what it means to be exclusive and what it means to be selective. It ensures longevity and also fuels curiosity. Amitabh didn’t realize this at the peak of career and so he is no longer the commercial force he could hae been in films.
So, I am not too surprised about Rahman being a commercial force 20 yrs, because he has planned his career well. We have perfected the art of idol worship and once you establish yourself as a star you will not be removed from that pedestal so easily. (Unfortunately doesn’t apply for heroines yet!!) Just witness the expectations of Illayadalapathi Vijay film even after consecutive flops!!
Earlier such frenzy was devoted only to the film actors. It is to the credit of Sachin Tendulakar first and Rahman later, that they got this frenzy and fandom into their respective fields.
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aviayurved
October 10, 2011
Hey BR, whattey an article! hats off man!
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Mahesh Sethuraman
October 10, 2011
Baradwaj,
Thanks for yet another wonderful piece on Rahman. In fact you can publish a book by compiling all your pieces on Rahman. Such a joy to read.
Hi Suresh,
You seem to be mixing two different things here – that he cares about the business aspect as much as the music that he produces is fine. But that doesn’t necessarily lead us to deduce that his music is dictated by the commercial interests. That we should judge purely based on his body of work, and I completely agree with BR on that.
He might have expanded to Bollywood or Hollywood with the business interest in mind but the choice of his music was never dictated by that. There’s is nothing wrong in producing what you do and try & reach out to as many people as you can – it’s no compromise, in fact it’s important.
Each of those moves came with a huge risk – in fact Roja is one of the biggest gambles of his life, leave aside Rangeela and Slumdog. Now, what prompts a guy to take that risk, when his future is perfectly secure in his current habitat? Also it’s not like others didn’t do it – just that they didn’t succeed. So every composer/artist would always want to expand his reach – it’s common sense. Some people are successful and some are not – to attribute that to just the way the business side of things have been managed is missing the point by some distance.
Assume that some other composer also got the break in Bollywood and the first album happens to be a smashing success. Now if they wisely choose the right combination of producers/directors/actors, would they turn out to be as successful as Rahman? Is it so easy to explain his success? Where does the appeal of his music figure in your explanation of his success?
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Kumar
October 10, 2011
“But that hasn’t impacted a whit the frenzied expectations for Rockstar, which has just been released as of this writing.”
As this is Rahman’s first Hindi album after almost one year, the expectations for Rockstar will be high regardless of whether his previous album (Jhootha Hi Sahi) was a success or failure. I agree. But this is true for all famous artists, not only Rahman. Supposing a Mani Ratnam film is going to release next year, expectations are bound to be high regardless of whether Raavan was a hit or flop. The reason being TIME. Had Rahman got the opportunity to release few more albums in this time gap, I doubt whether there would have been so much expectation from Rockstar.
I particularly remember that, when I first heard Delhi 6’s soundtrack had been released I never really got excited as opposed to when I heard Rockstar’s soundtrack had been released. The reason for the former case being that, at that time there were already 4 to 5 of his release’s not long before that.
P.S: Just out of curiosity, I would like to know if you are satisfied with this piece of yours. While reading this, I always had the feeling that you were forcing yourself to do something different from all the Rahman pieces you had previously did. Was the idea behind this article there with you for quite sometime or did it occur when your Editor told you to do a piece on Rahman?
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bran1gan
October 10, 2011
suresh65: It seems to me that you are determined to hold me accountable for every word 🙂 Yes, I did mean musicians and not artists in general.
Pradip Patil: Here’s the Raavan music piece.
Kumar: No one is 100% happy with what they write but yes, this past month I’ve been reasonably happy with my output.
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bigbala
October 10, 2011
I loved the “Jhootha Hi Sahi” soundtrack.Call me dil and hello hello esp. okthnxbhai.
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Vijay
October 11, 2011
Now that the token Rahman article is out of the way when is the mandatory Gautam Menon interview coming up? 🙂
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Vijet
October 13, 2011
I’d like to add 2 small points to your argument –
1. Rahman didn’t collaborate with Mick Jagger himself. He in fact didn’t even know Jagger before Super Heavy. It was Dave Stewart who had met him during one of his recordings in LA that suggested Jagger to rope in Rahman for his band. So, it wasn’t planned like u think. It was just by chance that Rahman was asked to be a part of the group. So ur theory that it was a planned move by Rahman and his team (Frankly his team doesn’t decide which movie/collaboration he should do. Rahman decides it himself. Producers talk to Rahman himself not to his team.)
2. About Rahman trying to get out of his ‘Indian composer’ image, it’s utterly wrong. Rahman has always called himself an Indian composer and will always continue to do so. In couple’s retreat he had a tamil song, a sanskrit shloka and lot of Indian sounds. Why’d he do that if he wanted to get out of his ‘Indian composer’ image? Superheavy has 2 songs in Hindi as well. I don’t understand why u think he wants to build any sort of image in Hollywood. Frankly speaking, Rahman is like a sufi saint (Though it might seem far fetched to people like u who just think about business) who does what he thinks is good. Btw, he does think of his image in the society, that being a good person. When Superheavy happened, he said, if they r composing songs on devil/satan, then he’d not be a part of it. He said this in an interview. Rahman is driven by a set of principles he believes in and that is what has made him successful, yet humble after achieving so much success.
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rameshram
October 13, 2011
“Frankly speaking, Rahman is like a sufi saint”
Bwahahahahahaha!!!!
and I’m the duke of Edinburgh!
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Vijet
October 13, 2011
Well, agreed that Rajini and Chiranjeevi create the same frenzy among fans but the point to be noted here are they create such a frenzy only their own states (or may neighboring ones). But Rahman frenzy is at a national level, in fact international now. That’s something unique about Rahman who has bridged the gap between the north and south, east and west through his mesmerizing music. I don’t see anyone else in India apart from another great, Sachin Tendulkar who can create such a frenzy at national level.
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rameshram
October 13, 2011
Rahman is more like an aswhamedha horse for BOTH sides. (after he wanders the world, he will be sacrificed and the pattathu mahishi will ..uh..absorb his essence. 😉 )
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sachita
October 13, 2011
Where are these places where you see americans – rather non-indians thronging nay just even few of them coming to Indian cinema?
I live in west coast currently and previously lived in mid-west – I have never seen a single non-desi for an Indian movie. And the AMC plays indian cinemas in the city I live in. but the audience is always always just desi.
I have had a couple of chinese origin colleague learn bollywood dancing .. Bollywood dancing is more popular! But I have never seen them express interest in movies.
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Vijet
October 13, 2011
Hello Duke of Edinburgh! 😀
As I said, it might be hard to digest the fact that Rahman is a like a saint for many people. What I meant by being a saint is not that he is a real saint. I meant he has all the qualities of one. Well, he hasn’t renounced the world yet. That’s the only difference I could find… 😀
Anyways, my claims are backed by none other than Rajini sir himself. He had put it beautifully in his speech which u can read below.
http://entertainment.oneindia.in/tamil/news/2010/rajini-rahman-endhiran-020810.html
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Vijet
October 13, 2011
Here’s what Rajini once said about Rahman –
Talking about A.R. Rahman, the superstar said, “For me Rahman is a real yogi. There are three important aspects that differentiate a normal man from a yogi. A true yogi has no ego. He is one who follows the path of love. Above all, he surrenders himself unto God by putting Him before all else – success, power, money. Considering these things, AR Rahman is a yogi. He has all these three qualities that spiritual gurus say make a yogi. He’s a proof that you don’t have to go to the Himalayas to find yogis. We, Tamils are very proud to have such a personality at our time!”
You are totally welcome to disagree but I just wanted to tell u that there’s nothing hilarious in what I said since it’s backed by other people as well. You could have called it a publicity stunt if it had been told by some other actor but coming from a person like Rajinikanth, I believe he doesn’t need any publicity stunts like these to make his film run… 🙂
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apala
October 13, 2011
Vijet-ண்ணா,
ரஜினி-சாரே சொல்லிட்டார்னா, சரியாதாங்க-ண்ணா இருக்கும்! ஏன்னா, அவர் 2000 வருஷமா வாழற யோகி-யா பார்த்தவருங்க–ண்ணா!!!
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apala
October 13, 2011
நாராயணா, இவனுங்க தொல்லை (ARR haters , I mean!) தாங்கமுடியலை-டா!!!! 🙂
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rameshram
October 13, 2011
Yeah between rajini(Aishwarya’s appa) and ARR they are a regular band of saamyars populating chennai.
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rameshram
October 13, 2011
Sachita,
I could tell you but then I would have to kill you. ;D
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Vijet
October 14, 2011
@apala
I don’t understand tamil. Could u translate it for me? 😀
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rameshram
October 14, 2011
“நாராயணா, இவனுங்க தொல்லை (ARR haters , I mean!) தாங்கமுடியலை-டா!!!! ”
he he he he poda fool ithu ARR hate ille da , Tamil film song love.
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rameshram
October 14, 2011
“A true yogi has no ego.”
hehehehe
“He is one who follows the path of love.”
HAHAHAHAHA
” Above all, he surrenders himself unto God by putting Him before all else – success, power, money. ”
roll on the floor slap my things and laugh!!!!!
Yarru? ARRa?
HAHAHAHAHAHA
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rameshram
October 15, 2011
yoga is when some one born a mudaliar, for some reason gets it into his head that he has to replicate the knowledge base of a whole brahmin establishment and get an “____ oru medhai” from Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, who at that time, was (along with the subsequently discredited saint of kanchi) touted the pinnacle of brahmin achievement( in music). That is yoga.
Its yoga when you take the best of carnatic pralayam and sruti bedam and translate it to something a beggar’s charecter would sing , completely credibly.
It’s not yoga when you alanjufy for aascars and run after has been rock personalities…or do forgettable comedies like couples retreat. That’s just like people going to the gulf because a fitter in dubai gets paid more money.
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KayKay
October 15, 2011
“yoga is when some one born a mudaliar, for some reason gets it into his head that he has to replicate the knowledge base of a whole brahmin establishment and get an “____ oru medhai” from Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, who at that time, was (along with the subsequently discredited saint of kanchi) touted the pinnacle of brahmin achievement( in music). That is yoga.”
……….”Its yoga when you take the best of carnatic pralayam and sruti bedam and translate it to something a beggar’s charecter would sing , completely credibly.”
Dei Ramsu, your above 2 points would have been brilliant had it not gone into the service of an argument trying to convince us that Raja and not Rahman is the true yogi.
Yogi avadhu, bogi avadhu. This is all due to the effects of unadulterated genius, whose dilligent application resulted in one man changing and defining the landscape of Tamil cine music for 2 decades. The only yoga here was the fantastic contortions taking place inside Raja’s head when he came up with his gems. (on another note, yogis are supposed to be calm, no? Check out some interviews Raja gave recently, and try figuring out why a yoga practicioner looks and sounds so pissed off half the time, like he’s gonna rip the face off the next journalist mo-fo who asks him a question)
I sustained fractures to my forehead falling of the chair laughing when I heard the point about Rahman being a Yogi (Naaaaansense!!) but why do you believe it was ARR alanjufying for awards or albums with foreign artistes? Could it be they heard his music and sought him out? Or that an Academy long accused of making safe, antiseptic choices actually thought to vary the mix by NOT handing the Oscar to one of the usual suspects (Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard, Thomas Newman, James Horner, John Williams etc?)
Linking composing genius to yoga is about as ludicrous as mistaking a Zen-like facade for it.
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rameshram
October 15, 2011
“but why do you believe it was ARR alanjufying for awards or albums with foreign artistes? Could it be they heard his music and sought him out?”
cuz I know some of this stuff. Except Andrew Lloyd weber, it was pretty much all ARR pushing his agents. “I have two aascars where are my hollywood films”
BUt all aside, Illayaraja is a yogi. heard of vishwamirtra? he was a pretty angry rishi…
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Gradwolf
October 15, 2011
@RameshRam: To quote from Saroja – “semma comedy saar neenga!”
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rameshram
October 16, 2011
“Dei Ramsu, your above 2 points would have been brilliant had it not gone into the service of an argument ”
Not that you are in any way qualified to asses the “brilliance” of my arguments, of course….or to call me ramsu… 😉 (you gotta be at least illayaraja …or at a par, like chandrashekar…or like Ramanujan to be able to do so, credibly, but a cat can look at the queen, I guess)…
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Utkal Mohanty
October 16, 2011
Suresh65:L Yes, there was a definite risk associated with it but it had its own rewards.
Obviously. Only a fool would take risks with no rewards. And no one is saying Rahman is a fool. What we are applauding is that , He takes risks. Far more risks than any other contemporary Indian artist.
If reaching out to the West after making it in India is such a natural decision, why aren’t Shahrukh or Aamir acting in any Hollywood production so far? It takes guts…a spirit of adventure. That’s what I find so attractive in Rahman.
AS for choices whose commercial benefits are not apparent at all, I can mention films like Meenaxi by Husain or Bose by Benegal. I mean what could he gain by doing Meenaxi except the opportunity to work with someone like Husain and enrich himself?
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rameshram
October 16, 2011
Gradwolf:
is that all you ARR (adhu enna sonner)maniacs have to throw at me 😉
man up! hit me with a stronger punch! hehe
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KayKay
October 16, 2011
“Not that you are in any way qualified to asses the “brilliance” of my arguments, of course….or to call me ramsu… (you gotta be at least illayaraja …or at a par, like chandrashekar…or like Ramanujan to be able to do so, credibly, but a cat can look at the queen, I guess)…”
Bwahahahahahahahahaha….crash! Thud! Ouch! damn, fell off the chair again….
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Rahul
October 16, 2011
+infinity the peeps who are advising AR has to be fired asap..recent years he has committed a commercial harakiri by signing movies with the likes of Ghai,Kathir,Praveen kanth,Sj surjah,kala prabhu and missing out on the likes YRF,Anurag,Farhan. If Mani/Rajini stop making movies I think AR is done in TFM.For his own sake AR needs to come out from his loop of buddy directors and work with newer talents. Ditching Shankar is a good start!.
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KayKay
October 16, 2011
“BUt all aside, Illayaraja is a yogi. heard of vishwamirtra? he was a pretty angry rishi…”
Yeah heard of Vishvamitra. Wanker king wanting a shortcut to Rishi-dom, goes to the forest…Indra sends down a hot babe to tempt him…he fucks her brains out…they have a kid.
Not the yogic example I would have gone for.
But I see the attraction one pompous ass would have for another, Queen Ramsu:-)
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Gradwolf
October 16, 2011
Frankly it is not worth it. This is like Sachin and Dravid. People can’t seem to praise Dravid without bringing down Sachin and vice versa. Similarly every time Rahman is praised, Raaja fans have to bring him into the picture. I rather belong to the school that appreciates both for their respective talent and body of work.
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rameshram
October 16, 2011
If I were an ARR fan I would admit defeat gracefully like that too. 😉
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rameshram
October 16, 2011
dho, talk to mohan here… he’s at your level.
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KayKay
October 16, 2011
“I rather belong to the school that appreciates both for their respective talent and body of work.”
Adhu! Pity that even pseudo-intellectuals with delusions of “Isai Nganam” can’t seem to get a handle on this relatively simpe concept.
You’re taking the right approach of not trying to lead this rabid herd of horses(mules/jackasses) to the water, Wolf Man. Not only will it not drink, but you’re liable to get kicked in the balls for your effort:-)
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rameshram
October 16, 2011
a rabid pseudo intellectual horse with delusions of isai gnanam is going to kick a wolf in the balls?!
whoa!
(can I have what he’s smoking?)
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IMB
October 17, 2011
Rameshram – what a shame that the rest of India and the world failed to see this genius in IR, no?
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rameshram
October 17, 2011
imb,
ok i’ll bite. no its no shame. ilayaraja was responsible over three decades for many tamil telugu malyalam and kannada babies. i think that’s sufficient blessing for a good musician. All ariyakkudi really wanted was the satisfaction of singing to ONE music academy hall full of learned rasikas.
All the pussycat dolls albums sold cannot replace that.
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Mojo
October 17, 2011
some one troll me also! I like rock meesik and I dont like raaja and rahman, both are washte!
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rameshram
October 18, 2011
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Manojh
October 18, 2011
This new format makes tracking comments, esp. the “response” comments difficult 😐 . I have to start all the way from the top everytime and keep checking which comment has been replied to.
Can we switch to the older one as far as the comments are concerned?
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rameshram
October 18, 2011
which song did this fellow win the nobel prize…er…oscar for?!
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sumirti
October 19, 2011
hello BR
V love ARR not only becoz he s an artist who follows his heart but he s a Human in all kind. ****ARR is the only icon who has always had an understanding of the growing youthful aspirations of a Nation and has d vein of youthful ecstacy instilled in all his song (hw cld one love him not after “AAROMALE”?).
****He, although being continuously ranked year after year as an “Influential Person”, “Powerful Person” by popular magazines, jus never show-off unnecessarily and always don a humble smile.
***Even though he s a global Indian now, he has never shown any reluctance in appearing in the KTV or Suntv or watever along side with our sura notorious Vijay. He accepts awards, be it the Oscar or the Vijay Music Awards, in person(n wn CNN interviews him n questions abt d displacement of his Golden Globe boys frm his shelf, he wl jus make a innocent shrug to say,”hm. v relocated our goods sum days b4. they mst b somewh around here”)
***He is a brand to be easily associated with “Indian Patriotism”. That eclectic voice in “Vande Mataram” cld quiver one’s spine wid d sheer passion for mother India.
*** v love him becoz he once said “Call me ARR. Its cool”
*** Above all, he wn d whole world watched him in awe n respect wn he holded d Oscar Stage, he jus raised his head to say it aloud. “Ella Pugalum Iraivanuke” in Tamil.
ARR. I love u. ur to Music wat Sachin is for Cricket.:):)
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IMB
October 20, 2011
Of course! How could one even compare the Pussy cat dools with the great Gnanadesikan. In fact the Webbers, the Desplats and the Newmans would not have stood a chance against the man – if only he made it to their world. I can’t fathom how that was such a Herculean task for a man of this talent – crossing borders surely couldn’t have been an issue. It took Rahman a mediocre Roja and a mediocre Rangeela and a mediocre Bombay and a mediocre Lagaan and …you get what I mean. He just passed the exam with a below average grade but Raja …our straight A student – he failed.
Never could understand why. I can only imagine what Raja’s Oscar speech – that’s enough for me to carry on living.
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rameshram
October 20, 2011
” How could one even compare the Pussy cat dools with the great Gnanadesikan.”
no no you can compare. enge pussy cat doools and enge indhe tuccha neeche tamil cinema composing local dok!
che! 😉
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rameshram
October 20, 2011
pussy cat dolls!
**nods his head, very impressed**
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IMB
October 21, 2011
For the same song the other fellow never got to compose. Oh and probably never will.
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IMB
October 21, 2011
Oh and I am the same too. Didn’t wan’t to go beyond the room of fellow artists who really appreciated my art. Not because my art never appealed to those in the other rooms but because all I wanted was to keep it to that single room – what better satisfaction than sharing your art with only a room full of people, when you can share it with a building full of rooms. Every artist’s dream, I tell you.
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rameshram
October 21, 2011
“Oh and I am the same too. Didn’t wan’t to go beyond the room of fellow artists who really appreciated my art.”
Pussycat dolls! **nods his head, very impressed**
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rameshram
October 21, 2011
” song the other fellow never got to compose”
Looks like “this fellow” never composed it either.
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KayKay
October 21, 2011
“I can only imagine what Raja’s Oscar speech”
Imagine no more…I hereby, in all my munificent magnificence give it to you:
“Ellam Pugazhum Enakke. Took you motherfuckers long enough”
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KayKay
October 21, 2011
“It took Rahman a mediocre Roja (Snort!)
and a mediocre Rangeela (Giggle!) and
a mediocre Bombay (Chuckle!)
and a mediocre Lagaan (Bwahahahahahahaha!!!)”
I’m tempted to retort with something involving donkeys and camphor…but seriously…I’m just gonna go laugh some more…..
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rameshram
October 21, 2011
“Imagine no more…I hereby, in all my munificent magnificence give it to you:
“Ellam Pugazhum Enakke. Took you motherfuckers long enough””
I would LOVE to watch ilayaraja say that! 😀
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rameshram
October 21, 2011
““It took Rahman a mediocre Roja (Snort!)
and a mediocre Rangeela (Giggle!) and
a mediocre Bombay (Chuckle!)
and a mediocre Lagaan (Bwahahahahahahaha!!!)”
I’m tempted to retort with something involving donkeys and camphor…but seriously…I’m just gonna go laugh some more…..”
and ringa ringa! besh besh! do you know HOW difficult it is to rip choli ke peeche kya hai and jana gana mana so WELL?! That, surely deserves an oscar! They should invent an oscar category for “the person that thought of employing such a genius” and give it to everyone- the roja guys, the rangeela guys, the bombay guys, the lagaan guys …. why two rahman will have 16 oscars, and we all can be proud!
Pussy cat doools! **nods his head admiringly**
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IMB
October 22, 2011
You know what they say…it’s not about how you win it…it’s only about winning it. In fact, this fellow never composed anything to be honest – probably came from the west and the mean machine he has in his studio. Wonder why the world never picked up on it. Bunch of losers I tell ya. But the other fellow – come on. Despite composing true genuine gems every time…just really never took off from the baby-making Tamil,Telugu,Kannada and Malayalam world, as you put it. Really really disappointed about that.
P.S: Apparently white grapes are better in wine.Try them over the red ones. It helps.
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IMB
October 22, 2011
And thank yous:
“thanks to no one for this – it was all me all along. You fucking musicians were nothing but a bloody burden all the way which is why I never gave you any credit for my soundtracks and never will.
And those of you who have sung for me – now that you know who the real daddy is – don’t EVER try to change the notes I give to you to sing, ok. Ever. You are robots that sing to the tune I write -improvise? Go to hell! I am the king and almighty.
And my fans – thanks for keeping up my ways. Don’t ever appreciate good music from another talented musician. They are all a bunch of wankers who don’t deserve any appreciation. Diss them at every opportunity you get. Who’s the daddy? ME. Now get lost. “
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Rameshram
October 22, 2011
There comes a time in every Internet conversation when your co conversationist starts to appear increasingly incoherent. This is the time to othungu from the conversation.
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KayKay
October 22, 2011
“do you know HOW difficult it is to rip choli ke peeche kya hai and jana gana mana so WELL?! ”
Che che! Adhu enna ARR-rukku mattum “rip master” Pattam? The man is merely standing on the shoulders of a giant.
Do YOU know how difficult it is to rip this:
into this:
OR to rip this:
into this:
OR , taking an old Ghandasala number from Sandi Raani (Vaan Meethile Inba Then Mari Peyudhe) and make it into a “Cancer” Mohan song Vaa Vennila Unnai Thane Vaanam Theduthe) in Mella Thirantadhu Kadhavu?
ARR is an amateur. Let’s acknowledge the true masters!
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KayKay
October 22, 2011
A true master’s rip:
Take a hit single from a ’70s disco group
And make it into a Sri “Thunder Thighs” Devi song:
Ringa Ringa, my ass!
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rameshram
October 23, 2011
this is one of A R RAhman’s true achievements. I’ll give him that.
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bran1gan
October 23, 2011
KayKay: Thank you for that Sunny clip. Disco gets a very bad rap IMO — I mean, it’s enjoyed in a so-kitsch-it’s-retro-cool sense, but there was a lot of pulse in the music. I love those chunky synth riffs you can practically bite into.
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rameshram
October 23, 2011
First one: don’t see a similarity.
as regards
the second/ third Noone claimed that every one of the 10,000 songs illayaraja made was pristine original sprung from the gnani’s head. Only that a substantial number of the 10,000 were of outstanding genius quality.
wearas….
the 30 songs ARR made totally in his lifetime 😀
about 20 were not even copied, but direct bit sampled cut and paste from other songs.
naama mattum enna kizichutham?
osibisa
http://www.shazam.com/music/web/track?id=50152680
Intha samasaram Oscar kitte sonna enna pannuvar teriyuma?! 😀
(have they ever taken back a nobel prize?!)
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KayKay
October 23, 2011
My pleasure Mr.B. Well, when you grow up with a dad who blared Osibisa and Boney M in a continuous loop in the car during any road trip, there’s simply no way you’re gonna dislodge the gorgeous hooks of a “Sunny”, “Sunshine Day”, “Rasputin” or “Ma Baker” from your head even after the strobe lights of the disco era have faded into a distant memory:-)
The kitch was largely from the trappings that inevitably came to be associated with the music (garish colours, bell-bottoms, afros etc) but the melodies were solid.
Who can blame even an Isai Gnani for appropriating some of those catchy riffs?
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KayKay
October 23, 2011
“the 30 songs ARR made totally in his lifetime
about 20 were not even copied, but direct bit sampled cut and paste from other songs.”
I’m tempted to retort with something involving donkeys and camphor…but seriously…I’m just gonna go laugh some more…..”
Damn, this is getting easy:-)
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Bala
October 23, 2011
@baradwaj : Ok, you can stop changing blog themes. This works for me .Thanks 😀
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rameshram
October 23, 2011
“I’m tempted to retort with something involving donkeys and camphor…but seriously…I’m just gonna go laugh some more…..”
Damn, this is getting easy:-)”
haha Pussy cat doools!! **nods appreciatively!***
Damn, this is getting easy:-)
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Vijet
October 24, 2011
Hey, our fellow won the World soundtrack academy award for 127 hours today. What did ur guy win? A few haters probably. I just read about ur fellow after reading all ur comments. I must admit ur fellow is quite unique. He even took a dig at our fellow by commenting about our fellow’s famous lines “All praise goes to the Lord”… I bet u know that. He won quite a few haters there too… 😀
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Vijet
October 24, 2011
And btw, if u say the above video is one of Rahman’s true achievements, are there unreal, fake achievements as well… Quite interesting I must say… How many true/fake achievements does your fellow have? You know who I’m talking about right? :p
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Nimmi Rangswamy
October 24, 2011
Thanks for sharing. Great fun never mind the audacious Tamil speak.
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Vijet
October 24, 2011
Ha ha… Great reply. Loved the sarcasm! Our Rameshram boy seems to have run out of arguments. And how ironical is that his reply explains his own situation… 😀
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Vijet
October 24, 2011
Have u heard of this composition called Mausam and Escape for which our fellow won the Nobel, I mean Oscar…
Incidentally, our fellow presented this composition at the Nobel award ceremony last year. U were not totally wrong after all. Our fellow is connected to the Nobel award in some way… 😀
Watch this – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20Iuo2n-MQw
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rameshram
October 24, 2011
haha, there comes a time when a poster starts getting personal and name calling the OTHER poster because whatever he hears seems to HURT so much! at this time it it time for the hurting poster to take a walk away from the hkeyboard before he explodes completely in unresolved rage.
😉
I thought we were discussing music, not marketing. if I compose one piece and play the same piece everywhere, Olympics, Oscars, US presidential party, North korea…etc, The credit goes to my agent. as a musician I just ripped off choli ke peeche kya hai and Jana gana mana…
(this is getting boring. get a job ..or find a protest rally to attend or something…by the way, why hasn’t rahman shown up at the occupy wall street protests playing the slumdog millionaire theme? isn’t that his usual style?
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rameshram
October 24, 2011
your fellow won oscar nominations for couples retreat, we know how those things are um…”set up”… 😀
“are there unreal, fake achievements as well?”
yeah . the man;’s career is full of “unreal/fake” achievements. One day, when there is an article about the isai gnani(the genius, peace be unto him, I kiss his robe, I kiss his robe, I am not worthy I am not worthy 😀 ) I shall consider myself lucky to enumerate his achievements. Im not arguing with arbitrary people about the genius.Lets stick to talking about the fake(rahman).
😀
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Vijet
October 24, 2011
My dear brother, why are you feigning ignorance? Let me tell u the truth about one song which you have been always talking about. Your obsession with choli ke peeche dazzles me ( I can see the pervert in u… LOL!)
Do u know that the singer who sang Choli ke peeche and Ring ring ringa are the same? Ila Arun is her name, if you don’t know. Coming to the point, do you think any singer would want to sing a song that has been copied? Of course not. It’d have been a controversy. So, the fact of the matter is that, Danny Boyle insisted that Rahman compose a song very similar to Choli ke peeche and have the same singer sing it. It wasn’t a rip-off as u think. I know u’d find hard to believe it but I’ve heard the singer herself talk about this. I can give u one more example of this, if u want to use it in ur baseless, toothless arguments in the future with someone else. Heard of “Everybody” from Backstreet boys and “Endrendum punnagai” from Alaipayuthey? Both songs have same beats. Sound similar too… 🙂 Mani sir wanted to use Backstreet boys song in the movie but owing to high costs of royalty, he insisted Rahman compose a song which is similar to that song. Another rip-off according to u… LOL!
But frankly, I’m amused as well as saddened by ur arguments. I can argue at length with u and have a few good laughs reading ur comments. I can troll u the way IMB did and have some good fun. But does that help? It only makes u more aggressive and come up with invalid and unreasonable points to defend urself. Hence, peace!
Loads of good wishes,
Vijet
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sharankay
October 24, 2011
Yo all Rahman Haters > Rahman is very humble and good person That is why he has showered with kindness by the God above. Pls. Pls. stop degrading him.
Raaja can never achieve anything with his blotted up Ego. If at all anything Raaja has done, its only intergrating WCM, Carnatic or Folk in a way not acceptable by any other fusion artists in the world. come’on you are musician and you dont respect the influences and re-compose them with your own interpretation! huh what kind of egoistic attitude is this?
On the other hand Rahman respects every single influence, samples and loops and fuses them with sounds created by his fellow musicians and integrates these into an awe inspiring package and lets his additional programmers to work further & enhance the ‘composition’ with effects. Now that is what we call a true genius. Please you Raaja fans stay away and live in peace. You have thousands of songs to listen to, but we have very few hundred. your hatred is not called for here in these circumstances. we want these songs to grow inside us. GET AWAY!
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Vijet
October 24, 2011
@Rameshram
Man, u r aweeeeeeeeeeesoome!!! Hats off to u!!! With so much of praise, I guess even I’ll become a fan of Isai Gnani… LOL!!! I don’t know if he’s lucky or unlucky to have fans like u. But frankly, I’m mighty impressed with ur talk (trash talk rather or should I call it rhetoric). I have enjoyed every bit of ur arguments not because of the weight in it but because of it’s weightlessness… 😀
U r a born entertainer. I wouldn’t mind stalking u to read all ur hilarious, rib tickling comments.
Hey, btw, I read a comment in which u said I might be enraged and might explode. U gotta be kidding. I’m enjoying this from the bottom of my heart and in fact, u’ve made my day with ur comments. Why’d I run away from something that makes me happy (read chuckle)
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rameshram
October 25, 2011
yeah it was all them naughty directors that wanted ARR to compose unoriginal stuff. your prodigal child is blame free in his rip off! 😉
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rameshram
October 25, 2011
haha tangent in the flamewar alert! Im outtie! 😀
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rameshram
October 25, 2011
“Raaja can never achieve anything with his blotted up Ego”
haha at this point I stopped reading this guy. paasam kanna marakki. 😀
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rameshram
October 25, 2011
as reg choli ke peeche kya hai and the nobel prize winning song. , what it takes is one …**one** well placed word in the right ear.
Avalavu than! ella oscarum irivanukke.
eppidi? mick jagger kekkutha! thodappakattai?!
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rameshram
October 25, 2011
after all,
“mere paas maa hai” 😀
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KayKay
October 25, 2011
” I kiss his robe, I kiss his robe,”
Come,come now, Ramsu. Man up and admit, it’s not really his robe you want to kiss, now is it?”
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KayKay
October 25, 2011
“I don’t know if he’s lucky or unlucky to have fans like u.”
Actually, Ramsu transcends mere fandom when it comes to the Ngani.
He’s John Hinckley to Raja’s Jodie Foster. With ARR as the bullet dodging Reagan I guess:-)
Or should I say he’s Ranjitha to Raja’s Nithyananda, as befits a true yogi?
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rameshram
October 25, 2011
kay kay,
andha bhayam irundha sari.
bek kareful!
wags his finger.
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rameshram
October 25, 2011
uh.. what else would i want to kiss? his 1.5 eye daughter?
(confused)
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sharankay
October 25, 2011
@rameshram,
Well When cats close their eyes World doesn’t become Dark! Rahman is the only unparalleled Genius of 20th & 21st Century in the field of Music. The awards that he has got from State, National, filmfare, screen, MTV, BAFTA, Grammy, Oscar… (you name it He has that award, Even the awards which dont have name until now will be given to him only in the future) Speaks a great volume about his Genius.
Look at the Ads he is getting even after 25 years in the field, But Raaja can get only one Malabar gold! That too he has to rope in English people like Rahman. Raaja is a Big Copy cat! why he didn’t do Ads Previously?
Raaja is very Egoistic likewise his fans are also egoistic but Rahman is Very humble person but we fans cannot be the same.
One Rahman fan wrote ‘Vaa Vennila’ was composed by Raaja but its tune was composed by MSV was never pointed out by any of you Raaja fans. For that too only a Rahman fan like me should come and say.
We will End this now. otherwise I have to say abt all good things about Rahman which has no end and all bad things about Raaja which equally has no end. PEACE.
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Vijet
October 26, 2011
At least read the last line, brother. Let me repeat it for u. GET AWAY!! 😀
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brangan
October 26, 2011
Okay guys, this is really getting to be very boring. I mean, at least if you’re fighting about the quality of the music and the repertoire I can understand. This discussion is about ads and awards and things that have no bearing on the music.
So can we call it a day? Muchas gracias.
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rameshram
October 26, 2011
done here..
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Gradwolf
October 26, 2011
Ennaku again dialog dhan nyamagam varudhu, “Eight year olds, dude!”
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sharankay
October 26, 2011
@brangan as though this article was about music!
@rameshram I know you’ll be finished once I enter! Happy Diwali 🙂
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rameshram
October 26, 2011
sharankay between you and hermoine granger, Im not whom I should I should fear more. 😀
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Vijet
October 27, 2011
Ha ha… All troops retreat… 😀
U better be done forever.
One sincere suggestion, brother – Be the biggest Raaja fan ever. Talk about the achievements of Raaja. Talk good things about him. Wish good for him. But never try to degrade someone like Rahman. No one had compared Rahman with Raaja in this article or in any of the comments. You enter all of sudden and start talking crap about Rahman, which shows your cheap mentality. Stop this attitude of degrading people who have done no harm to you. Like Rahman said, you can choose either love or hate but never both. Choose love. Be happy.
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rameshram
October 27, 2011
vijet, my dad didnt keep any velaikaris whose children were called vijet, so how can you be my bother?!! (I thought I’d tracked them all down…kezavar valayadittar pola irukku).
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Vijet
October 29, 2011
Velaikaris??? ROFLMAO… I can only laugh at the cheap talk. I won’t stoop down to ur level coz I ain’t no Raaja fan. I’m a proud Rahmaniac and I consider all good souls as my brothers and as it turns out, u ain’t no good soul and u ain’t no brother to no one, let alone me… 🙂
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rameshram
October 29, 2011
adhu.
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KayKay
October 29, 2011
” I won’t stoop down to ur level coz I ain’t no Raaja fan”
Vijet, on that note, let’s all call it a day here. Some people can’t acknowledge the genius of Raaja without simultaneously squatting to take a giant dump on Rahman, so leave them to stew in their bile, be a bigger man, and take the higher path.
After all, even the Pandavas and Kauravas ceased fighting after sundown in Kurukshetra:-)
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rameshram
October 31, 2011
” Some people can’t acknowledge the genius of Raaja without simultaneously squatting to take a giant dump on Rahman,”
MAybe ilayaraja ends up looking like such a fucking genius only when you listen to some second rater reaching for things raja does effortlessly.
notice we don’t dump on harris jayaraj, mm kreem or other mds, of whom you have low expectations…its just that we want the nobel prize and to be considered the sixth beatle….makes it cringeworthy and entirely emetic.
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Vijet
October 31, 2011
There comes a time in every Internet conversation when your co conversationalist starts to appear increasingly incoherent. But this is not the time to othungu from the conversation. Instead it’s time to pour salt over your co conversationalist’s wounds and make him more incoherent… :p
I really pity you Rameshram. *Wiping tears* Nobel prize? Oscars? LOL! You can only dream of awards from now on. I don’t think Raaja would even get a filmfare award anymore. (Did he at least get any local award at least recently?) His glory days are over(If there were any). And that too, it was only in Tamil Nadu. I’m from Karnataka and people hardly know about Raaja here. There are many better musicians here. Raaja is an anonymous entity outside Tamil Nadu. It’s a shame that you can’t accept it and move ahead.
I really pity you because the whole world is singing eulogies about the only musical genius from India, Rahman and then there is a poor, frustrated, venom spitting, toothless serpent who can’t accept that fact. Every person you meet would be talking about Rahman and his music. I wonder how do you tolerate all this? 😥 If I were you, I’d have been dead due to shame by now… :p
All you try to do is try to catch Rahman pants down by trying to prove that he copied and lobbied. But you will never succeed in that. We, Rahman fans never try to catch Raaja pants down. May be that’s because he never wears pants… Ha ha… We’ll try to catch him with his lungi up… LOL!
PS – I have lot of weapons in my armory. This was just a trailer. I’ll have to unleash them if you don’t STFU.
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rameshram
October 31, 2011
“PS – I have lot of weapons in my armory. This was just a trailer. I’ll have to unleash them if you don’t STFU.”
hahaha! troll alert! 😀
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rameshram
October 31, 2011
” I’m from Karnataka and people hardly know about Raaja here.”
sounds like you haven’t heard of Ilayaraj either, which is a pity.
” then there is a poor, frustrated, venom spitting, toothless serpent who can’t accept that fact. ”
Iyoo! yaaru naana! narayana! 😉
” Every person you meet would be talking about Rahman and his music. I wonder how do you tolerate all this? 😥 If I were you, I’d have been dead due to shame by now… :p”
is this stuff all you have? pitiable! every person in the world also talks about jack the ripper and hitler….adhukkaha Ilayaraja hitler aaha mudiyuma enna!
” But you will never succeed in that.”
been/done. now rahman is shorn of pants and everything.
“PS – I have lot of weapons in my armory. This was just a trailer. I’ll have to unleash them if you don’t STFU.”
Mad drunk in my street corner would make such claims. proof of pudding is in eating. what you got, pathetic fool! 😀 brang it on!
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KayKay
October 31, 2011
I’m most likely playing Sisyphus to your boulder, but what the heck, I have a little time on my hands and I’ll lob this one salvo before retiring from the tedium of traversing this same ground with you over and over.
“MAybe ilayaraja ends up looking like such a fucking genius only when you listen to some second rater reaching for things raja does effortlessly.”
It’s asinine comments like the one above not to mention an almost creepy obsession with Choli Ke Peeche, Jana Gana Mana and the Nobel (?) prize (your conflation of the Indian National Anthem, a universally recognized award for excellence and a song querying the contents of a woman’s blouse should give your therapist plenty to work with) that’s convinced me you’re nothing more than a contrarian gas-bag whose logic and rational is taking a hot trot off the map.
Take your head outta your ass for a wee minute, laddie and read the following very slowly:
Raaja needs NO COMPARISON to ANYONE to look like a genius. His compositional innovation and mastery of the idioms of South Indian film music reflected in his colossal body of work is proof enough. I thought that would be sufficient evidence of brilliance for a REAL fan? But no, the real issue for you (and possibly a few more Raajatards) is this:
That ANOTHER composer, possessed of an equal genius and innovation came on the scene, redefined the soundscapes of South Indian Cine Music, successfully bridged the North-South Divide in film composing, took advantage of the unique time and place he was situated in, marketed himself successfully,taking his musical vision to a global stage and through a combination of hard work, prodigious talent and luck, won a slew of internationally recognised accolades and is today, a globally recognised face of Indian Film Music. That the above causes the eruption of ulcers in your abdomen is something I understand, but hey, you can’t exactly blame others for storing bile and venom inside you, now can you?
You’re not interested in eulogising Salieri. You just want to stomp on Mozart’s face. So, to appropriate Mr.B’s words, scratch away or to appropriate yours, keep foaming at the mouth, I suppose with brats, the best tack is to let the tantrums play out…
The wonderfully evocative “Kaadhalin Deepam Ondru” in my i-POD is actually followed by the sublime and spiritual “Kwhaaja Mere Kwhaaja”. The joy of appreciating a pair of perfectly composed gems from 2 maestros at their peak is something else. Try it. It does wonders for those ulcers:-)
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apala
October 31, 2011
போதும்டா…..
போங்கடா……….போய் புள்ள குட்டிங்களை படிக்க வைங்கடா……
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brangan
November 1, 2011
KayKay: “took advantage of the unique time and place he was situated in, marketed himself successfully” – – now you’ve gone and done it. The Rahman fans are going to be after you now. (Refer my right-place-right-time article 🙂 )
apala: ROTFL! Andha lyrics ungalukku romba porutham saar…
vettaruvaa thaangi veesugira ooril
vellaikkodi thookki vandhavanum neeye 🙂
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rameshram
November 1, 2011
KK ,
Thanks for taking the time to rebut VIJET’s straw man.
That ilayaraja is a genius is not something that needs defining, redefining or shouting from rooftops. if after ten thousand songs, its not sufficiently clear to anyone that this is so, then it will never be. This thread of conversation(no matter how far down it descends,) is more about the other.
You think A R Rahman is worthy musical talent, and I believe he is all shell and no substance, no matter how impressive his marketing infrastructure be, and we can disagree about this.
Where this stops being a reasonable presenttion on your drunken part is somehow cariciaturing my absolutely worthy comparisons between this :
and this
as something I dreamed up.
Surely it is not my imagination that the nobel pr…uh…Oscar winning score is “inspired” to say the least?
So why is my making this Observation “creepy” or “obsessive” or even “venomous”? ( I like that my “venom” is a bigger sin than people winning oscars for copied music, by the way)
And similarly the oscar winning,
being a straight knock off of
(performed here by the same A R Rahman , embellishing tagore’s tune)
or the original here,
(or this)
Seems obvious to me, and the composer a pedaller of knocked off tunes. I don’t have to Obsees to know this, when I state the obvious…or be particularly venomous to spot it. You want me to shut up because it harms your image of India’s first Nobel prize…er oscar winner, its sixth beatle, being such a …bappi lahiri… (pardon the venom)
and so sysypus, roll on…because this mozart is no mozart just artifice., as much as the salieri no salieri. I come (as marc anthony would tell jenifer lopez) to bury caesar, that you have stabbed , damning him faintly with your praise , instead for the pretender.
vartuma? 😉
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rameshram
November 1, 2011
apala!!! HAHAHAHAHA!
Brannigan! double HAHAHAHA!!!!!
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KayKay
November 1, 2011
Mr. B, yeah I know…adha appove sonne….Sisyphus rolling a boulder…in spite of my usage of words like “prodigious talent”, “hard work” and “changing the face of the Tamil Cine music”, it’s words like “marketing” and “unique time and place” that will be seized on with exquisite relish by the Raaja Groupies..or more specifically Rahman haters.
Apala: LOL! What do you think I was trying to do? Albeit unsuccessfully:-)
And anyway,at least out of respect for the Gnani’s just deceased wife, this is as good a time as any to call a cease fire (not that Raaja bashing was ever on my agenda)
Peace out
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rameshram
November 1, 2011
kk
adhu.
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Vijet
November 1, 2011
Ha ha ha ha… Rameshram, I salute thee… U the funniest person I’ve ever seen in my whole life… Jai Ho and Jana gana mana? Ha ha ha ha… That’s just awesome!!! I mean *Can’t stop laughing*…
Please, can you post more of your comparisons here? Or if that’s a problem, can you mail them to me? I mean, I need to have some laughs like this everyday. Good for my health, you know. Ha ha ha ha… Can’t stop laughing!!
Neither Rahman, Not Raaja can match your genius. I’m your fan from now on! I’ll agree to whatever u say. Yes, Rahman is no genius. Raaja is the best! But you are better than the best!!!
Ha ha ha ha ha… Someone stop me please… 😀
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rameshram
November 1, 2011
vijet,
aja aja nana shamiyane ke tale..
jana gana mana adhi nayaka jayahe…
don’t see it? no? not even a leetleeee bit? 😀
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Vijet
November 2, 2011
Oh freak!!! That’s so similar. Now I realize what you were telling all the time!!!
Not just little bit. It’s 99% percent similar. How can someone copy the national anthem itself??? That’s such a shame. I get all the things you’ve told till now. Rahman is no genius. All these Grammies, Filmfares, National awards, Oscars are fixed. Raaja sir should have bagged all of them. It’s total lobbying and marketing by Rahman and his team. Their marketing is so good that they even make millions of people like his songs by asking them to listen to it again and again. That’s got to be the biggest conspiracy ever.
Not just common people, even real geniuses like Hans Zimmer are made to believe that Rahman is a genius! Read this – http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/18/entertainment/oscars09/main4809796.shtml
Btw, I have lot more songs like Jai Ho which have been shamelessly copied by Rahman in his movies. 99% of his 30 odd songs he has composed in his short career of 20 odd years have been copied. Look at Raaja sir. No songs copied. Only super hits. The whole world listens to his songs today. Hindustani, Carnatic, Rock, Jazz, Hip hop, Reggae, Eastern, Western all kinds of music have been composed by him. Whereas Rahman, 30 odd songs, all copied, no variety.
Thanks Rameshram, you’ve opened my eyes today… 😥 I was fooled all this while into believing Rahman is a genius. Now I realize my mistake. Thank you, brother. Oh sorry, u not brother. Thank you, sir… 😀
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aravindan
October 17, 2012
I am huge admirer of Ilayaraja of late. I am now listening more closely to this maestroes compositions,be it in the guitar piece in the begining of the song mudhal naal mudhal kanavu or the interesting twist in the song rajagopurm from the malayalam movie puthiyatheerangal or the earthy folk feel of the ilangatru veesuthe or the violin-flute combo that appears right after the pallavi of chempoove from kaalapani.
Where do Rahman feature in it one may wonder. There are great composers in the past ,but for a youngman like me born at the fag end of 80s Rahman was a revelation.He for the first time demanded a certain kind of attention and opened my ears to the so called “world music” that too with in the constraining walls of cinema. Now a layman like me without knowing the nittygritties of music is compelled to go back to the masters and to listen to the nuances of each compositions carefully and also to appreciate newer talents like Mohammad
Ghibran or Thaman or Imaan.
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brangan
October 18, 2012
aravindan: I really like that album “Kannukkul Nilavu,” where Raja found a lovely balance between his new sounds and his style of composition. The older album for Fazil, “Kaadhalukku Mariyadhai” I don’t like at all.
Speaking of new talents, have you listened to Santhosh Narayanan? I have heard two excellent albums of his — “Attakathi” and “Pizza” — and he is easily the best new composer I’ve heard since Amit Trivedi burst onto the scene some years ago.
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KayKay
October 18, 2012
B, any thoughts on ARR’s latest, “Jab Tak Hai Jaan”?
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aravindan
October 18, 2012
brangan
First and foremost thank you very much for introducing to me a new talent.To be honest I was a bit sceptical about your comparison of Santosh Narayanan with Amit Trivedi. But after listening to the two albums i have a hunch about your comparison. Amit trivedi is not only talented but he also shows a penchant for audacious experimentation ,his debut album Dev-D and tracks of Amir and Aisha are prime examples of it.
Even though these are early days for Santosh Narayanan ,I find him extremely innovative.the prime example is the song”Ninaikkuthey” sung by Gana Bala. With my limited knowledge i guess it has strong blue elements-correct if i am wrong. I haven’t heard a song that present this genre in its pristine form before in films.Similarly the songs “mogathirai” from Pizza and “Azai oru pulveki” and “Vazhi parthirundhen” from Attakathi has strong country- Jazz influence.”Engo odugindra ” from Pizza with strong rockish flavour reminds me of Hollywood movies with bikergangs and harleys. ” Mogathirai-prelude” and Pizza-theme string sections shows his knowledge in western classical. Overall a very strong debut from a very promising youngster.If he continues to deliver albums like this , which i hope he will, he may very well leave up to your comparison.
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brangan
October 19, 2012
KayKay: Haven’t found time to listen to it yet. What did you think?
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KayKay
October 19, 2012
B, only had a couple of listens, but first 2 impressions are:
1) Low key….sombre, sedate, leisurely, almost a counterpoint to the fiery undercurrents of Rockstar
2) Anonymous…I know, that’s a weird adjective to assign a soundtrack, but that was my feeling. it just doesn’t sound like an ARR soundtrack, it’s missing his touches, his flourishes, his quirks, rhythms, idiosyncracies. This could have been a Vishal-Shekhar or Salim-Sulaiman album if I wasn’t aware who the composer was. Reminds me of one of the stinkers Rahman off-loaded in his Tamil ouevre, a movie called “Parashuram”. The songs aren’t bad, per se, just so bereft of identity.
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aravindan
October 21, 2012
Lately i heard that Hans Zimmer thanked Rahman for his contribution to the Dark knight rises. Does any body know what his contribution was?
Regarding the missing identity in Jab Tak Hai Jaan, I personally think it might have to do something with the movie content. Rock star was a movie in which Music was more of an invisible protagonist,the story was an extension of the theme- Music and how it is intrinsically connected to life.Life as we see is not linear, Jordan and his music presented Rahman with an opportunity to showcase this non linearity,a from a fun loving young man to a struggling youth in search of the missing soul of music to successful musician to an imposing alternate youth icon and heart broken griever.It all had to be showcased in music and Imtiaz Ali successfully extracted music which suited the movie.
Regarding Jab Tak Hai Jaan ,We might have to wait and watch how the movie pans out and the role of music in it.Like every Rahman album we might like it after repeated listens.
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