After Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, the media called composer Ismail Darbar the next big thing in Hindi film music. And, I should say that was well deserved. The music was indeed very good. After a couple of not-so-good albums, he again came back with another good album - Devdas. After that, no-one hears of him except when he judges reality shows or when he makes ridiculous statements.

A few years back, he mentioned that he considers AR Rahman, his Guru.

"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"

(from http://www.flickr.com/photos/arrahmanfans/377089831/)

But, before this interview, came this interview:
"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."

(from http://in.rediff.com/movies/2005/mar/08minter1.htm)

Now, that we have seen what a two faced person Mr Ismail Darbar is, let's come to the latest controversy!

His recent allegations are the most ridiculous yet from him, the allegations being AR Rahman buying the Oscars, AR Rahman "stealing" credits, the entire industry being behind Rahman though they are "aware" of all this, the national awards committee flouting rules just so that they can give an award to Rahman.

If you think these are too ridiculous to be true, here's the interview published in Mid-Day.Lets look at these one by one and we'll see how non-sensical Mr Darbar's claims are!

So, he talks about Oscars being bought. What about the two Grammys? What about BAFTA and Golden Globe? And, BFCA Critic's choice and all the numerous other awards that AR got for Slumdog Millionaire? Paid money to the jury of every single of these academies? Laughable isn't it? Mr Darbar, what do you have to say?

And, Rahman stealing credits? This must be the biggest joke. Everyone in the music industry knows it was Rahman who introduced the system of crediting all musicians and harmony singers. He gives credits where due. So very often, we see harmony singers and musicians thanking Rahman for crediting them and making them known to the world! Mr Darbar, what do you have to say?

He says Saathiya pipped Devdas at the National Awards, and Saathiya was chosen despite it being a dubbed film. First of all, Saathiya was NOT a dubbed film. Second, AR never won a national award for Saathiya. Mr Darbar, what do you have to say?

What could be the reason for this sudden? There's news that he's joining politics. May be he's trying to garner some attention before his plunge into politics! Only Mr Darbar can answer!

Ah! It's been really long since I blogged! But, I knew I wanted to come back! It was as though I was saying to myself "Naan varuven, Meendum Varuven" ("I'll be back") :D

So, before I start writing about the song which I've been listening to a LOT in the past few days, here's wishing everyone a very happy new year!

Ok, now... the song is "Naan Varuven" from Raavanan. This song wasn't there in the audio CDs that were released initially, but was included in the Raavanan collectors edition pack (which has a DVD with making of the music + a CD with 5 additional tracks, including Naan Varuven).

To me, Naan Varuven is the best song of the album. After having listened to the song a couple of times at the cinema (if you are not aware, it's the end credits song) and the unofficial rips several times, I was waiting for the official release! And, so overjoyed was I when I got the collector's edition disk, for just this one song.

What's so special about the song, you ask? The music, the lyrics and the expressive singing - all just so perfect for the situation.

Let's look at it from Veera's point of view, shall we? This song plays in the movie, just as Veera (Vikram's character) is shot, and is dying. He just got to know that Ragini (Aishwarya Rai's character) likes him. As he is dying, his life, his desires, his dilemmas, his love - everything probably flashes before his eyes.

Now, lets look at the lyrics. The song starts of with

He's just realised that his sweetheart likes him, but he doesn't want to go away, he only wishes to come back and live with her - at least in spirit (probably, as a spirit, even... who knows? :P)

Then, spring the dilemmas in his mind. He is clueless as to how everything changed so suddenly. Ragini, who didn't heed to his love all these days, has suddenly turned around. He has so many questions about his life, but doesn't have answers. Just as he begins to get some clarity, the entire game changes. He's won her heart, but he's going away from this world! He feels all his dreams are making a mockery of him and are jeering at him! Look at how elegantly, Vairamuthu has brought this out in his lyrics:

Sheer brilliance, no?

Now, lets come to the musical brilliance. This song's mood is in contrast to the film's entire score, which has a tribal flavour with heavy rhythms, to show the crudeness/roughness of the character. But, this song is so soft? Why would that be? I think, it is to show the peace and calm that engulf him, as he embraces death. He is happy knowing Ragini's feelings, but he also knows he is dying. He is not angry, but he is disappointed and confused!

And then, we have the African vocals. The African sounds were used throughout the movie to bring out the tribal feel. And, it flows into this song too, albeit in a softer form. To signify that his rough animal qualities have toned down, and love has made him softer? That's my guess!

Notice the mystic ambience that Rahman has created with his music. Right from the mellow opening piece and the unique ARR voice which bundles in so much of emotions, to the twisting flute pieces interspersed through out the song, Rahman knew what he was doing, and did it perfectly.

It was said that this song was not planned initially, and was composed and added as an afterthought. I think, nothing else could have been better to end the movie. The song adds so much emotion to the climax. When three wizards like Mani, ARR and Vairamuthu join hands, you expect extra-ordinary magic! This song is one such - a true masterpiece.

Song: Naan Varuven
Album: Raavanan (Collector's edition)

Singers: A.R.Rahman, Jali Fily Cissoko
Lyrics: Vairamuthu.

At the time when the world is acknowledging Rahman's work, and when he's going places, it is expected that there will be criticisms, baseless arguments thrown against him.

But, what's surprising is to see such stuff coming from a veteran singer like Jagjit Singh. He openly targeted ARR in the media, saying that AR knows nothing about Ghazals, and that he picks up tunes from the west!! In fact, he's challenged AR to compose a Ghazal!

How baseless, how stupid these comments are? I'm sure Jagjit hasn't heard 3 of Rahman's most beautiful compositions - the three Ghazals in Tehzeeb. Hey Airat-e-Aashiqui from Guru is a much more popular Ghazal from Rahman!! Why talk abt something, when you dont even know about it? Isn't it obvious that he is criticising just for the sake of pulling down Rahman, because, the question was not about Rahman - he suddenly talks about ARR out of the blue, and lashes out at him!

I don't even want to talk about that idotic argument about picking up tunes from the west - Undoubtedly ARR is the most original composer in India!

Really sad that, even veterans, are resorting to such acts!

(For those who havent heard of the Ghazals from Tehzeeb, catch them here: Sabaq Aisa, Na Shiqwa Hota. I couldnt get a link for the third Ghazal, Mujh pe toofan. Will update if I come across it.)

ARR wins a Golden Globe! And, I definitely know it is only a beginning! This is just a sign of things to come!! :D

As I sit back and think about the year 2008, reliving the events of the year one word comes to my mind - eventful!!

The year has been pretty eventful, mostly very good! :D
The year started off on an interesting note, with me shifting location for work, and then coming back... moving from one line of business to another - all within the first month of the year!!

As a Rahmaniac, this year was a blast! 2008 will be a memorable one for Rahman-fans, what with ARR delighting us with 7 amazing albums (Jodhaa Akbar, Jaane Tu, Sakkarakatti, Ada, Yuvvraaj, Ghajini and Slumdog Millionaire). And, we got to enjoy two wonderful live conerts in Chennai! :) However, it was even more special for me, cos i got to meet ARR a few times this year!!! :D

And, the year ended with a pleasant surprise - Thanks to Dreamy Dryad, I got to see my name scroll up in the credits for music, in a short film! Yes! I composed for the short film, Maami's Memories directed by Sandhya!

What I loved in 2008?
Movies: WALL·E, Jaane tu ya jaane naa
Songs: Difficult to pick one... but Kahin toh and Khwaja have a slight edge! :D
TV show: Airtel Super Singer
Singer: Benny Dayal (Kaise Mujhe, Tu hi mera dost and Taxi Taxi)


What I hated in 2008?
Most IRRITATING songs: Naaku mukka, and that utterly annoying "Mozha mozha nu" song from the dumb Kuruvi...
Movie: Sakkarakatti - there can be no competition for this one!!
TV Shows: all the copied programs in Sun TV (ozhungaa copy adikka kooda mudiyaadhaa?! :P) and the commercialisation of Mumbai attacks on all news channels


As 2008 draws to a close and 2009 dawns, here's wishing everyone a very Happy New Year!!!

I had earlier written about how the Indian media are giving false news with respect to the Slumdog Millionaire track Ringa Ringa being similar to Choli Ke Peeche Kya Hai. Now, it is the turn of THE HINDU, which has publushed a totally biased article which is in such a bad taste!!

The article in question is "Who gets the credit?" in The Hindu - Cinema Plus (dt: 19-Dec-2008) (Link to the article: http://www.hindu.com/cp/2008/12/19/stories/2008121950240800.htm)

The writer seems to be totally biased against A.R.Rahman, for he uses strong words like "rip-off" unnecessarily, though there's hardly any similarity between Rahman's Ringa Ringa and Choli Ke Peeche!

Also, the article mentions about a "song by MIA featuring blaaze which sounds like an MIA composition". There is no MIA song in the album which features Blaaze!!! Which song is the writer talking about?

I doubt whether the writer had listened to the tracks even once before writing this article.
It looks like the writer's sole aim was to demean ARR, without even caring to verify the facts! At a time when ARR is getting laurels from all over the globe, the writer just wants to pull him down - there seems to be no other reason for an article written in such a bad taste!

Hope Hindu avoids such inane and biased articles henceforth!

... both for ARR and us Rahmaniacs!

With ARR already bagging 5 awards (LA Critics, NY Critics, San Diego Critics, Black Reel and International Press Academy Satellite Awards) and many more nominations including a Golden Globe Nom, chances are high for an Oscar Nom too! :)
Fingers crossed :)

If this wasn't enough, ARR gives us all more reasons to celebrate, with the Jiya se Jiya music video, from his latest album Connections!
What a way to end to 2008 :)

All the media have taken this news that "Choli Ke Peeche" has been used in Slumdog Millionaire, and blown it totally out of proportion. Some have even criticised AR for tampering with a classic which should be left as it is! But, the sad part is that the news is not even totally true!!!

The song in question is "Ringa Ringa". I listened to it. Except for the mood of the song and probably the rhythm, there is absolutely nothing similar to Choli Ke.

In his interview, Rahman just said this about Choli Ke song: "It represents that period in the early 1990s. The colour, the swirl and the frenetic pace - so I've re-recorded it in the same two voices, Alka Yagnik and Ila Arun, though in a totally re-worked form".

The keywords there are "totally reworked" and "same voices". Without even listening to the song, all the media jumped up and started promoting that Choli Ke Peeche is in SDM, conveniently forgetting these facts mentioned by AR! Musicindiaonline has just ignored that statement about "totally re-worked form", in its article.

Sensationalising at its worst!! Pah!

If you are expecting a review of this masterpiece, then you will feel disappointed. I'm not reviewing Yuvvraaj - at least not as yet! I dont think I can do justice to the album with the limited number of times I've listened to it in my limited time!

But, one thing that strikes me every time I listen to it - the sound track of Yuvvraaj is class apart. I dont think western classical has been blended seamlessly with hindustani in a mainstream bollywood soundtrack! And, I dont think anyone other than ARR could have pulled this off with such success!

Kudos boss!!


Update:
an ad, summarising the reviews of Yuvvraaj and congratulating the team.

One instrument that has fascinated me a lot is the bass guitar. That's because of just two people - A.R.Rahman and Keith Peters! I'm so very enamoured with Keith's talent that I exclaimed "Sir.. You are the reason that I love bass guitar", when I met him at the TOI concert in April!

In Indian music, there was hardly any importance for bass guitar. Composers have been using bass guitars for decades, i'm not denying it... But, it was more like it was pushed to the background. Rahman brought that change - he made bass guitar an important part of his compositions. And, thus Keith's extraordinary skills were exposed to the world, and elevated him to such a level that he is arguably the most wanted Bass guitarist in the country!

I'm planning to write about some of his exemplary work in Rahman's songs, and here's the first one!

The first song that comes to my mind is Thee Thee Thithikkum Thee (Thiruda Thiruda), one of my top favourites of AR. Everything in the song - be it Naveen's flute, or Thumba Raja's powerful jathis or the sensuous voice of chinese girl Caroline or the innovative percussion - is out of the world! But, let us push everything else aside for now, and focus on Keith's work.

Bass Guitar is definitely one of the main pillars of this song, which is very unusal in Indian music.
Right from the start when he plays the bass by plucking the strings hard(right at the start), then the normal bass guitar sound in most parts of the song, then the slap bass (during the swaras ma-pa-ni-sa.. ri-sa), Keith shows his class throughout the song.

The emhpatic fusion between Keith's bass and Naveen's flute (second interlude) is such a bliss, and takes me to a different world every single time I listen to it. The song ends with another brilliant bass piece accompanying the jathi.

This song is one of my all time favourites, for many reasons, bass guitar being the most important reason!

When you look at Indian music directors, the classification is easy - There is AR Rahman, and then there are others! When the others are looking for music from around the world, from which they can "get inspired" for their next song, here's one man whose songs are being lifted/used by composers across continents.

I've already written about the Mandarin and Uzbek versions of AR's songs... Here's the latest one. Serbian singer Jelena Karleusa has used Mayya Mayya from Guru in her album JK Revolution. Like in the Uzbek version by Iroda Dilraz, this song has been rightly credited to A.R.Rahman.

Let's get into some imagination, shall we?

START! ACTION!
Imagine you are fast asleep, and you are woken up by a loud unusual noise. You rush to the terrace to check whats happening. You see a big UFO landing on your terrace (Terrace not big enough? ah, geez!! when you can imagine a UFO landing on your terrace, can't you imagine your terrace to be bigger! just imagine!! Back to the post, now!)
And then, the door of the UFO opens, and out comes a creature - an alien - a la the E.T., comes out. You look at it and are frightened. It looks somewhat familiar to you, with two arms and legs! But, yet it is an alien and looks a lot different too. You don't know what to expect because you haven't seen anything like this before! Initially, you don't get close to it as it is a very strange creature. But, then you get along with it and become friends with it. It demonstrates its special powers - though those powers are extraordinary, you get used to it and start loving it!

CUT! CUT! CUT!

Now, the focus shifts to "I miss you da" song (sung by Chinmayi and Indai Haza) from Sakkarakatti. Isn't it exactly like the alien that you encountered a few seconds back? At least for me, it was!!
The first time I heard the song, I was like "What is this?! What's going on?" It was unlike anything I had heard before. Rahman must have been at the height of his experiment-mood!! There are so many unheard sounds. The tune is so very unpredictable - keeps going smooth and suddenly there's a fall - like a roller coaster! And, so suddenly it goes up! And, I got one more surprise that Indai Hazaa is none other than Chinmayi herself!
Once I got to terms with all these surprises, I started absolutely loving and adoring the song!

I've said it before and I say it again - Only Rahman can create such magic!

Yes... it's more than 3 years now, since I started blogging! (Sorry bloggie, I missed ur birthday... Belated Happy Birthday! )

It seems it was just yesterday that I thought of the name for the blog! I remember it distinctly. Just as the Chennai-Bangalore KSRTC bus was nearing Bangalore at about 4:30 am, I was wide awake thinking about starting a blog (though it was in my mind for quite sometime, I wasnt serious before) and thought of the name just then! One of the first things that I did when I got to campus was to start this blog and make my first post!

3 years! The blog has had an impact on my life, and how!! That, my best friends and confidante now are people who I discovered through blog, is incredible! (The crazy gal in Pune hates to say we know each other through blog coz it takes the closeness out and makes it sound very superficial but getting close to someone whom u met through blogs is something interesting in itself, illai??)

I'm not much of a writer, but the blog has certainly helped me improve and kept me writing. The blog has brought out my creativity. It has been there for me to vent out my frustration! It has helped me boost my ego many a time. (It is really surprising and heartening when someone you don't know comes to you and says "You are 'Aravind' of Rahmaniac's Reflections?"... Trust me, it has happened. And, No.... I'm not talking about any bloggers meet!!)

3 years down, I'm so glad I started blogging! Haven't been able to be very regular, but will try to be regular!

Ask the organisers of the Sunfeast Tamil Music Awards, they will have all the answers to this question!

The event held at Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium on 5th July 2008, had no scarcity of stars. The luminaries who lit up the evening included legends Viswanathan-Ramamoorthy and Vikku Vinayak Ram, Maestro A.R.Rahman, KS Chithra, Harris Jayaraj, directors Shankar and Dharani, actors Vijay, Nayanthara, Kushboo and Simran.

The event which was supposed to start at 6 pm started at 7 pm. This delay is usually considered normal these days for shows of this scale. But, what followed for the next 3 hours should probably be the biggest mess up among events of this scale.

The hosts of the evening (Raghav and actress Aparna) had no clue of the proceedings of the evening. It was utter chaos right from the start, when they walked on to the podium and waited for a couple of minutes only to go back, after realising that they should have come only later!

Even the way the awards were announced was totally unprofessional. Many a time, the AV started while the hosts were announcing the winner's name, interrupting them. There was absolutely no coordination!!! Halfway through the show, the hosts decided to avoid this confusion - they just stopped with "and the award goes to". The winners name just came up on the AV! Sometimes, they played the AV for the next award, before the current award was presented, creating more confusion!

That was not all. After a long commercial break when the stage was set for Shruti Hassan to sing, the hosts were nowhere to be seen! Shruthi straight away started singing without anyone introducing her, and majority of the crowd was left wondering who it was on the stage!

Talking of commercial-breaks, they were far too many in number and the duration of each break was also pretty long, which left the audience restless! The frequent technical glitches gave more reasons for the audience to scream and boo!!

The celebs who presented the awards and those who got the awards were left totally clueless when they came on stage, because there were no thank you-s from the host once the awards were presented. The celebs were left wondering whether they should leave the stage, or they should wait or should they speak! When the hosts announced the next award, that was the cue for the celebs to step down! What a way to treat your celeb guests!

Surprisingly, none of the celebs were given the mic! All the talking was done by the hosts - till 9 pm, that is! It took them more than 2 hours to realise that the winners should be given some airtime on stage! But, why couldn't they have asked the girl who carried the award tropy, to carry the mic as well and pass it on to the celeb? Each time, either Raghav or Aparna had to run with the mic, from their podium at corner of the stage to the centre, just as the celeb was getting down from the stage! Have the organisers and the hosts never watched any of the award functions on TV?

The stage setup was the other irritating thing - the hosts' podium was in one corner, but the entry to the backstage was at the other corner. So, after inviting the performers to the stage, the hosts had to walk the full length of the stage each time, even as the dancers assembled for the performance!

The way the awards were conceptualised was, in itself, totally inane. Take this for example. The best melodious song award was presented to singer Balram for "Kaatrin Mozhi". Engaeyum Eppodhum was selected as the best remix song, and the award was presented not to the singer or the composer but to the director & producer. June Ponal was adjudjged the Best Youthful song, and this was presented to the composer, Harris Jayaraj! I fail to comprehend if there is even a faint logic in their decision of who gets the credit for each song - the singer or the director or the composer or even the producer!

I had to endure all this to catch a glimpse of A.R.Rahman receiving the best music director award, for, that was the last award of the day! It was quite obvious to everyone there at the venue that A.R.Rahman was gonna get the best Music Director award.

There were some remarkable performances during the show, including Bharatnayam by Shobhana, percussion ensemble by Vikku Vinayak Ram's family and some spirited singing by Shruti Hassan. But, all this was shadowed by too many glitches and unprofessional organising!

After all the hype that they generated for this event, it was a big big let down! A very amateurish and unprofessional show! Hope they learn from the innumerable mistakes they made this time!