The one with all the joy

Today, January the 22nd, 2009 is a great day for the Indians. Especially if you are a Rahmaniac, I would bet anything you are jumping with joy right now. Yes, Rahman has been nominated for the prestigious Oscars today and created history by being the first Indian to be nominated. To add more joy, its triple bonanza. Yes, not one but three nominations. Isn’t that just great? Of course, it is. And the best part is, in the Best Original Song category, two out of the three nominations are for Rahman. That means, two Rahman songs will be competing against each other. Wow! Just awesome. 

To those people who can’t stop commenting stuff like “Rahman has lost his touch”, “Rahman’s days are over (pity them, for their music sense) , God has given the reply! It is a fact that some Indian’s can’t accept the growth of another Indian to such a level, something that they could never fathom. Sad but true. Look at all the variety he has churned out in the previous year. Absolutely marvelous! To think someone could even think that he has lost it, after listening to those wonders, is laughable. But still there will be people who will go about as usual commenting the same thing over and over again. But who really cares about them? 

To all those who don’t know, there is a difference between the way others listen to Rahman’s music and the way we Rahmaniacs do. We just don’t look for the tune, but also for the music, the way it is arranged, the way the singers are used, the instruments that are used, and a lot more. There is a lot to learn from each song of Rahman. He takes us into a different world with each of his compositions. And it is a fact that even the mediocre compositions of Rahman turn out to be in league with or even way ahead of some of the best compositions of others. And there are people commenting about his works when they wouldn’t have the faintest idea about some of his best compositions. Hilarious! 

It is a universal fact that Rahman’s music takes time to grow on you. It’s true, you may like some of his works at the first listening, but then as you listen more and more you like it even better. As Rahman mentioned in one of his interviews, it hurts to see people download the songs from some site and review the music after just one hearing, that too in “cheap laptop speakers” (using his own words), when they spend nearly 6 months to an year mixing it and recording it in the highest quality possible. As I mentioned before the way we Rahmaniacs listen to his songs is completely different. We listen for even the most intricate sound in each of his tracks, and hence find something quite different and refreshing in each of his songs, something that others are unable to enjoy.

Now coming back to the Oscars, does this change our perspective of Rahman? Does it matter to us if he does or doesn’t win? Of course, if he wins, as he surely will, it is a matter of honor and pride for us as Indians, but other than that? Does it make us see Rahman any different from what we see him now? No way! As for which song will get the best original song award, as Rahman said, there is no award that can really judge any music. So bottom-line, Irrespective of the Oscar, Rahman is and will always be the same in our views.

So here it is to the Academy award winning composer A R Rahman, and to all Rahmaniacs in this world.

Jai Ho! Jai Hind!

The one with all the thoughts

The movie slumdog millionaire has evoked varied reactions from everyone ever since it was screened at the telluride movie festival, more so after the plethora of awards that it has started to amass recently. Personally, I liked the movie very much. Though I would have to confess, the only reason I watched the movie was for the background score by ARR (stunning score, btw). The story is basically simple; a boy from the slums goes on a TV show to reunite with his lost love and goes on to win the show. But he is suspected of cheating, and during the course of interrogation the story unfolds. 

Logically this film has numerous flaws. To point out a few, the fact that two kids from slum could such accented English is something that is not possible. So is the fact that the book “three musketeers” was included in the syllabus of a local school in Mumbai. But no complains anyways since it was unavoidable. It is an English movie and hence they had to talk in English if they couldn’t help it. Running the entire film with subtitles wouldn’t have been advisable. And I am still wondering why ARR decided to use “aaj ki raat” song when the video was that of “fanaa” from the movie yuva (aayutha ezhuthu) , which was a really great song.

Set in an Indian background, the slums of Mumbai to be specific, the direction by Danny Boyle and cinematography by Anthony Dod Mantle  are excellent.The score by A R Rahman, is needless to say, a clear winner.But as always, there has been a lot of criticism lately, including the one by BIG B in his blog that the film portrays India as underdeveloped 3rd world nation. Maybe it does, but what it portrays is REALITY. As ARR himself said in an interview when asked about this, what we have to do is take notice of this problem and try to solve it, rather than shy away from it. It is true that to the west India has always been an underdeveloped country with slums and more people below the poverty line. But instead of slamming the movie, what we can do is make some initiatives that will change their opinion. True, it is easier said than done, but still it is not impossible. But again much depends on those who have the power, the politicians of the country. And when we realize that, it sort of becomes remotely possible (not impossible, because nothing is impossible).

As I said, slamming the movie would be irrelevant and unfair, but one has to agree that nothing of this sort would have happened if the same movie had been directed by an Indian.IMO, If it had been shot by an Indian, then critics would have viewed that as the director’s way of telling the people of India to wake up and take some initiative to improve the lives of the people of the slums. The fact that a foreigner, (specifically a Brit) has done this has a complete opposite effect. Definitely a Brit can’t have made this effort aiming at improving India. The West generally portrays India as a 3rd world country only because of the reason that, it can then prove its greatness and growth to the world. Will any British director be ready to shoot a movie that portrays the actual thing that happened during its rule in India? 

All that we can do now is work for the improvement of our country. Sure we have developed a lot in the past. There are a lot of skyscrapers than there used to be previously, there are a lot more cars and we are still improving economically. But this doesn’t hide the fact that there are still slums and children with no proper education or even the basic necessities. But with corrupt politicians and equally corrupt political system, looks like it would be a long time for something to happen. With those with the power and money to actually do something content to be in their own world of lavishness and happiness, change is far from happening. 

With these thoughts, here is one more entry into the blogging world. Hope it treats me well :P  

adios!!