Being a fan of Madhavan, I've been waiting for this movie right from the time it was announced. The fact that Director Nishikanth Kaamath won a national award for Dombivili Fast (the movie of which Evano Oruvan is a remake) raised my expectations! And, well... I loved the movie!

The movie revolves around a bank employee, Sridhar Vasudevan (Madhavan) who leads a very normal and routine life with his nagging wife Vathsala (Sangeetha) and his two kids. We see glimpses of his righteousness, and also his helplessness when he comes across instances of corruption or people breaking rules. But all his helplessness changes when Vathsala provokes him. The erstwhile helpless Vasudevan erupts. What follows is a one-man-trying-to-change-the-system story.

We have seen so many such movies - be it Indian, Ramana or Anniyan. What makes Evano Oruvan different is that it is closer to reality, unlike the other movies which have more of a fantasy feel to it. The protagonist is not a super-hero which is usually the case in such movies. The hero doesn't succeed in his quest to change the whole world all alone. The movie is a show of anger against the society and the way we have allowed anyone to break the law with out any fear, and the helplessness of the middle class!

Madhavan excels in this movie - both with as an actor and a dialogue writer. There are some really sharp dialogues through out the movie. The resignation letter that he addresses to God is brilliant! So are the dialogues of the poilce inspector (Seeman) when he knows he is helpless in many scenes including the discussion he has with his wife!

Seeman fits perfectly into the role of a police officer who is torn between his conscience and his assigned police duty. And, so does Sangeetha as a nagging wife. The two kids who play Maddy's kids are so natural. It is refreshing to see kids portrayed like this, rather the usual oversmart "adhiga prasangi" kid characters (like in Sillunu Oru Kaadhal, for instance).

Kudos to Madhavan for taking the initiative to produce meaningful cinema in Tamil without sans commercial elements like duets, item numbers and cliched fight sequences. Hope we get to see more such meaningful cinema in Tamil.

The official preview of ATM music is available on ARR's official site arrahman.com!! Here's the track listing and full credits!
(The remix of Pon Magal Vandhaal, I guess, has not been done by Rahman. The song is credited to Krishna Chetan. Also, the arrahman.com-exclusive-preview doesn't include the remix! This was expected because A.R.Rahman has always been against remixing someone else's tune - he said NO to S.J.Suryah when SJS asked him to remix "Pesuvadhu KiLiyaa" and later "Thottal poo malarum". He finally ended up retuning the latter instead of remixing.)


AZHAGIYA TAMIZH MAGAN

Cast - Vijay, Shreya
Director - Bharatan
Producer - Appachan
Production Company - Swargachitra Films
Lyrics - Vaali
Label - Star Music
Date of Release - October 2007

Songs

1. Ellaappugazhum
A.R. Rahman

2. Kelaamal Kaiyile
Sriram Parthasarathy, Saindhavi

3. Maduraikku Pogathedee
Benny Dayal, Archith, Dharshana

4. Nee Marilyn Monroe
Benny Dayal, Ujjayinee

5. Ponmagal Vandaal
Aslam, Ember Rap

6. Valayapatti
Naresh Iyer, Ujjayinee, Madhumitha


Instruments

Thavil: Venkatesh, Purusothaman
Nadaswaram: MKS Natarajan

Credits

Male Harmony: Archith, Dr. Narayanan, Naresh Iyer, Senthil Das, Rahul Nambiar, Benny Dayal
Female Harmony: Gopika Poornima, Fathima, Darshana, Janani

Additional Programming And Ponmagal Remix: Krishna Chetan
Music Assistant: Sathish Chakkaravarthy
Music Assistant And Orchestration: J Srinivasa Murthy

Recorded at Panchathan Record-Inn & AM Studios, Chennai
Sound Engineer: S. Sivakumar

Mixed At Panchathan Record-Inn and AM Studios, Chennai and KM Musiq Studio, London
Mixing Engineers: K.J. Singh, S. Sivakumar
Mastered at AM Studios By H. Sridhar


PS: One more post below!

I'm talking about the print ads for Mozhi director Radha Mohan's next movie "Abhiyum Naanum".








So simple, so cute.. what more can i say!!!

I came across an interview of ARR - a old one - this was before Bombay Dreams. I would rate this interview as one of the best ARR's interviews I have read for it covers a lot of things which are not usually covered in interviews - ARR talks about his style of working, his so-called repetitiveness, and so on. And, he is extremely candid and open in this interview!

But there's one other reason due to which I luv this interview. There are many questions which I always have about Rahman's music - questions which I feel, I should ask him if I get a chance meet him and Rahman has answered those questions in this interview! For instance, I always wonder what motivates him to spends time adding those minute effects, those new sounds, which one can hardly notice.
Rahman answers this question:
"I think, if I am bored, what of the audience? So then I try to do something about that boredom, mine and that of the audience. I might, for instance, insert a little sound somewhere, you won't even hear it the first time, or the second or third, but suddenly, one day when you are listening to that song you think, 'Hey, that sound, I didn't hear that before'. And you start listening to the familiar song with,
what shall I say, new ears!"

Read the full interview here.

When the Pritams, Anumaliks, Devas and Yuvans of India are busy lifting tunes from all over the world, people from around the world are lifting tunes composed by one Indian - do I even have to mention that the Indian in question is A.R.Rahman?

I had written about Uzbek singer Iroda Dilroz using ARR's Kadhal Sadugudu (alaipayuthe) and Mustafa. But, she had credited A.R.Rahman! Ottagathai kattiko was used by La Caution for their song Pilotes Automatiques.

Now, Shakalaka Baby is in China and it is already a hit. Mandarin singer Kelly Poon has included this song in her album titled Shakalaka Baby.
Listen to it here.

The sad part is that A.R.Rahman is not credited for this till now!

(Thanks to Vinod and NoorulWahid from arrahmanfans for the info)


Update 1:
AR Rahman and Lyrics writer Don Black have been credited in the music video. But, it still remains to be seen if they have got the rights to use the song.

Update 2:
The mails from arrahmanfans Yahoo group, reagarding this issue, were forwarded to A.R.Rahman and ARR's legal advisers and Andrew Lloyd Weber escalated the issue to Universal Music, who are releasing the Kelly Poon album. They have agreed to add AR Rahman's name in the credits. Glad to see that the group has done some really active work for ARR!!!

Every Wednesday is 'fans day' on Rahmania (6-8 pm weekdays), the Radio show dedicated to A.R.Rahman on Aahaa FM (91.9 FM - Chennai). And last Wednesday I was interviewed on the show!!

On Tuesday night, I switched off the radio at 8:00 pm after listening to Rahmania. And my phone starts calling me with my Hai Rama BGM ringtone. I pick up the phone and I'm in for a total surprise. Raihanah ma'am was on the line, and she asked me if I could come to the studio the next day!!! Oh My God!!!!!!! It was a real surprise! She needn't have spoken to me... She could have asked one of the sound engineers to speak to me... but no, such is her simplicity!

I was asked to come to the studio at 4:00 pm sharp. I was there by 3:30 itself, and was received by Mr. Radhan who is the sound-engineer for the show and it turned out that he was a hardcore Rahmaniac too!

Raihanah came at 4 pm sharp! After exchange of pleasantries and clicking a few snaps, we set down to decide on what we would talk about. I had prepared some 4 pages of stuff to talk, neatly printed out and thus surprising Raihanah, who, with her classic laugh, remarked "Ivlo prepared-aa vandhirukkaru... Innikku enakku velai-ye illai nu nenaikkaren... Naan late-aa've vandhirukkalaam!" ("He's come so prepared, I have nothing to do.... I could have walked in late today!!!")



So, I was just chatting with her till the show started. Rahman's simplicity is well known to everyone. I could find the same trait in his sister too. She was so down-to-earth talking to and everyone chatting so freely!

Once inside the studio, she made me feel so comfortable as this was the first time I was gonna be on Air. I was explained the process, the way the team functioned for the show, etc. The first 'link' was well planned, in terms of what we would say and what question would be asked etc. But, the rest of the show was more or less ad hoc!!

I was kinda hesitant to ask if they would air the duet version of Kannathil Muthamittal song that I made. When I told Raihanah about this, she asked me if it was a remix. I assured her it was not, and told her I would never tamper with ARR's music. When Raihanah listened to it, she immediately agreed to use it in the show, and I finally dedicated that song, during the show, to A.R.Rahman himself (Thanks to the Dryad for reminding me to dedicate it to him!!)

On the show, I spoke about how we Bangalore Fans met ARR at midnite before Bangalore concert, about ARR's unreleased music that Shivmani played for me from his mobile, about Pt. Vishwamohan Bhatt playing for Rahman's Narumugaiye! But there was loads and loads more to speak... so little time But, yeah.. I'll never be content! I can go on and on about Rahman!!

This will always be one of my most unforgettable moments ever!

(pic in the prev post)

12 September 2007 it was!! From 6-8 pm, I was on air on Aaha 91.9 FM on the show Rahmania. A.R.R's sister Raihanah interviewed me on the show!! More than 24 hours past, and my excitement is still to go down!!

More about it in the next post!!

After searching for it in many music outlets including Landmark and Music World, I finally got managed to get hold of the "A.R.Rahman - Greatest Hits" MP3 CD, jus this weekend. This is under Sony-BMG label and was released last month! The album was sold out completely in most stores!!

I bought it for jus the one song - Shauk Hai, rendered by Sowmya Raoh (The same singer who sang Kamma Karaiyile along with Naresh Iyer in Varalaaru(Godfather)). For the uninitiated, Shauk Hai is the song which comes in the Background, as Vidya Balan's (Meenu's) Theme music in Guru.
This track is truly magical! The song is about the desires of a person who is counting her days and who requires someone's help for everything, as she is suffering from multiple sclerocis. She wants to break from all this, reach out to her desires and aspirations. She knows her fate, but she doesnt want to be depressed. It is essentially meant to bring out that "longing" feel, but without the sadness. ARR captures this mood perfectly in the song, with the lyrics adding to the beauty. The piano chords running throughout the song, add to the simple but elegant beauty of the song.


This is, without doubt, one of his all time best songs!!! It is a pity, this masterpiece wasn't released with the Audio CD of Guru!!

Raat ka shauk hai
I aspire of the night

Raat ki saundhi si khamoshi ka
That earthen silence of the night

Shauk hai
I aspire

Subha ki roshni
That light of the morning

Bezubaan subho ki aur gungunati
Humming toward the mum morning

Roshni ka Shauk hai, ho shauk hai
I aspire of light, oh…I aspire

San sani navlon ka
Of those interesting novels

Ke ishq ke banwlon ka
Of those crazyness of the lovers (I aspire to have)

San sani naavle
Those interesting novels

Ke ishq ke banwle
Those crazy lovers

Barf se khelte badolon ka
Of those clouds playing with the ice

Shauk hai
I aspire (to touch)

Kaash ye zindagi Khel hi khel mein kho gayi hoti
I wish this life ended playfully

Raat ka shauk hai
I aspire of night

Neend ki goliyon ka
Of those sleeping pills (I aspire)

Khwab ke loriyon ka
Of those lullabies of dreams (I aspire to listen)

Neend ki goliyan
Those sleeping pills

Khwab ke loriyan
Those lullabies of dreams

Bezubaan aus ki boliyon ka
Of those (unsaid) words of mum dews (I aspire to listen)

Shauk hai
I aspire

Kaash ye zindagi binkahe binsune so gayi hoti
I wish this life had gone to sleep without saying or listening
anything

Subha ki roshni
That light of the morning

Bezubaan subho ki aur gungunati
Humming toward the mum morning

Roshni ka Shauk hai, ho shauk hai
I aspire of light, oh…I aspire

So many hoardings up, but still no news of audio release or movie release!!! Eagerly waiting, for it's been long since ARR has composed for such a youthful movie in tamil.



Update: The hoarding in 100 ft Road, Ashok Nagar.

Rahman has won the Fillmfare award for 'best music' for Sillunu Oru Kaadhal. This takes his tally to 19 Filmfare awards, and if I am not wrong, this is the most number of Filmfare awards received by anyone!! Kudos to Rahman!! I'm glad that Filmfare didn't mess up, like it usually happens in many award functions - presenting the award for music based on box office success, which is totally ridiculous!

And, the best female singer - no surprises here too - the lady with voice as sweet as honey - Shreya Goshal for Munbe Vaa (SOK). What's surprising is the choice of best male singer - Gaana Ulaganathan for VaaLa Meenukkum... True, the song was a hit and had a wide reach... But, it was definitely not worth winning a filmfare... There were many other singers whose songs were miles better than this one!!! Enna kodumai, Saravanan??!

A.R.Rahman has always said that he wants to break all barriers like religion, language, nationality etc., with his music. And, here is an instance - people in Uzbekistan may be dancing to "Kaadhal Sadugudu/Aye Udi Udi (Alaipayuthey/Saathiya). yes...Iroda Dilroz, a famous pop-singer from Uzbekistan has used this tune for her song, Sevgi Sedosi. Of course, with due credits to A.R.Rahman!

PS: Does anyone know what language is it? Found the lyrics here

The new 7 wonders of the world are to be announced on 7th of July (07.07.'07). The pride of our country, Taj Mahal, just managed to scrape thru to the final 21 list, in the preliminary rounds of voting. The voting for the final 7 is on now. Each of our votes will count.

A.R.Rahman has come up with a beautiful anthem for this cause - to gather support for the Taj. The sample of the theme is available here. Listen to the song, and vote on this site: http://taj.indiainfo.com/onlineregistration.php

Let's make it happen!!

UPDATE: Here's the full video

This must be the worst instance of copying from Yuvan! Song in question: "Karuppaana Kaiyaale" from "Thamirabarani". This was obvious right on my first listening - the original song, being the famous devotional song "Karpoora Nayagiyae" by LR Eswari.
Listen to the songs here:
Yuvan's "Karuppaana":
http://www.raaga.com/channels/tamil/movie/T0001120.html

"Karpoora Nayagiyae" sung by LR Eswari
http://www.musicindiaonline.com/p/x/aUK98RXn1t.As1NMvHdW/

I had heard this song quite sometime back but only recently, came to know that the culprit was Yuvan. I assumed the composer must be Shrikanth Deva (who had shamelessly lifted the MGR song, "Koduppadhellaam Koduppaan" in one of his earlier movies). Never thought that Yuvan would stoop so low.

Agreed... Yuvan is no original composer, with many of his famous hits (including the 3 songs in Kadhal Kondein) being blatant lifts - but in those cases, it was only the first few lines and the sources were pretty unknown in India - they ranged from Indonesian to Nordic folk. But, here the source is a very famous devotional song, and the entire song is copied. Despite his copycat reputation, I had a little respect for him, but with this song, even that is gone. To me, he is now on par with the Shrikanth Devas orDhinas of the world!!!

PS: The song "Karpoora Nayagiyae" itself is inspired from the Navrang song Aadha hai Chandrama, but in this case the similarity ends after the first 4 lines.
Listen to Aadha hai chandrama, here:
http://www.raaga.com/channels/hindi/artist/Mahendra_Kapoor.html

Wonder what connects Dada and Superstar? You say "nothing"? Then, you've forgotten those irritating hoardings of Tata Indicom, featuring Ganguly, which appeared in many scenes in Chandramukhi.

Here's one more. Many of us would have burst out laughing seeing the camera focus on a Coca Cola keychain, in the scene where the mother is dying, in Yaadein!!

These are supposed to be usages of an advertising technique called "Product Placement", but our filmmakers simply donno how it is done!!! I had to make a presentation on this topic recently and hence I happened to find many awesome product placements in Hollywood movies while working for it!

Take this one for example. This is from the Julia Roberts starrer, Runaway Bride.


Well, you saw the FedEx truck - that's just the good part, but not the brilliant part. The brilliance lies in the way the FedEx promise - sure delivery by 10:30 am the next day - is incorporated as a part of the dialogue. This just fits in seamlessly with the movie and doesn't stand out or annoy the audience!!
(ok..I can hear ppl saying "I cant access youtube". So, here's the description. Julia leaves Gere at the altar and is running away in a FedEx truck. Here's the dialogue at that point:
"Where do you think she's going?"
"Wherever it is, she'll be there by 10:30 tomorrow morning".)

There are many more examples - I can remember AOL e-mail in You've got mail, and many products in When Harry met Sally and City of Angels (oh! I love those romantic comedies of Meg Ryan. )

When will our Indian filmmakers stop showing the product blatantly, and keep the advertising message subtle? When will they learn?


PS: Anyone came across some really good or really bad product placements? Write about it in the comments...

It is generally the politicians who say one thing and shamelessly take an opposite stance suddenly. Now, it is Ismail Durbar, the composer of Devdas!

Here are some excerpts from his recent Hindustan Times interview (Thanks to Mr. Gopal, ARRFans for the scan):

"I call him (A.R.Rahman) Guru. He also respects me..."
"I remember he won at two different award functions; he went on to win for Taal and Saathiya. See the humility in him... he called me through lyricist Mehboob and said that I deserved both the awards (for Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Devdas). That's why I respect him"

Now for a short flashback! Read what he said in a Rediff interview:

"People have told me my work was better than Rahman's in Kisna. (ARR composed 2 songs and ID composed 8 for Kisna)"

"My work has always been better than his. Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam was better than Taal. Even Devdas was better than Saathiya.
But it is destiny that he got international fame. Angrezo ne uska haath pakad liya hai toh logo ko lagta hai ke yeh kuch zyada hi hai (Foreigners encouraged him so people think he is very good).
I am not saying this because of jealousy. This is the bitter truth. Whenever my work is good and he takes the awards, I feel bad.
I wonder why people run after name and fame, and not good work. Kyunki hamare yahan bahut kum akal ke log hai (we have very few intelligent people here). We see some foreigners holding someone's hand, and he becomes a big man."

Ah!! What a jerk!

So, here we go!

1. My smile. That is definitely the first thing anyone will notice about me.
He he... I am not called smiley for nothing!! (For those who don't know, Smiley is my nickname at IIMB)
2. I am a hardcore Rahmaniac. And am proud to be a Rahmaniac. This is my identity in my college - some people even call me Rahman!
3. I am totally tech-savvy! Wanna try out new software and new gadgets!
4. Extremely optimistic.
5. I'm totally a morning person. I can easily wake up at 4 or 5 am - even without an alarm. But, find it very difficult to stay awake late in the nights!
6. I always want recognition for whatever I do and get upset when I don't get it!
7. I thrive on music. Whenever I am in my room and am not sleeping or studying, music (Rahman's, of course) has to be on!
8. I find it very difficult to say "no" for anything to anyone.
9. I get irritated when people take advantage of my point no. 8, but I will never want to show that I'm irritated, for fear of hurting them!
10. I am totally quiet and look like a very reserved person. But once I get even slightly close to someone, then I am totally unstoppable - I keep going on and on!!

I tag Sheks, Witchoo, Neha, Aysh, Visithra and Vani.

20 Jan 2007... ARRfans meet at Ferrari's place... Enjoyed every minute of it...

We basically met to watch 'Salaam Bombay Dreams', the making of Bombay Dreams. Our Yahoo! Group Moderator, Mr. Gopal had purchased the DVD online and wanted to share with us, the joy of watching this awesome documentary.

The documentary covers all aspects like making of the music, stage designing, dance rehersals, costume designing and also interviews of the cast and crew. There is a full segment on Queen Elizabeth's visit, which elaborately covers all the arrangements made especially for the queen.

Coming to the most interesting part - the recording sessions at Panchathan. The studio looks really simple. This part starts with the cars coming to Panchathan and ARR welcoming the people from London, followed by recording sessions.
We were all amazed to watch the improvisations by Rahman. The recording session of the song "Salaam Bombay... Salaam Bombay" is just brilliant. In this, Rahman plays the strings portion for the song and the dexterity with which he just adds that piece on-the-fly is amazing! The recording session for just the percussion tracks left us spellbound!

Apart from the recording sessions, the DVD also covers the composing sessions in London, where ARR is joined by Weber, lyricist Don Black and UK singer Karen David (who recently said that she is proud to call herself A.R.Rahman's discovery) among others.

The DVD is unfortunately not available in India, however it can be ordered from amazon.com. It is priced at $12. Definitely worth a buy, and a must have for all A.R.Rahman Fans.

A short dialogue, which Monica says to Rachel (just after Rach cuts the credit cards) in the very first episode of Friends evoked laughter. But, come to think of it - it's simple but true!

Ok... me not writing that line here... Hear it from Monica in the short 5 sec clip below! (Ok... here's the context, if u haven't watched Friends. Rachel has left her home and her friends are forcing her to reduce the financial-dependence on her father and start life on her own).


For those who can't access youtube, here we go:
"Welcome to the real world! It sucks... you are gonna love it!"

All of us, Rahmaniacs, have been waiting for this. And it is here, finally. Well, it is almost here.

I'm talking about the official website of A.R.Rahman. The domain arrahman.com which was previously owned by Sony Music for the publicity of Warriors of Heaven and Earth and Vande Mataram, will now be the domain name for ARR's official website.

Right now, the page is almost done, and will be up in a few days. If you want to have a preview of the site, visit this link: http://www.arrahmanworld.net/

This is a temporary domain. The site will soon be migrated to www.arrahman.com

A.R.Rahman celebrates his 41st birthday today. And what's more? This is his 15th year in film industry, as a music director. Here's wishing him whole lot of wishes, and praying for his health and for success in everything he does!