True Blue Rahmaniac

2009-05-27T08:08:00.001-07:00

Totally hooked on Dil Gira Dafatan!!!!

2009-01-22T09:04:00.001-08:00

Is this awesome or what??

Not one, not two but THREE nominations for the Oscar!

He has been nominated for Best Score and twice for Best Song. What amazes me is there are only 3 nominations in the Best Song category. Out of those 2 are his! I'm so glad for him. Feb 22nd! Can't wait! I repeat! Jai Ho ARR!!!!

Best Score Nomination:

http://www.oscar.com/nominees/?pn=detail&nominee=Slumdog%20Millionaire%20-%20Music%20Original%20Score%20Nominee

Best Song Nomination - Jai Ho

http://www.oscar.com/nominees/?pn=detail&nominee=Jai%20Ho%20-%20Slumdog%20Millionaire%20-%20Music%20Song%20Nominee

Best Song Nomination - O Saya

http://www.oscar.com/nominees/?pn=detail&nominee=O%20Saya%20-%20Slumdog%20Millionaire%20-%20Music%20Song%20Nominee

2009-01-11T22:43:00.001-08:00

And he wins the Golden Globe!!!!!

The only thing that's left is the Oscar!

2008-12-08T12:23:00.000-08:00

Ghajini

The opening of Kaise Mujhe is beautiful, when it opens you think you’re getting a dance number but it turns into this lilting piece with my latest favorite Benny Dayal who does a convincing job. Shreya Ghoshal, as usual, is amazing. Dayal’s high notes could have been a little better, but I honestly think if men didn’t sing so high, then women wouldn’t be forced to shriek. What is it with Indian music and considering women who can hold a high pitch, good singers. I had a friend once say that the only problem with most Indian music is that the women are singing so high that it gave her the same feeling that she gets when she hears nails being run down a blackboard. And I agree with her! Wholeheartedly! If men would sing at a lower pitch women would sound normal. As much as the instrumental version is beautiful, I think ARR should do instrumentals like he did for Bombay(Bombay Theme). I'd rather hear something other than the instrumental of a song from the same movie.

Guzarish, I think someone with a stronger voice would have been better. Sonu Nigam sounds great, doing what he does best, crooning. The song has ARR written all over it! Javed Ali….honestly sounds a little lackluster, like he’s just going through the motions. This song has a strong Enigma feel. I like the laid back feel to the song. I’m not sure I care for the lyrics however. Bas ek haan ki guzarish…Phir honge khushiyon ki baarish….chanda, aasmaan, baadhal, no chein…..very cliche! It feels like he ran out of lyrics and added an extra paas here and there. Very hummable however. Good one.

Talk about experimentation. Behka is all that and more. It starts out innocently enough. Karthik is just A-mazing in this one! I wasn’t so sure about this one when I heard it the first time. It sounded like the cd was skipping at that section where Karthik’s voice skips. I love the way he actually sounds like Aamir Khan in his stress on certain words. The sax interludes and other bits in this song are mind-blowing! This song gives me goose-bumps every time I hear the crescendo between 2:13 and 2:30. Between the drums and the sax at this point I’m in heaven. The sax literally follows the voice, throughout the song. And of course, the little treasures that ARR always hides in his songs keep popping up each time I listen to the song. It’s like listening to a new song each time I play it on different speakers. Love the end. It must be obvious by now that this one is my favorite in this album. The ones that I don’t get when I listen to the first time are the ones that end up being my favorites. It had a Main Aisa Kyun Hoon feel to it. Like the tone of the song was similar.

That’s one step for man and a giant leap for mankind….Houston, the eagle has landed. What the heck?!!!!!!! What on earth does it have to do with being Lattoo on your yaar? Is Aamir supposed to be playing Neil Armstrong? Last I heard he was playing a rich businessman called Sanjay Ramaswamy. Mazari Mazara Zimbabwe? Lyrics! I disagree with the general opinion that Ghoshal should only be singing lilters. I loved her singing in this one. It was different and suited her just fine. I think she should do more of the same. I didn’t care too much for the constant repetition of yaara yaara yaar aaya mera.

Aye Bachoo….nothing really stood out as exceedingly good or bad. Suzanne D’Mello’s same gal who sang for Slumdog Millionaire. Now that’s a movie worth watching. But in my opinion, the music trumps all. I broke out in goosebumps several times during the movie…..but more on that later. D’Mello’s done a good job. Fresh sounding I like the electric guitar work, and as always the ARR layering.

I don’t know if the songs occur in the same sequence and time in this movie as they did in the original Ghajini. When the songs from the original released, they were a big hit, I listened to them fairly often. I think only Oru Maalai and Suttum Vizhi were actually good. Of course that goes with Surya and the red clothes in my head. He was super cute, which may be why they were so popular. Drawing a parallel between the songs is not a very good idea but inevitable. Let’s see how they’re picturized. I just might watch this movie!

2008-10-26T11:04:00.000-07:00

Yyuuvvrraajj

I was a little slower in acquiring the cd on this. Maybe it's the "Yaadein" of all the terrible Ghai movies I've seen. I only started listening to Taal's music some 4 years after it's release because I tried watching the movie and I couldn't sit through the first 10 mins of it. Well, that is something I do a lot lately, listen to ARR's music and never watch the movie. Except for Jodha Akbar for the scrumptious Hrithik, of course! Alright, the music of the numerologically appropriate Yuvvraaj, I think is pretty darn good. It seems to have the older ARR touch again I guess. I think all the songs are great except for maybe one, and that I'd probably attribute to personal taste. There are some albums that ARR has come out with that have 1 or 2 really good songs while the other 2-3 are mediocre...for ARR. They're great, but given that they are ARR numbers, you expect that extra sumthin sumthin. This allbum took me back to the days when every song in an ARR album was a huge hit and is still remembered.

I'm just going to go through in the order the songs appears in my ipod:

The opening notes of Tu Muskura remind of something that I just can't put my finger on. I think I would have liked the song much better if Shreya Ghoshal had sung it with maybe Naresh Iyer. I find Javed Ali's voice strongly resembles Kamaal Khan in this number, not a singer I'm a big fan of. No comment of Alka Yagnik's voice. Love the Spanish touch with the guitar...not something new that has been used in Bollywood numbers but beautiful nonetheless. Beautiful melody, beautiful use of chorus, interspersed with the singing, and beautful arrangement. I love this song overall, but I feel like some element is missing. Maybe I'm looking for a new take on ARR's own melodic arrangements.

The opening piece of Dil Ka Rishta until the singing starts is phenomenal. When ARR starts singing in English I get a strong whiff of 'Pray For Me Brother'. He's definitely got the American accent down pat. I hear Sonu Nigam very clearly, and ARR too, but I don't hear Roop Kumar Rathod, or maybe he's over shadowed, did he do swaras? When ARR does the swaras, I thought of how Anarkali opens from Kangalal Keidhi Sei and the way raagam sound the same. And because it is a Ghai movie I couldnt but help noticing that the last part with the chorus reminded me strongly of Kisna's Theme Chorus. This song was my initial favorite and is definitely going to remain on my playlist for a long time yet.

Mastam Mastam.....now this is the one song that hasn't still grown on me. It sounds like a kiddy song. What with all the growls and the meowing. Catchy, but I'll pass.

The Shano Remix reminded of the concept with Rang De Basanti Paathshaala and the Paathshala Remix, not the songs themselves. It looks like ARR's idea of a remix is actually slowing it down and adding rap to it. Not that I'm complaining. I'm not a big fan of rap per se, but now that I look back a lot of awesome ARR songs from as far back Kaadhalan has rap and I actually recall completely enjoying those songs! Especially in Endrendrum Punnagai.

Benny Dayal! Who is he? He's got the most divine voice! Malayali from MCC! He handles all languages with nary a trace of a Mallu accent! Shreya Ghoshal! need I say anything else!? This song definitely has the sumthin sumthin that was missing in Tu Muskura! The dreamy duet bit starting at 4:46 makes me break out in goosebumps! The music right after reminds me of So Gaye Hain. I love Tu Hi Toh Meri Dost Hain!!!

I like the original Shano Shano plenty. But I think ARR should just have one dance number. Not one and then a remixed one. I love the part where the female sings those 4 lines at 3:29, it makes for an awesome contrast to the rest of the song. The whole song makes me want to get on up and shake a leg.....on the floor.

And now for my favorite! Not surprisingly, after Manmohana in JA, my fave in this one is Manmohini (Morey). I love, simply, completely, and totally love the opening notes to this song. This is ARR at his best, only he could possibly put pure unadulterated Hindusthani singing with a softly played western dance number as the background and make it work! Mesmerised. That's exactly what I am. I wouldn't be surprised if not very many like it however. Purists definitely will not. And there are a heck of a lot of those out there.

I found Srinivas sounding a heck of a lot like Hariharan in Zindagi. Simple, beautful number again. There are a lot of melodies in this album and all of them really good. This is a great hummable tune.

You did realize that I left the Salman Khan "piece" out. Sorry, I didn't find anything new there. Unlike Lalkaar which had a beautiful background, due to my strong allergic reaction to Salman Khan, be it only his voice, I had to pass on this one.

I think I've said it all. In this day of stupor-inducing dance and remix numbers, ARR is a breath of fresh air. As always ARR is his own strongest competition. True Rahmaniacs will always expect that extra something from him. It looks like he's delivered it here.

2008-07-08T19:20:00.000-07:00

Better Late Than Never!

This is probably going to be very different compared to all my other views because this comes after at least 6 months of release of the music alone. Having seen the movie before I got a chance to let the Rahman-effect grow completely had me shifting favorites, and of course the song that I didn’t really like moved up to a higher level. I’m just going to go with the order that I have on my pod.

Jashn-e-bahara is simply the most amazing song of ARR’s I’ve heard in a while. I’ve probably listened to it bazillion times by now and I love….simply adore this song. Classic as it should be given the context of the movie, yet new sounding. How does he do it? I know that this is supposed to have a singer with a lighter voice, but I still feel that that he could have a deeper sounding one. And I loved the video of the song. Hrithik didn’t look too weird with the ‘stache, just wondering if it was a real one though. Having Hrithik Roshan and ARR in one movie was the ultimate for me. The most annoying lip-syncing that goes on isn’t in this song and I really appreciated it. Beautiful. Just incredibly stupendous. The instrumental version is just as beautiful. Normally I don’t really have the patience for most instrumental numbers but this one I can listen to again, and again, and then some more.

In Lamhon Ki Daman was another beautiful song. I like the ups and downs that ARR takes the listener through. Sonu Nigam does great justice to the song, as usual, couldn’t have asked for a better singer. Madhushree however, even for the little bitty part that she sings, sounds surprisingly old. The song was also shot beautifully. A little Hindi-filmi in some areas, but with a couple who look as good as the pair on screen, I guess that could be overlooked. I wondered why only Rai does any lip-syncing but not Roshan. Nothing simple about this one, great flute work, as usual, I suspect by Naveen.

Mann Mohana is probably my favorite out of the songs in this movie. I don’t think the whole song was used in the movie unless it was edited out. I like the way that it moves from utter despair to contentment and even holds a little sensuality toward the end. Sort of follows the story line, atleast for the character Rai plays. It’s been a while since I’ve heard a devotional number since Pal Pal Hai Bhari – and before that Oh! Paalanhaare. All Gowarikar movies, looks like he likes some amount of divinity in his movies. Wait! But the best part of the song is yet to be mentioned. Bela Shende’s voice is flawless. Clear as a bell and young sounding. Between the voice, the flute interludes and divine music (both because of the devotional element and because ARR’s music is divine) and the awesome lyrics the song ends with, this can’t help to tie for the first place in my rankings for this movie’s music. The way Hrithik looks in the last two lines – lovestruck, awestruck – take your pick, is just the icing on the cake. Never cared for Rai’s acting, never will. She annoys the heck out of me during this song.

Azeem-O-Shah-Shahenshah is a good, solid piece. ARR flexes his drum muscles, wonder if Sivamani worked on this. I loved it when I first listened. Very large scale sounding, perfect for the “Mogul” of all Mughals. Very desi video, dancing in circles and all that. Some of the stuff that Hindi movie clichés are made up of. One of ARR’s immediately likable pieces. Reminded me of Oruvan Oruvan's opening

Khwaja Mere Khwaja- This song took several listenings and sheer will to reach the position of being liked. It’s not possible to have a movie about the most well-known and remembered Muslim emperors of India and not have a Muslim devotional number as well. I liked certain parts of the song and I still don’t like some parts of the song. There are some inconsistencies in the accent and pronunciation, that I think I’ve learnt to expect when ARR sings in Hindi. But more than the pronunciation, I don’t like the opening too much but it was picturised well with the twins, but the extreme nasal sounding singing in the interludes that ARR does, does not appeal to me. Otherwise, I love the interlude at 3:45 to 4:00, except for when I watch the video. It looks like a mass PT session on the ground. These guys looked like they had clay pots on their heads and the emperor gets hit by a very artificially computerized light and then he twirls around. I’m guessing it’s some form of dance that gets done when spiritually charged? Whatever said and done, you have to admit that Hrithik is a very graceful twirler. The beginning of the instrumental version is beautiful, and is reminiscent of Pyara Sa Gaon from Zubeidaa.

I’m still working on Ada, and the more news that I hear about it, I think I understand why I had the initial reaction to it. Maybe the flight I take next week will give me enough time to fall in love with this album as I did with Jodha Akbar.

2008-06-24T12:56:00.000-07:00

Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na

Yep, I know it's been a looong while since I've posted anything. Just in a position where I fly so often with my computer and have to put up with so many empty hours. I'm back to blogging again. I think I'll go back and give Jodha Akbar a good go too, even though it has been quite a while since it released. It's an awesome album that I've had plenty of time to listen to as well. Well for right now, here's my 2 cents worth

When I compare the last 2 works of ARR I find that one surpasses the other in more than just one glaring aspect. Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na seems to be exactly what you expect to not expect from ARR. It’s young, fun, yet has its haunting numbers. It reminded me of Rang De Basanti because there were the fun-filled tracks but the awesome Khoon Chala is an unforgettable “haunter”. That’s exactly how I feel about the Jaane Tu Mera Kya Hai number rendered by Runa Rizvi. She sings it with a great amount of angst in her voice, somehow I wonder if college kids could actually feel that much in their increasingly brand conscious lives. Looking forward to videos. The song is made to sound simple yet is incredibly beautiful. This stands as my favorite, only because of its simplicity. She sounds great except for some points where I think she sounds annoyingly nasal.

Sukhvinder’s version of Jaane Tu Meri Kya Hai brought back Raat Ki Dal Dal from 1947 Earth almost immediately. Slower, louder and less smooth than Rizvi’s version, still beautiful. However, something about Rizvi’s version just touches me more, just seems more poignant.

Nazrein Milana sounds more like something the cool kids would croon. Light, fun and extremely cool. Not pop cool, but actually cool with guitar work peppered with the electric guitar and the harmonica. And this, my friends, is what ARR is all about. He doesn’t do pop, he does cool. ‘Course his stuff becomes pop(ular) after we listen to it a couple of times, makes its way to the top 10 without fail. I can’t wait to listen to an ARR version of a rock song.

Now one thing that isn’t great about JTYNJ is the lyrics. And I say this right before I give you my view about Pappu Can’t Dance on purpose. The lyrics suck for this song. Is it funny? Heck yeah! But stupidly so. The song is as always great when it’s an ARR dance one. Different indeed from Yaakai Thiri, not quite as spell-binding, but pretty darn good nonetheless. I don’t really find that much of a difference with the remix.

Kabhi Kabhi Aditi was my initial favorite, possibly because I’d had the Rahman several listenings effect growing on me then. I read a review saying that it sounded uncannily like Musu Musu, the only thing I find similar between the two are the theme of the picturisation where the hero and his friends are trying to coax the heroine to at least smile. Just a little bit. Please? AND the words Kabhi Kabhi in this song and the title of that movie. Kind of like Yun Hi Chala from Swades in how likable it is on just one listening. I particularly like how he breaks the monotony of the song by having Ali whisper the lyrics. I wonder if Rashid Ali and Javed Ali are brothers. Javed Ali of Jashn-E-Bahaara fame? They sound fairly similar with their lighter voices.

What sounds like the title song of the movie, ARR does it again after the Jillendru Oru Kaadhal title song with Tu Bole. He refrains from using unnatural sounds and sticks to unadulterated Jazz that brings to mind the image of a smokey old restaurant/bar from the 60s. The only real ARR touch is the best – his voice! Soul food!

Looks like Rashid Ali is ARR’s latest favorite. I think Naresh Iyer would have been a better choice for Kahin To Hogi. Oh well! The Maestro knows best. After the cool, hip, dance, jazz and the haunting we have a soft romantic number with Kahin to Hogi. You’d expect Iyer here. No such luck. I guess after listening to all the variety, this just adds to it to make it an all-rounder. As much as it’s a nice song, I found it, to put it mildly, boring. I didn’t find anything different in it that hasn’t already been before by someone else.Talking about differences, Ada’s songs sounded like old Hindi movie songs. I was appalled to say the least. There are ARR touches everywhere, but Gum Sum ad Gulfisha sound like songs from the 90s before ARR trailblazed his way into Bollywood. I will discuss it further after having listened to it more. I’ve already been listening to it, maybe this is just one of those albums that I just might not like – I didn’t like Vandi Solai Chinnarasu or Parasuram either. More to come.

2007-04-12T20:04:00.000-07:00

Sivaji

It has been a very, very, very long time since I've gotten the time or reason to blog I guess. Life got very hectic between the last time I posted and now. The dust has barely started to settle, and I'm heading for another roller coaster ride to God alone knows where and when. Anyways, moving on to the music at hand.

Athiradi: Loved it. Hilarious lyrics. Gun Gun, En Strong Gun, Roger Moore Poley, Dishum! Everytime I hear it I laugh especially at the usage of the word Dishum. The song is extremely likable though! So catchy, so fun, so funny. Bun Bun nee sweet bun? My Fair Lady nee thaan? I loved the Rathi thi thi...part a lot. Reminds me of Mukkala from Kaadhalan if only for the nonsensical lyrics and the catchy tune. And being the biased Rahmaniac that I am, I couldn't resist an ARR sung number. Sounds very Michael-Jacksonish. One question? Why does the female have this highly fake anglicized accent?? Sayonara? sounds good though.

Balleillakka: SPB at his best. This guy just keeps getting better than his latest best. As much as I don't like that song too much, and as much as I like this one, to some extent, probably because of the same singer, and the pace this song brought Devuda to mind. To me the best part of the song is the main chorus in itself, call it being homesick, call it the magic of ARR...I loved the Aey Balleilakka part the best. Whenever I listen to this part I have this feeling of coming home. Did not like the song at all when I started listening to it. Initially I was looking for the layers and it didn't seem like there were many, it took some serious headphone listening to actually unearth this gem. Am totally taken with this song as of right now. Love the eley...eley...eley parts every now and then in the background.

Sahana is a vintage ARR composition. If only there was someone else singing the male part, it would have been closer to perfect. I absolutely abhor Udit Narayan's Tamizh renditions. I don't particularly like his voice either these days. Enough said about that. Chinmayi's awesome. She sounds very different again. So different from the Oru Deivam in Kannathil... and very different from the Tere Bina in Guru. Full bodied, yet she manages to sound so good when she does the breathy bit. When she hits the high note between 3:47-3:55 she sounds breathtakingly lovely. I guess this song would fall into the Munbe Vaa, Snehidane, Kaatril Oru Vaarthai category.....somehow I thought it didn't quite make it to the standard of the aforementioned songs. Even the Dheem thana... part that ARR sings seems a little like he just wanted to get it done. Didn't sound like a final version. Slightly unsatisfying experience.

Sahara is like the beauty of Sahana magnified. Stupendously lovely. The only jarring note is when Vijay Yesudas tries to hit the high note but struggles with it. People have been questioning his usage in the song, but I think since the song isn't supposed to be the main version, being much shorter and with less background music, his tentative and softer rendition sounds about spot-on. Gomathi Shree - is she related in any way to Nithyashree?? The way they sing, their style seems similar. Initially she sounded weird to me, kind of flat, nasal. I guess, she sounds like she's trying to sound more classical. I love the lyrics for her. My overall favorite would be this number in the whole album. I especially like the background female singers work.

Style is one song that would probably go down better with other people. Initially screaming from the "adivaithu" was not so appealing. What the heck is he saying? Even after getting the lyrics I couldn't get the meaning of the pachai and vellai thamizhans. Spanish lyrics? The electric guitar work at the end really jarrrrrrs. I'm sure it'll be a big hit with someone. Oh My God! I'm growing old! I can't believe I don't think stuff like this is cool anymore!

Vaaji Vaaji is an enjoyable song. I loved 3 things in this song. Hariharan's rendition, the aambal-mavval part and the 3:27-4:12 interlude part. The music and the singing in this part is divine. I have no clue what the heck they're saying, but I get goosebumps everytime I hear that part. I'm convinced that I just don't like Madhushree's voice or the way she sings. Something just ain't right there. I think the only song sung by her I like is the number in Kisna. This song didn't strike me as being a stand-outter, except for the aambal-mavval part. Took a little getting used to, but a likable number. 2:12-2:18 has this male singing which adds a nice touch.

Boss - This one's an obvious Rajini number. Created only for the Super Star. Sounds like the BGM for all his fight scenes. 0:08-0:19 this section sounds like a slower part from Taal's instrumental piece Beat of Passion . Song has a lot of attitude. Goes down very well.

Overall, there were good parts to every song, but the negative aspects stood out and the good parts seem to be overwhelmed by some of the glaring negative aspects. I feel that this one was not given attention. Except for Sahara to some extent, I didn't think there was an outstanding number like Barso Re or Munbe Vaa or New York Nagaram. These songs were perfect. But all the songs are very likable. They grow on you and feel like your warm fuzzy blankey.

On a non-Sivaji note, I'm going through a Shreya Ghoshal phase. All the songs that she's sung for ARR are simply awesome, I'm surprised he didn't use her for Sivaji, maybe something else soon. I was extremely excited when I found out from the yahoo group that ARR's doing a whole bunch of concerts in the USA. I can't wait! Dang! I wish I could get the tickets already! Finally seeing him in action is going to be absolutely great!

2006-11-22T11:16:00.000-08:00

Guru...Guru...Guru...Ho Ja Shuru!

Yep, it's been a while. Things have been REALLY crazy for a bit. The dust is still settling, but with the Guru music release I just had to post something. I just got my copy of the CD this Monday, so I think the ARR magic is still working it's charm on me. Right off, listening to ARR sing has been evoking a feeling of "coming home", so to speak. So I'm biased with this album, cos atleast 3 songs have ARR singing(WOO HOO!!!). I was really excited when I saw the cover and the number of songs he'd lent his voice to. I normally listen to ARR albums on Raaga when they release, but this time I wanted to listen to the "good" quality version and nothing less. And, initially I wasn't too happy with the songs. Now, lordy(!) I'm addicted! As usual, I'm getting something new on every hearing. Alright now, I'm going to dive in!!

Jaage Hain - my fav so far. This song is like the ULTIMATE! Simple, beautiful singing by Chitra, an amazing precursor to the orchestra and the Madras Chorale Group. The first time I heard ARR at almost a whisper, I was like w.t.h??? And then I heard the crescendo, and his higher pitched rendition, in TRUE ARR style. I can see him throwing his head back and giving it his all!!!! This part made me break out in goosebumps, and still does. The initial orchestra-chorus section, right after Chitra is done singing, reminded me a lot of the Bombay Theme. This is something you'd expect in a Western movie, and listening to it is sheer bliss. No doubt, Maniratnam will do a good job when picturising this song. He's always done an awesome job, which makes me want to see this movie as soon as it releases. This one I fell in love with on the very first listen. SO much soul in this song!

Barso Re : love this song. Sung with spunk, the versatility of the singer : Shreya Ghoshal shines through. Loved her rendition in Munbe Vaa too. When I listened to it initially, I wasn't too taken with it. I didn't hear the usual layers that ARR normally adds, it took me a while to get the layers, even when I was looking for them. This song is definitely a headphone piece, if you're looking to get all the little treats that ARR threw in. Makes me want to get up and dance. My body sways with the song naturally. This would probably fall into ARR's Rang De genre. Lots of verve in the song along with innocence. The loop reminds me of Ale Ale's underlying one as well as a part of Oh! Re Chori. The initial flute shadowing is just so beautiful. The Navin-ARR combo rocks! Especially after so long.

Tera Bina : Sufiyana comes to mind immediately, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan included. I know ARR is very much into this, so he musta had a ball making this one. I sure enjoyed this one, probably cos I love listening to ARR's voice. He keeps getting better. I still remember his shy, tentative singing for Mangta Hai Kya. His accent does need some teensy-weensy tweaking. Slower in tempo, lots to listen to, very likable, very hummable. Stays on my mind. Is it just Chinmayee singing? Is there someone else? Sounds like a more base, strong voice and a lighter, higher pitched voice. Didn't really like the heavier voice.

Ek Lo Ek Muft: like it....but HATE Bappi Lahiri's voice, and his total rendition. I find the lyrics funny, the song sounds like a fun song, like the music, but wish ARR had used someone else for the singing. The joyen..joyen..joyen reminded me of the way Ila Arun sang for Paas Aaja Baalam Re in Mr Romeo, when she sings the he-he-he-he part. Chitra (Shivaraman?)'s voice fits in rather well. The whole Gujju style for the underlying arrangement was enjoyable. Not much by way of an ARR number tho. Still wondering why ARR chose (the iffy) Bappi Lahiri.

Mayya Mayya: Just when I got over the Khalbali addiction, ARR dishes out another Arabian-style number. What ARR himself called Turkish. The lyrics booklet that comes with the CD also had pictures of Mallika Sherawat in her element. So I'm already picturising the video in my head. Lots going on in this song. Sounds like Maryem Toller couldn't quite get the hang of the language, and well who can blame her. On the first listen, this song sounds plain chaotic. LOTS AND LOTS of layers. Still finding new stuff every time I listen to it. There's supposedly the rip-off from Buddha Bar, still wondering if it's just a commercially available loop, or if it was an actual rip-off. I'm slowly, yet surely getting addicted to this one cos it's just plain catchy. This is probably a good headphone number too, there's some switching sides and stuff. Maryem Toller is an awesome singer, that's a given, I guess, or ARR wouldn't have gone out of his way to have her sing. Is it Chinmayee or Keerthi who's shadowing the singer with the ehe..ehe..ehe?? The male singer hasn't been identified in the CD, an oversight? I still don't get what he's saying, something in Arabic obviously! The song sounds very authentic, unlike other stuff that the Indian movie industry normally dishes out. Addictive stuff that.

Ay Hairathe : The beginning is very much like Poo Kodiyin Punnagai from Iruvar. I think that's something a lot of Tamilians have already pointed out. Simple song, very ghazalish. I've never been able to listen to ghazals, that's probably the only kind of music I don't have the patience at all for. But then this is ARR, he mixes it up with some old-sounding music. It sounds oldish to me probably because of the accordion. Interesting lyrics. And there's the fact that ARR's voice is makes the song perfect for me. Lately its been hard to listen to Alka Yagnik. Her voice just plain irritates me. There was that effect, but otherwise a beautiful song.

Baazi Laga: Catchy, oldy song. Nothing to write home about. Reminded me of Humraahi Jab Ho... from Pukar. Situational? Only -ve? Udit Narayan. Somehow, again his voice grates on my nerves. Probably the only song in the album that I'm not all that into. One part I did like is the way the chorus shadows Udit Narayan.

On the whole, a nice piece. Jaage Hain is going down in my book as a classic. Hope it gets the global audience that Dil Se is now getting. I've already had 3 ppl tell me that they don't like Guru's music. They stole my CD and pooh-poohed it!! It's just the growing effect. Most ppl just don't have the patience that Rahmaniacs have. They kind of close themselves off from sheer beauty. Oh well! Their loss.

2006-08-13T10:00:00.000-07:00

The Golden Age

We're a privileged lot, you know! We've got Indian greats such as Shekhar Kapur and ARR offering up the very best. The Golden Age indeed, that we live in. Just found out that Shekhar Kapur blogs too!! I found his and (I think) his historian's account of The Golden Age(that they just completed shooting) fascinating. What was most amazing is the way you're actually able to interact with the man himself. Have always been a big fan of Mr. Kapur. Why wasn't he nominated for an Oscar, when his movie and lead actress were!? The blog isn't just about The Golden Age. There's so much more. It gives you an insight into what kind of a man Kapur himself is. I must admit, I'm ecstatic that he acknowledged my questions and actually replied. No points for guessing what the questions were about. Anyways, I think, after reading the blog it's not just about the music alone. One year for it to release, that's no fun at all. Check out the link for his and his historian's posts on The Golden Age alone.

http://www.shekharkapur.com/goldenage/

His historian mentioned the use of ARR's music in a certain scene in May. The last paragraph talks about ARR. The rest is also very interesting. There's history and historical accounts, and there's SK's interpretation of them.

http://www.shekharkapur.com/goldenage/archives/2006/05/thursday_4th_may_2006.html

I found the blog very interesting in itself. Throw in ARR and there's a movie that I'm going to be watching as soon as it releases. I wonder if it's too much to ask of ARR himself to maintain a blog. His thoughts and feeling out on the internet....I guess that would be asking too much. He is the kind who is rather private. Maybe just something short about his music. It would be wonderful to be able to communicate with him, and it would be more private than getting mobbed as he normally does when he's in public. Hoping and praying that this gets both SK and ARR (and Mr. Pinto) an award.

Latest Fav: Stuck on New York Nagaram. Simply beautiful. This one did not require the growing effect. Liked it immensely the very first time I heard the samples in Raaga.com. More on JOK later.

2006-07-22T19:19:00.000-07:00

God! Stop It!

What's the deal with all this hate and all the killing? I'm just not able to understand it. Do men need a reason to shed blood? Is land worth as much as a human life? Is oil worth so much? Evidently, yes. Why does man think that human life is so expendable? Taking another human life, shouldn't that be inexcusable? Why is it that people just stand back and watch while more and more people just die. Aren't most of the places where there is strife, related to land disputes? Forget soldiers, terrorists, or freedom-fighters who know that there is a higher probability of their dying, whether for their country or their cause. What about the innocent lives that are snatched away in any land dispute. What kind of a hate targets innocent people travelling on trains? No matter which faith or religion these terrorists belong to, whether it be judgment day or just plain karma, don't they know that there will be some kind of reprisal? Wouldn't that damn the soul for all eternity? What or who propagates such hate that would result in such devastation? The worst part is that this is our history. History has told us of so many wars and so many deaths, of men killing each other for control over land. Does man learn NOTHING from history? Why do they make us sit through all those classes in school? Territorial fights are prevalent amongst animals. Does this not show just how base the human instinct is? Peace seems to be a faraway dream right now. Armies, nuclear testing, armament : killing machines. Shows you how insecure each country is. So much chaos. I wonder if this is when Kalki will come down. Why do we need constant reminders from a God above to live harmoniously? When we have been given a superior intelligence when compared to animals, why do we not use it? I guess if over 2000 years of fighting and killing each other hasn't stopped the population from expanding, maybe this is just one of those ways that God has designed for keeping the population in check. As much as I've read of peoples' feelings, the hatred just keeps spreading. I see no hope for humanity as long as the negativity in them prevails. The pattern is pretty much set in stone at this point in time. I just hope I am wrong though.

2006-06-22T21:14:00.000-07:00

I've got the power...

Yeah! I finally got my comp back, and up and working, no thanks to Dell. I think I've had the worst customer service, for the simplest of all problems that could afflict a laptop. Part of the craziness was covered in my last post. I was annoyed then. I think I went through a whole gamut of negative emotions, until I got to this point where I just quit caring! And only then did I get my computer to work! Let's backtrack some. I got sent the wrong adaptor, which I returned and chatted with another guy who insisted that I had been sent the right adaptor and that I had a motherboard problem. So I packed up the laptop and sent it in to Dell on the 18th of May. It was supposed to take 5 business days. It was past 5 business days and I hadn't heard from Dell. So I go online again, chat with another nincompoop. This guy tells me that the laptop had already been delivered to me. I was like, WHAT?! Where to? Which address, cos I haven't recieved my laptop back again! To which the dumass says that it was sent to this city in this state. I keep asking him for the darn street address, and he keeps giving me the city and state!!! Finally he gets it in his THICK head that I'm asking for the street. He gives me the right address, and also gives me the DHL tracking number. I check it out and it shows the empty box that Dell delivered to me so I could send the laptop to them! He then tells me that the repairs that are required on the laptop are out-of-warranty. He says he knows nothing else, and gives me a phone number to call. I call them and this Indian guy tell me that it would be around the 2nd of June by the time I get the comp back, and that everything was very much going to be covered by the warranty. I figure since I'm moving to a different state, they should just mail it to me in the place I'm moving to. And it was delivered to the new place, exactly on the day I moved there! This was when I thought...whew! All's well that end's well. Boy! was I kidding myself or what!

I 'power on' the laptop, and less than a minute later the laptop turns itself off! They'd sent it back to me unrepaired. So I talk to another guy on the phone. Another Indian : Dave. He's all apologetic. Takes case ownership, says he'll do the needful. This was on the 4th. I send it back to Dell on the 5th. Here I'm thinking it's gonna take just as long again, but I get a call from the place I used to stay, on 7th evening. Turns out to be the DHL guy. He has my laptop with him and he's looking to deliver it to me. I tell him I'm a 4 hour flight away, he tells me to call Dell, but he takes down my new address. He takes it back to the headquarters in the nearest big city. And there my laptop stayed until it was delvered to me exactly 2 weeks. That Wednesday I called Dave, tried to leave a msg for him, but there was no space on his voicemail. So out of desperation, I try to talk to someone else. I get another Indian. I don't remember the initial name he gave me, but he did give me his Indian name at the end of the conversation - Kamal. He puts me on hold for atleast a half hour. Well, all Dell technicians and customer service reps put you on hold for a minimum of 30 mins. After a while, you just HAVE to get used to it. Anyways, Kamal tells me everything's all fixed, and I should get my comp in 2 business days. When a Dell anyone tells you that, you can be sure that it'll be over at your place the next morning. So I wait for a couple of days and hit the weekend, completely exasperated! I call and leave a msg for Kamal on his voicemail, but I don't get any response from him. Then I send him an email. No response again. He was supposed to call me on Friday to ensure that I got the laptop. Didn't happen. So I call Dell again, get an Indian woman : Soumya. She actually introduced herself as Soumya! Well! Whaddya know! She does the exact same thing Kamal does. Nothing happens. BUT gives me the all important tracking number. So I can see that that package is going nowhere. They actually had this message up there : Awaiting pickup by recipient as requested. Now I thought that it was obvious that given that I had the length of the country between me and the laptop, I never would have requested a pick-up! Anyways, nothing happens again. I call DHL and ask them what needs to be done. They tell me that I need to get some authorization done by Dell. The customer service rep at DHL was very vague abt it to. So I call Dell....again. I get this American - Drent. He conferences me with DHL, gets the right info from their customer service rep, he and I find out that DHL requires an email from the Internal Logistics something, with the right address. 24 hour processing. Should be with me right after the processing is done. Drent conferences me with a cust serv. rep at Dell, John - another Indian. Listening to them talk......I didn't know whether I should laugh or cry. Drent had just been told what to do, John hadn't a clue! Personally I don't think ANYONE at Dell knows how to deal with ANYTHING. They supposedly fix everything. This was on the 14th. I call DHL on the 16th, and theres no change. They email hasn't gotten through. So I call Dell again....getting repititive isn't it? I get someone who sounds Indonesian to me. She pushes the email again. I get the laptop again on Monday.

Lo and behold! It's still not working. I'm guessing if you've read this far, your abt a tenth as frustrated as I was. I call Dell again, and tell this other Indian guy - Nelson, to please send me an adaptor. He keeps telling me that there could be some other problem. I tell him (lying through my teeth here) that I can actually see some damage on the plug. He's forced to send me the adaptor. It gets to me on Wednesday, I wasn't in the whole day. I pick it up from the apt. office plug it into the comp, and guess what? It works.

Moral of the story : Don't buy a Dell. If you do, then make sure you have a landline, because the number of times they put you on hold, and the number of minutes you lose while holding, your cell phone will be out of minutes in a couple of days.

I'm just glad that I'm still under warranty. Can you imagine the amount of money DHL makes out of Dell's shennanigans????

2006-05-17T15:48:00.000-07:00

Never Again a Dell

I'm more frustrated than ever! My laptop won't power up and I'm stuck with no ARR for a minimum of 5 business days, until Dell gets something done. I swear!!!!!! I'm never ever ever ever ever ever getting a Dell ever again. Arrrrrgghhhhhhhhh!!! To begin with, they no longer have a way to call and talk to someone. So I had to chat with 3 customer service reps. OH MY GOD!!!! I know these guys are Indians. Given the fact that their ids are Ashok, Raminder and the third - Prince! The worst part of the conversation was when I tell them that the comp is working fine with the battery, but the battery has run out and cannot be recharged as the comp is not taking in any power. After reading the whole thing, this guy asks me if I can please power on my computer!!!!!!! I was just about ready to tear my hair out! Vidiya vidiya Ramayanam ketu Sithai ku Ramar yaaru nu ketu epadi irrukum? And the second guy I chatted with asked me the same question. Twice in one day was too much, so I said there's no power and there's no battery, how will the computer turn on!? FINALLY this dude gets it and tells me he's sorry that he asked such a stupid question. I was so glad that I was getting the new adaptor this morning, until they delivered an adaptor that's obviously for another computer. When I chat with this third guy, of course the Prince(!) he insists that the adaptor is right. I have to tell him that it's physically impossible to fit that adaptor to my tiny laptop.

I'm just glad I didn't delete all the songs from my office comp. It's only when I'm at home and I hear nothin' but the birds chirping outside, I'm like GIVE ME BACK MY MUSIC!!! The moment I get my laptop back I'm making copies. Not that I don't have any, but I think I need them in CDs. Though it would be a little hard to play em, because I packed my boombox. I'm almost done packing. Now all I need to do is to get my books in somewhere.

Latest fav - Asathura Asathura. Fun song that! I kinda like all the songs in E20U18. I don't get why others don't? Maybe it's too techie???

2006-04-24T09:10:00.000-07:00

Thoughts...

Long hiatus in some original ARR posting. Thinking up a topic to write about should probably be blamed for the hiatus. However, this time I'm probably going to be questioning ARR. One big big question I have for ARR is that why use singers who obviously don't know the language to sing in it? I remember the usage of Udit Narayan in Kaadhalikkum Pennin from Kaadhalan. His diction sucked, but it was such a cute song, that it didn't matter too much. This habit of using non-Tamil singers for Tamil songs has been questioned several times, but people while not completely appreciating it, continue to listen to it. I am one of these people. I did not like Haiyo Pathikichu from Rhythm at all because of Udit Narayan. I love the song, but everytime I hear his voice I cringe. There's also his work in Kuluvalile Mottu from Muthu. For the most part Sadhna Sargam's diction is phenomenal, but Madhushree's Sand kodi kodi... just blew! The original version wasn't too bad, but when she sang the song for the Tsunami event, hoo boy! What I'm really trying to say here is that there is immense talent in Tamil Nadu itself for Tamil singing. There are several bilingual singers who've made it big, both on their own and on account of ARR. Some of these people are Hariharan, Kavitha Krishnamurthi, Srinivas, and the latest Naresh Iyer. When there are several singers who able to sing in Tamil, why resort to people who obviously cannot pronounce the words right. There are even several Malayali singers who sing in Tamil very well. But isn't it logical to use someone who is well versed in the language? That's my question.

My latest fav - Ale Ale. I know, an older number, but when listening to Boys I never got past Girlfriend. Was the rage hit when I first got to the USA. I still remember the whole crowd yelling when someone played GF at an Indian event. Man, that's the magic of ARR. Getting back to Ale Ale, I love, simply and totally love the way the song starts out. Another movie I haven't seen, nor do I have the intention of ever seeing it. I do know that the songs were picturised well. I did get to see the Ale Ale , and well it isn't as bad as Anbe Aaruyire. The split sound of the the string instrument in the beginning gives me goosebumps every time I listen to it.

I've been revisiting old numbers for the past few weeks, Paarthale Paravasam, Kaadhalan, Kaadhal Desam, mostly all his Tamil oldies. Another song that I've become addicted to is Baila More from Kaadhal Virus. I have not listened to this song before, and on the first hearing, I was like what is this?? Weird French stuff, Spanish words(baila more) sung by Indians followed up with Tamil lyrics. Sounds like a ''getting stoned'' song to me. :) Those who haven't heard it, this is another sample of ARR's experimentation. I think he based his I Wanna Be Free in Tehzeeb loosely on this. Or was it the other way around.

Anyways, waiting for Guru and Surya's JOK.

2006-03-23T13:31:00.000-08:00

This post is going to cover some of the links I've been collecting over the past few weeks. Random links, random thoughts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_selling_music_artists

Attn: ARR skeptics. I got this link through the yahoo group. The only Indian on the list, the only Indian claimed to have sold over 100 million records or more. Looking a lil closer at the table you notice that other than him only Mariah Carey has the same number of "Years Active". What I'm trying to get at here is that all the others on the list have been selling records for a time span in some cases much larger than just the 90s-00s. ARR has sold over 100 million records in 14 years! Well you have to realize that a lot of people would have bought the record because they liked the movie, not necessarily for just the music. Lately, I've been doing the opposite.

http://theedge.bostonherald.com/movieReviews/view.bg?articleid=131876
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/reviews/review_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002199011

For those who haven't already seen the movie and those who don't already know abt the fact that ARR's Chaiyya Chaiyya starts of Spike Lee's Inside Man, here are a couple of links to reviews of the the movie starring Denzel Washington, Jodie Foster, and Christopher Plummer . The movie's supposed to be really good, and doing very well. Check out paragraph 3 in the first link and the last paragraph in the second link. I'm seriously considering renting a car to go see this one.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,14936-2100281,00.html

A short review and an appetizer for all us Rahmaniacs. You can listen to a short clip of Lothlorein, there's a link in the first sentence :) and I spent a goodly amt of time looking for the link after I read the last paragraph. Waiting to hear the rest of the music.

http://www.broadway.com/gen/Buzz_Story.aspx?ci=526588

**Charles Spencer of The Telegraph: "There is nothing here to rival the imaginative visual coups and heart-tugging emotion of such great family shows as Billy Elliot, The Lion King and Mary Poppins. And though the musical score, by the Indian film composer AR Rahman, the Finnish group Värttinä and the show's musical supervisor Christopher Nightingale is an engaging mixture of folk rock, trippy-hippy mysticism and eastern chants, it doesn't, at least on first hearing, seem to offer any memorable take-home numbers… There's a 55-strong cast, but they are often under-employed… Peter Darling's folksy choreography isn't a patch on his dazzling work on Billy Elliot." **

Mr Spencer says it all with that one sentence. ARR's music grows on you. You have to listen to it more than just once before you write a review on it. Any Rahmaniac knows that, well, others too, anyone who's acquainted with ARR knows that! Somebody tell these ppl how it works with ARR's music!!!!! There are several other excerpts of reviews in the link.

http://www.behindwoods.com/features/Literature/Literature3/iruvar_2.html

The second part was news to me, and I thought that I should let others know about it. Mani Sir to direct a Chinese movie. The author doesn't mention it specifically, but I don't have to guess when I say that ARR will surely be a part of this if it is true.

Will do something more original soon.

2006-02-27T07:49:00.000-08:00

Basketball Fever

For a basketball fanatic like me, it was a dream come true to get to go to a game. I got to see the Aggies beat the UT Longhorns (Whoop!). Our girls pretty much thrashed 'em silly. And I got the best seats available! I was sitting right behind the girls as my boss was asked to be a Guest Coach. Since she knew of my passion for basketball she asked me if I wanted to go along, and the rest as they say, is history. My boss and I were at the Bright Football Complex for a short presentation and then got a tour of the Complex. These kids have got it made. They have every facility they'll ever need to help them ace college. But they do have to work hard and 'play' even harder. Then we popped over to Reed Arena for the game and wonders of wonders, we got the best parking spot available. We got to even go over to the girls' locker room and hear Head Coach Blair and Associate Head Coach Schaefer talk to the girls before they went in to beat the Longhorns. The clincher?? I got to talk to the girls too. I didn't know that I would be doing it, but I ended up saying soemthing stupid and well, the girls laughed at it. A’Quonesia Franklin is one awesome player. I know for sure that I'm taller than her, but I doubt I could ever be as great as she is.

Fact : Aggies are ranked #25 in the Associated Press Women’s College Basketball Top 25 Poll. They were ranked #21, but they dropped a few points when the lost a couple of games against Baylor(12) and Oklahoma(9). No. 31 on http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/weeklyrpi/Wrpi1.html?gender=W

I've seen like gazillion NBA, WNBA, and NCAA: men's and women's bball games. But to see it all happen and when you have ringside seats! is totally amazing. The commentary was vintage American style. They even announced the players and the guest coaches like the way they're announced on tv. "Here we have No. 3 Takiiiiaa Staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarks." It was phenomenal. I forgot to take my camera to the game (I could kick myself so hard that I wouldn't be able to sit for a week!) , BUT I did have my cell phone! So here are some pics from the ringside :) The quality of these pics leaves a lot to be desired for. It's the best I could do.

This one was taken just as the Aggies scored. :)

That's Coach Blair preventing me from catching the Aggies acore again.

That's Coach Blair in the lighter colored shirt talking to girls during a time-out. And Coach Schaefer in the dark jacket. The pretty lady is Assistant Coach Tennison. You can also see the left shoulder and arm of Assistant Coach Kelly.

This one's of a freethrow. I did note that most of the initial points that UT scored were via freethrows.

I wanted to fight for the rights of the children that have been wronged! Child labor is such a horrible thing. I refrained :) They had lil kids do the cleaning up evertime there was a time-out. There isn't much to clean up at all, it's just so cute is all.

Reveille, Aggie mascot. Cute dog, makes her presence known by barking. (My lil secret...the Corps guys that take care of her are always cuter...ssshhh) I wanted to get a pic of the Yell Leaders too, but my lil camera phone ran out of space. Yeah, the Aggies do not have any cheerleaders, we have Yell Leaders. They're these really cute, BIG, beefy-lookin, man's man kinda guys. They plonked themselves down in the girls' seats in front of us during half-time and they looked like they had chips on their shoulders the size of the Himalayas, so I didn't make any space for 'em on my phone :) I don't think they'll rue the loss ;)

If you want to see a short video on the Aggie Women's BBall team go to http://www.aggieathletics.com/index.php?SID=WBB

Dang! I wish my dad had let me play some bball when I was accepted into the college team :( Oh what the hey! I got to watch a great game :)

2006-02-20T18:51:00.000-08:00

MY Take on Godfather

Innisai is my current fav in this album. But it took my not-very-well-trained ears a while before the intricacies could work its magic on me and move it up to being my fav. I love his other carnatic pieces - Narumugaye, Minsara Poove, and Maargazhi Thingal are songs I listen to everyday. I kid you not. Innisai keeps playing in my head when I should be doing something else. I think there's too much going on in the beginning of Innisai, or maybe it happens throughout the song and I just get the beat somewhere in the middle of the song. The background murmuring at 1:20....lends to added confusion, and the introduction of Iyer's voice seems like it can't quite catch up with the beats, at least on the 1st hearing. I didn't like Iyer's voice in the beginning of the song. It was just not deep enough. You carnatic music pandits out there...is this one an Adi thaalam? At 5:13 I love the way the background singers do the thom thom thom thananana thom, initially in between Iyer's singing, and then while he's singing. The remix has this something that the male singers say(sing), during the beats, just before the half-yodel at 2:28 and 2:33. This sounds like whatever the background singers are saying four times in Thaniye at 3:51 in Rhythm. I love the humming that the female voice does at 2:55 in between Iyer's higher pitched singing.The beats and a halfway yodel before the dappanguthu part stick out a bit, but I'm all for it, and it even seems to sit fine in the midst of a classical number. You just have to love the all-female chorus. Light and airy, despite being what most youngsters consider the heavy classical stuff. The base something(?) sounds really good. No mrindangam here. I think Srinivas would have done a better job....but that's just me. While this one isn't quite my fav classical no. of ARR's, I love it.

Kama karayil brings to mind the Inijiringo song in Thenali. Probably because of the beats. I guess this one was in keeping with the regular, now monotonous kuuthu songs that seems to be becoming a fixture in Tamil movies. This one grew on me too. It's fairly catchy, but the lyrics don't leave much to the imagination. Kattil mele kabbadi kabbadi?? Kaaman thaan di referee referee??? What..the..?? I think only ARR can change the way even a kuuthu song sounds :) I don't know if it is ARR's voice in the background at 00:42, 3:14 and 4:20, after the female lead sings kamaaaaa? Clarification necessary here from other Rahmaniacs.

Thothapuram is an out-and-out fun song. The kids voices remind me of Kuchi Kuchi Rakkamma. I love the beats and I'm fairly sure that everybody'll agree with me when I say I love the way ARR uses kids in his songs. Ocharu ocharu ocharu bava garu, Ivan osaram parthu kodupar benz-u car-u. I wonder why there's Telugu in it? It works tho. Fun fun fun. I'm not so sure of the video, it bordered on stupid. Too many stomachs dancing around for my liking.

Ilamai was one song I wasn't into initially. Right now...this songs got me...hook, line, and sinker. The yodeling is reminiscent of Ye dil na hota bechara in Jewel Thief. The 'hey' in the beginning reminded of the beginning of Baba kichu tha. The lyrics are situational is all I can hope for: Unnaku hero naanadi, un udaiko villainadi. Well I guess I have to admit that it is funny though. In the remix as Harish pointed out in his blog early on, Blaze sounds like Donald Duck. I just found out that this is called the D.U.C.K Remix. Or is that someone's idea of a joke? :) It works....very apt :) Blaze's getting better when he's rappin' with his regular voice. I mean, he sounds much better in this one than the Be a Rebel- Paathshaala. He's starting to sound authentic(rap/hip-hop wise). It's not like I know a whole lot abt rap or hip-hop. I just get to listen to plenty of it when I turn on the radio. So I guess I could say that I know what they sound like. I liked him best in Baba. That song ROX! One more for the nightclubs, very very catchy...after a few hearings.

Theeyil Vizhunda Thenaa...is a beautiful piece. There's plenty soul in the song, but I still think something's missing in it. As was discussed in the yahoo fan group, this does sound somewhat like Mera Yaar Mila De. I've a big question, why are all the songs, in all their entirety, like Bollywood, Tollywood(or is it Kollywood? I can never remember) and all the other woods, why is it that we have only Maa-Beta songs?? Why not Maa-Beti songs? Why not dad-daughter songs? Maybe there are some songs on this one. There are brother-sister songs a-plenty. My mom is the most important person in my world. How come I don't get to dedicate a song to her?? Could it be because all girls grow up to be the maas?? Correct me if I'm wrong. I could just be ignorant here.
One more thing. The instrumentation sounded like Meenaxi's Potter's Village. The lyrics floored me. The way he ends the song, the last time he sings stays with me cos he switches the voice from both sides to only one side, only for that last one line (headphones usage apparent here). If you want to know all about the raagas used, and his usage of other raagas, you'll have to become a member of the yahoo group. There are some knowledgeable ppl out there!

Kaatril sounds like a postscript to Snehidane. It even has the words snehidi and snehida in it. It's a melody that was an initial fav. I love...and I'm probably the only one... the saahiba part. Is this Reena Bharadwaj? Loved her in Yeh Rishta. Even the video, though faster moving reminds me of the video of Snehidane. Maybe it's the Sadhna Sargam deal. I get goosebumps listening to her. The interlude at 1:45 that lasts uptil SPB starts, sounds partially like the Mission Impossible OST and partially like the interludes in Made in India by Alisha Chinai (I guess I was actually listening, instead of just admiring Milind Soman's pecs back then). A simply lovely, maybe slightly monotonous, melody. Why'd they shift from saahiba to snehida??

On the whole, I think ARR's biggest competitor is himself. He's been getting progressively better and let's face it ppl, he can't satisfy everybody, which he's tried to do with this one. I find that when he was doing period films people thought he was getting repititive and that he'd lost his mass appeal thing which he had earlier. Now when he does the mass appeal movies, there are others and perhaps even the same ppl who say that after TLOBS, Bose, Meenaxi, and other such melodious pieces, this is like a step back. His choice of Tamil movies has been questioned. Well I would have to join in on those ppl who question his work with SJ Surya after I saw Mayilirage. But the song itself is beautiful. I'm never into the movie, always into the music, unless its Maniratnam we're talking abt. Ppl, ppl, just sit back and turn off the videos and listen to the magic that ARR churns out.

P.S: Ever noticed the echo effect in Thaniye? Yeah this is another one I heard on my new giant sized headphones. It's awesome...and theres like a whole lot more. You HAVE to listen to this one of the headphones to get the little stuff again. Good God! How does he do it??????

2006-01-06T21:56:00.000-08:00

Pirandha Naal Vazhthukal ARR Sir.

Here's wishing ARR a very happy 39th! I've been listening to his Water songs. As much as RDB was for the masses, I'd say Water is for classical music enthusiasts. There was another set of Water songs that were leaked out earlier and I thought those were mind-blowing. The CD doesn't contain one of the songs that were part of the leaked out set. The rest are pretty much the same except for the added instrumentation. Did ARR get wind of the leak and decide to throw a little extra in to entice people who have the leaked out version to go get the original? Hmmm... I really can't seem to pick a fav out these songs.

Chan Chan or what we thought was called Aayo Re Sakhi is a beautiful piece. What can I say, the part where Sukvindar croons koyal bhi kuhu kuhu gaane lagi, brings to mind these lush pictures of mango trees and rivers and ...and whole lot more. Rendered beautifully and set to perfection, this is one of my favorites. It has me closing my eyes and just immersing myself completely in it's beauty.

Piya Ho is another of my favorites. The sadness of the song is so evocative, so telling on the mental anguish this woman is going through. It reaches right into your heart and touches your soul. There is this haunting loneliness that is apparent in the song which tugs at my heart. Again this was another song that was sung with so much feeling it makes me want to cry.

Talking about crying..Naina Neer Bahae is literally a tear-jerker. It is also extremely beautiful and is also a song that tugs on my heart strings. I don't think I'll get the true meaning of the song until I see the movie. Prem tho hai Gangajal isme.. vish amrit ban jaaye...do I need to say anymore? Sadhana Sargam has seriously outdone herself. I never thought I would be able to hear her do what she did with Snehidane, but she does it over and over again in Piya Ho and Aayo Re Sakhi as well, as surpasses anything she had ever done before. Tha added instrumentation only makes the song more beautiful.

Shyam Rang Me sounds like a fun song. When a Hindu woman becomes a widow, her life is literally stripped of all color, and its not just the feeling that all women irrespective of religion feel, it is that color that society snatches away from her. So I could picturise this song with the yearning of some color being added to the main character's life. Wonder if its picturised on a Holi song??

Vaishnav Jan To is a song that we, as Indians, are well aware of. ARR adds his own soft, beautiful touch to it. I wonder what happpened to the Bangari Marori that was also leaked out with all the other songs. Maybe that will be added to the Indian version, so all those who bought this CD will buy the new one with the added track? I mean who wouldn't? Especially when I see that the tracks on the CD are far more beautiful than the ones that were leaked.

To conclude all I can say is that I definitely see why ARR rated this album a 10/10. The sheer beauty of the music takes my breath away. Only ARR could possibly lay it on real thick with a fast moving RDB and then strip away all those layers and bare the soul with Water. The imagery that these songs bring to mind is something that I have never experienced before. I don't know if you had a good b'day Sir, but I sure as heck did, what with this great CD as a premature b'day gift to myself? Guys n'gals, rahmaniacs, non-rahmaniacs, music-lovers, lend me your ear. If you don't already own a copy try to get your hands on one asap. It's worth every
penny you would have to spend on it.

I think a couple of my passions came together on this one. Water and ARR :) What not to like.

P.S: This post was to have been done, completed, and posted on the 6th of January, and was even started out on that day, but due to my being extremely busy , was able to be aired only now.

2005-12-16T16:38:00.000-08:00

I tend to listen to music as loud as possible, especially ARR's because I can then listen to the little treats he throws in. I was forced to listen to his music on my headphones because of the fact that I was listening to 'Hai Rama' at the highest volume that my laptop will allow, at 2 am on a weekday. I figured that neither my roomies nor my neighbors would really appreciate it as much as I always do when it comes to ARR. Not only did I get the little treats he threw in there, I also was gobsmacked at how different and how much more there is to the same song when listened to on the headphones. The first song I listened to (after Hai Rama!) was Anthimanthaarai's instrumental. I always thought that ARR excelled at instrumentals/themes, but you have to listen to this piece on your headphones to realise how beautifully he mixes his music. I could hear the flute on one headpiece and the violins on the other. When I pulled away and covered one headpiece I could hear only the flute being played, and when I pulled away the other all I could hear was the violin. Oh well, that's just the tip of the iceberg. Listening to Narumugaye is always a treat, but listening to it on the headphones, is another experience. The chalangai sound moves from one side to the other giving you this circular feeling. Out of reach in one ear and into another. Is it just my imagination or can everybody else also hear the breathing in the beginning of the song? I've listened to Snehidane, I don't know how many times, but on the headphones, I got not only certain nuances I had missed before but also the same ARR-chalangai effect. Anbe Aaruyire had this secondary singing effect in the chorus. I tried hard to get whether the second voice was also ARR's but am still unsure. Even his No Problem has some of those switching sides deals. I've listened to RDB several times at work on the headphones, and noticed some of these effects in Khalbali, and why not? I think its the one song I've listened to over and over again, and still find something new, something minute. The Zarra Zarra... part moves from one side to the other, I think this however is something that's present in all ARR songs. Maramkothiye has more than a little bit of the switchin' sides deal. I have this feeling that I'm going to be listening to all of his songs again to see whether he does this to all his songs or just a few. I know that the mrindangam sound has been split in Minsara Poove. Even in Anbe Ithu... piano notes can be heard only in one earpiece. These are only to name a few. I'm very excited, this is like listening to ARR all over again, the experience listening to his music as it it were a new piece. Only it's a old well-loved piece.

On a more negative note, I actually got to watch the videos of Ah Aah..Anbe Aaruyire. I did not get to see the movie so I don't know the context of the songs. Was the title song supposed to be a joke? If it wasn't then I want to kill SJ Suryah for killing the song. The biggest letdown was Mayilirage. OH MY GOD?! We need to take lessons from SJ Suryah on how to kill a song totally by way of picturisation. One of the most beautiful songs of the movie and all I could see is this kinda pretty unknown actress' bloated stomach dancing on screen. Oh wait, I also saw some very unimaginative 'dancing'. Can it even be called that? It's almost sacrilegous!!! There's gotta be a law against such work! Why does ARR still make music for this guy?

2005-12-09T12:19:00.000-08:00

Rang De Basanti

Oh...My...God!!! Seriously, I know I'm biased and all that, but I really wasn't expecting this one to be as mind-blowing as it obviously is. When I heard parts of the title track and Paathshaala, I wasn't too impressed, but I chalked it down to the "repeated listening - then liking" syndrome that Vijay referred to in his comment to my last post. I did eventually start liking and then got hooked on both of the tracks in a couple of days. After having listened to all the songs more than a few times, I'd say this lot reeks of ARR from a while back. There are some of his melodious pieces too, even Kaadhalan had Ennavale, and Kaadhal Desam had Ennai Kaavilaye. But it was the wilder numbers that stood out and made the youth of the nation stand up and take notice of him. But it's been a while since ARR did anything that sounded young and just plain fun in Hindi. The inclusion of Paathshala and given the amount of publicity that that one song is getting should do wonders for the lack of a hit for him. Well, atleast I hope it does.

The title track starts off very well..Daler, the King of Bhangra, does full justice to yet another bhangra number. Chitra was barely used at all. There could have been some more of her singing in the song. This song is one of those no win songs. It's a let down in that ARR didn't do anything new here. But if he had done something there'd be this big hue and cry about how he messed with bhangra . It wouldn't be bhangra anymore, would it then? Oh well, I remember him saying something about how the North is bored with the steady diet of bhangra it's being fed. Why this song then? I agreed with him. While the song was definitely an enjoyable and a good piece, I feel he sold himself short for a hit, something he hasn't had since what Saathiya? or was it Yuva? To which I would say, his music is awesome and mind-blowing without him having to resort to what everybody else is doing right now. Didn't we all start liking his music because he was making music that was vastly different from those who came before him and his peers? Besides the beginning seemed familiar, and with good reason. Paarthale Paravasam's Moonrezhuthu has the same tune to it. Oh well, it fits and it sounds good, what more can a person ask for?

Moving on, I loved the way Roobaroo started out and liked it even better when ARR starts out with the title of the song. Very non-hindi filmi. Or maybe it's just that I've been out of touch with most Hindi movies and their songs since the Salaam Namaste fiasco. Naresh Iyer sounds like he'd fit right in a pop song. Having heard him doing some heavy duty singing in Ah Aah (Mayilirage)...makes me think he's a very versatile singer. There are, however, some parts where he doesn't quite sound right, or where I can't appreciate his singing. The seconds in some parts remind me of Simon and Garfunkel. Very likable song.

Khoon Chala - Beautiful song. Everything in this song lends itself to prefection. I think this song depends on picturisation for it to be something big though. I hope Aamir obliges.

My abso fav initially - which totally rocked my socks off was Paathshaala. Granted I had some more exposure to the growing effect, but man this song just rocks. The lyrics had me smiling despite the way my body was swaying to the music. Loved it, loved it, loved it!! Was Aamir a part of the song? As in did he sing? Esp. the apni to paathshaala, masti ki paathshaala part. I read some other review where someone said that the song reminded them of a Michael Jackson number. I can see where that came from, theres a part where the electric guitar(?) is strummed on. I think I vaguely rememeber an MJ song that had it in one part. I don't know if it was lift or not. I'm thinking not, as nothing else in the song reminds me of any MJ song. Anyways, the song rocks (even though its not a rock song). I wonder how ARR would deal with an out-and-out rock number. Now that's a thought that's I'd really like to see materialised!

Paathshaala - Be a Rebel is pretty much the same with Blaaze rappin' it up. He always does a good job. I think he wrote the lyrics for this one. I liked the Zinda-bad Zinda-good part. It was cute. I'm fairly sure he wouldn't appreciate his lyrics being termed as 'cute'. What can I say, it was cute-funny. The song was neat.

I liked the way Khalbali opened. Hone hone de nasha, khone khone ko hai kya, ek saas main pi ja, zara zindagi chada.... I really liked this part. Didn't like the Ziddi parts in the songs. This one grew on me. Really liked it after the 6th or 7th time I heard it. Kinda tecnho, there's so much happening. Now that's something to expect in an ARR piece. Tecnho+arabic+some string instrument in some parts+ARR singing(albeit with accent issues) = one awesome piece. My current fav of the album! It's been exactly 10 years since his last Arabesque song was released, and he doesn't disappoint.

My first impression of Lukka Chupi - starts out great. A tad too long but still not bad at all. Would call it pretty darn good. ARR still doesn't seem to have his Hindi accent down pat. Kya bataVun maa kahan hooon main. Kya main vudnen...It's surprising how ARR sounds so different in each song. Sounds very nasal in Lukka chupi. Did he have a mild cold when he recorded the song? I think if he'd been singing the song in Tamil he'd have done a way better job. I think he was too busy concentrating on the pronunciation of the words that he couldn't quite figure the feeling into his singing. I didn't particularly like the sound of the harmonium in the background but it's growing on me too. I think he did great in Kannalane with the use of the harmonium, but I didn't think it really fit in here. Despite that, the song is very likable. His rendition towards the end was awesome.

All the slow numbers are vintage ARR. Tu bin bataye was great, just didn't like the way Madhushree draaags on parts. Tu bin Bataaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaye, mujhe leeeeeeeeeeeee chal kahin, jahan tu muskuraaaaaaaaaye meri mannnnnnzil wahin. Meeeeeeeeeethi lage.... and so on and so forth. Beautiful, beautiful number though. I usually think of the sax as something that's played at the dentists and on phones when they put you on hold. I loved the way ARR's used it here. I also think Sonu Nigam would have been a better choice with the male singer. The church bells are a nice touch too. I know he tends to do this with a new find...overuse him/her. He sure did that with Naresh Iyer in this movie. He could have used some other singers as well, is what I think.

Lalkaar cannot really be judged as a song. It's more like poetry being recited to a background of humming and some singing. Ek Onkar is similar is that it is a short prayer (?). It's not really a song. It's a beautiful prayer.

Overall, I'd say he refrained from using his favs: Udit Narayan, Hariharan and Sadhana Sargam. Given that there's just one female in the movie: Soha Ali Khan, I'm guessing there wasn't a call for many female singers. He did use a couple of his regulars: Madhushree and Chitra rather well. Normally he sings one song in his films, I'm surprised that he allowed himself 3 this time around. Hey! I'm not complaining, I think he should do it more. He has a very different voice, it goes hand-in-hand with his different style when it comes to music. I really enjoyed it in Khalbali.

One thing I can say about the sucess of the music is that ARR has played around quite a bit, experimented some. Expectations that rise when seeing the A R Rahman name on a film, might be dashed because most people who are not really acquainted with ARR will not think to listen to the music more than once. I don't see very many people being able to appreciate this album. I think people's tastes lie in different areas that even when they are aware that a song is a copy (and a bad one at that) they will continue to listen to it and extoll the MD for his work. This has been my experience.

These are my views. I tend to be critical of anything and everyone. Bottomlin: I really liked the songs in this movie. Only ARR could possibly render a set of songs that are all almost flawless in and of themselves. I would say that the music of Lagaan was perfect. I would also say that this movie's is not perfect, but is close. Looking forward to his other work with bated breath.

The picture is courtesy of arrahmanfans · Fans of A. R. Rahman. Some of the fans (you lucky lucky ppl) were able to see ARR at the audio release of RDB at Planet M in Mumbai recently. This was one of the pics shared by them.

2005-11-20T22:39:00.000-08:00

Don't you find Rahman's music repititive?

Do you? Well if you do, you're not listening to his music properly. How come you don't find remixes repititive, or stale. How is it that the same old bhangra beats of the Salaam Namastes and the Duses of Bollywood don't bore you out of your mind? Haven't you had enough of that same old pop-bhangra sound? Remixes are by far one of the most boring pieces of music I have encountered in recent times. With the exception of Instant Karma ( who sometimes make the original sound less robust), I don't care too much for remixed music. What I do see are scantily clad women with paw marks (which in itself is not original) on body parts, and butt-squeezing, that lil kids in India are watching even though it should not be allowed. I wonder how the censor board doesn't catch this stuff, but comes down hard on Shekhar Kapur?

Sure, you can tell that it's an ARR number almost right off. That's due to his style. I mean, I can tell it's a Nickelback, or a Nirvana song as soon as I hear the opening notes. Does that mean that they're repititive? Everybody has a certain style. ARR has a very distinctive one, and his music has so much variety. Okay, the reason he himself gave to his sounding 'repititive' was that he'd been doing so many period films off late. Well lets take a look at them period movies. Besides the fact that they were all productions in Hindi following the wildly successful period-pioneer: Lagaan, I don't see anything similar in their music. Also Meenaxi was completely written off. I had to look up the internet to even find out when it was released. I also listened to Chinnamma Chilakkamma because ARR obviously thinks( and I wholeheartedly agree) that the song is good enough to play in his live concerts. Reena Bharadwaj in Yeh Rishta was...I can't think of any other word it, stupendous. The sheer beauty of that song....leaves me 'word'less. I loved the Bicycle Song too.

I digress..I'm really good at that!

The Rising: Ballad of Mangal Pandey (2005) ... aka Mangal Pandey (India: Hindi title)
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero (2005)
Kisna: The Warrior Poet (2005)

I think the above stated movies released in quick succession within the same year, have led to this misconception that ARR is getting stale. To begin with, he only did a couple of songs and three instrumentals in Kisna. Both the songs were beautiful in themselves. The piano-flute duet had me wanting to look up the internet for it's sheet music. The best part, is that I don't have a clue how to read the notes and make any sense of it. But I want to learn how to play that piece. And come hell or high water, I'm going to learn it. Incidently, I saw a really bad quality version of the movie, devoid of any of the songs, and thought that the movie stank up to high heaven. Well, after Company, lets just say Oberoi's ratings slipped after I saw that one. I don't think he did a great job in Saathiya or Yuva. He hasn't got what it takes I guess. Just not a Maddy. Oh wait, not a Maddy in Alaipayuthe. Didn't really like him in anything else since. Siddharth did a much better job than Oberoi did in AE.

Before I go on to extol Ghai's work ( being sarcastic here), Bose's music was wonderful. I didn't see any similarities between any of his songs and any others in Mangal Pandey or Kisna. From his Aazaadi, to all the instrumentals and the Des ki mittis. I thought it was very novel. I' m just waiting for when I make my annual visit back home so I can buy the CD. Even to my partially untrained ears, they seems to stand out. Mangal Pandey...now come on! None of the songs in this movie are even vaguely similar to any of the songs in the aforementioned movies!

I don't know if other people feel the same way, but I've always found that some of ARR's music does not appeal to me the first time I listen to it. Examples? Believe me or not, I didn't like Chaiyya Chaiyya when I first heard it. Thanks to the Ethi van driver, I was addicted to it soon enough. Anbe Aaruyire didn't strike me as great until I listened to it for the 3rd or 4th time and then...I was hooked, and still am. There are plenty more of these.

He's coming to the USA early next year. I'm hoping and praying that he comes down to Houston too. It would be great to listen to him live. I was in Chennai when he had his concert there, but given that it was at night and I wasn't going to get the permission to go, I never even tried. I was of course glued to the telly when they aired it.

There are some other people out there who don't consider him to be as great as others. The title of this blog is 'True Blue Rahmanaic'. It's obvious from the very title that it's going to primarily consist of my feelings about ARR. If I felt that someone else was great, I'd have named it accordingly. Attempting to convince me of someone else being better when he/she has blatently lifted tunes just won't wash with me. You may be a music pundit and I won't accept it. I be that way.

2005-11-01T10:40:00.000-08:00

I practically grew up on ARR. Well ,close to it anyways. You have to admit that he was more than just a breathe of fresh air. He revolutionized the whole Tamil film music industry and then went on to do the same with Bollywood. While we're discussing this....why would they call it Bollywood? For that matter why is there a Kollywood or a Tollywood?? That is just so asinine. Be original! It amazes me how they change the names of cities in India because they were anglicized, yet the name of our film industries are an obvious lift off tinsel town aka Hollywood?

Why is it so hard for Indians as a rule to be original? I think I mentioned this in my last post too. This applies most directly to Indian film music. There are plenty of copycat music directors in India. The first person whose name leaps into my mind when I think the word copycat is Anu Malik. Man, that guy lifts tunes like nobody's business. It amazes me that he still has offers to make music for movies. Especially when this is the internet age where information is never hard to find. As I've mentioned before it was only because of Patti that I listened to all of ARR's music and realised the absolute genius that is this man. I've always been a big RD fan. Loved his music. My all time fav was 'Chura Liya'. I did know that he was a bit of a copycat from the 'Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahin' where he ripped off ABBA with his 'Mil gaya..' But I figured that he was still pretty awesome. Little did I know that even my fav was a copy. All of his and other music directors' copycat info I found on http://www.itwofs.com/itwofs.html I was surprised to see that Anu Mallik only had 55 copies. More surprising was that RD wasn't far behind at 37. I mean not all of them were total rip offs, there were a few which were inspired, not outright copies.

The Webmaster of the site, a Mr. Karthik (Thx for enlightening me suh!) has also entered the following text on the main page in case you jump to your fav MD's copy page and wonder what the TC is next to most of the songs is.

Another key aspect is the difference between getting inspired to create the tune itself and using bass/ beats/ rythm loops from foreign sources. Those songs listed which have their basic tunes inspired would have a prominent TC mark adjacent to them to denote a tune copy. Those without the TC mark signify use of rythm loops, beats/ bass and so on. One cannot judge the intentions of the composer in both cases but yes, when a composer copies a tune, its generally assumed that his imagination is dry! This, notwithstanding the kind of excuses they give - "the producer came to me with the CD and said use this" and so on.

Look up ARR's page. None of his songs have a TC next to any of the songs. He might have been inspired by the original, mostly only the background beats, but his tunes are always original. I remember telling another person who proclaimed that RD was a better MD than ARR and when I pointed out the fact that he(RD) had lifted a total of 37 songs, he(my friend, also part of the Patti ilk) actually told me that they were just 37 right? What's the big deal? I was astounded at this. How can they be so blind?? How can they not see and realise that ARR is one of the very best. Originality and excellence in one person. Talking about originality, I checked out his imdb page. He has some 25 odd projects that he's working on or will be released by the end of 2006. I don't know how original his work would be if he had so many projects going at the very same time. I hope he keeps his mind-blowing original music goin.

There was Ismail Darbar running ARR down, saying he's way more talented than ARR. Believe me, before I read this interview, I had no clue who this guy was. The interview came out on rediff.com (http://in.rediff.com/movies/2005/mar/08minter1.htm). Check this one out.

Ai ajnabee [Deewangi (2002)]
Composer: Ismail Darbar
Lifted from Portugese 'Fado' singer, Dulce Pontes' song, 'Cancao do mar'!
Listen to Ai Ajnabee Cancao Do Mar
Two interesting things to note here....'Cancao do mar' was part of the soundtrack of 'Primal fear' from whose plot Deewangi has been inspired. And second, 'cancao do mar' has already been lifted as-is in Tamil, for the movie Kushi, with music by Deva! This is probably Ismail Darbar's first blatant lift...I can almost see Director Anees Bazmee and Producer Nitin Manmohan compelling Ismail to lift this number...but you never know...!Also listen to the Tamil version Oh Vennila [Kushi]

He's come out with music for what.. 7 movies? Very original. Keep it up Darbar. He insists that Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam was better than Taal and Devdas was better than Saathiya. HA! His infamous Nimbuda Nimbuda was also a lift. Makes me wanna break out in one of those over exaggerated villain laughs.

Nimbuda Nimbuda [Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999)]
Composer: Ismail Darbar
Inspired by Ghazni Khan Manganiyar's Rajasthani Folk song, 'Nimbuda'
Listen to Nimbuda [Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam] Nimbuda [Original]
If you'd like to listen to the full version of the folk song, click here (check out 'Nimbuda Nimbuda'!) Take a look at these 2 (out of many other sites) sites that talk of this song being a lift from a Rajasthani Manganiyar folk song!Diverse Strains Sunday Tribune I completely agree with Shuba Mudgal (who has penned the write-up in Diverse Strains) when she asks, "If we can listen to a folk song in a blockbuster movie, why can we not give an occasional patient hearing to the original?" Ismail Darbar had a wonderful chance to handle this in the right way, but I wonder why he messed it up and ended with a 'plagiarist' tag - that too in his much-celebrated debut. All he had to do was to add a note of credit to the original composer of the song, Rajasthani folk singer Ghazni Khan Manganiyar, so that people can differentiate between the original and the Bollywood version - when you listen to the two you'd understand the kind of work that Ismail has put in, in his version and made a simple, 'otherwise-restricted-to-a-few-discerning-listeners' track into an ultra-catchy dance number! Its a pity that decided to pass it as his original composition.

Plagiarism at its best. Oh wait, there's more! (buahahahahaha)

Chaand chupa [Hum dil de chuke sanam]
Composer: Ismail Darbar
Inspired by the Love story theme by Francis Lai
Listen to Francis Lai's theme from Love Story Chaand chupa
Inspired

Keeps getting better doesn't it? I mean, it's just so stupid to call attention to yourself like this. Induce the ire of all ARR's fans so they go digging the dirt on ya. Stupid stupid stupid! Anyone else wanna get shot down? I'm on a roll! This guy is so full of a whole lot of hooey.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
All text in pink finds its source in the http://www.itwofs.com/itwofs.html site.

2005-10-21T13:15:00.000-07:00

No more waking up before the sun rises anymore!! No more 8 am MWF classes for me. That makes me just so happy. Now if I could get all the other students to go take that test and pass, I'd be one happy, satisfied instructor. If only such success would shine on my thesis work.

I'm pretty sure all Rahmaniacs have already heard ARR croon to the title song of S J Surya's Ah Aah : Anbe Aaruyire. I've never really liked S J Surya, and so I never actually bothered to watch the movie. I don't even know if it has been released in the USA. It probably has. I did hear however that the video sucked. The song was supposed to be tribute of ARR to his fans? Whether it was or not, it's my current fave. It's even my ringtone on my cell phone. I think I can safely assume that it is a tribute...looking at the lyrics:

aararai kodi paergaLil oruvan
adiyane thamizhan,naanungal nanban
aanaa neengal, aavannaa naan dhaan
neengalilaamal naan ingu illai illai

kanneer sindhum kangalukku
naan dhaan kaikuttai
vannath thamizh paatu
1000 solvaen aadavum seivaen
punnagai enum ponnagaiaithaan
mughamenum veetil vaipaen
ungal magizhchiai paatil vaipaen

Another thing that's not important but worth mentioning is something I noticed when watching Roja recently. If you listen closely to the background music in the scene where Roja's sister's 'ponnu paakal' takes place, I'm sure the tune is recognizable. It sounded really familiar to me and I had to pause the movie to actually play the tune back in my head. And there I had it...it was the Telephone Mani Pol tune(Indian/Hindusthani- Telephone Dhun)!!!...to be exact it was the following part:

neerillai enraal aruvi irukkaadhu malai azhagu irukkaadhu
nee illaamal poanaal idhayam irukkaadhu en ilamai pasikkaadhu
vellai nadhiyae unnul ennai dhinam moozhgi aada vidu
vetkam vandhaal koondhal kondu unaik konjam moodividu

I was so proud of figuring that one out. I had a bunch of people listen to it. They were too busy looking at it and had to be to told 'listen' rather than 'watch' to get it. I wonder if he's done this with any of his other BGMs. I sure do know that the 'My Dil Goes mmmm...' track from that crappy movie Salaam Namaste is inspired by a bit ARR did in Swades. One of my fave scenes from Swades too...the time when she ties his dhoti for him. I mean...it's one thing to copy oneself...but come on! It ain't right to rip off someone elses work and not give him the credit he's due!

Yeah I have a thing for ppl who cheat. Salaam Namaste is one big rip off in itself. Most of the movie is like an Indianized version of Nine Months. C'mon you guys, stop copying English movies. If you have to copy it, atleast make sure you do a good job. Watching a heavily (and I mean it! Like some 18 months) pregnant Preity dancing around while singing, was just too much. Javed Jaffry's comedy routine was really really stupid.

Moving back to ARR, Maniratnam comes to mind. It's most definitely because when they get together ARR makes his best music. Maniratnam's movies are awesome, cept for the end. Given my recently acquired aversion to melodrama that most Indian films are given to, I always tend to find Maniratnam's films a little disappointing. Nayakan could not possibly have ended any other way and I love the way Aayutha Ezhuthu ends with Surya moving Bharathiraja aside and stepping into the House and taking his seat, looking like a freshly cut sprig next to the white clad oldies. The scene that precedes this one was overdoing it. When there's a small accident anywhere in Chennai, everybody runs to help that person. Traffic comes to a halt. I know this cos I've been in atleast 3 myself :) It's really unbelievable that three men could keep fighting on the bridge in the middle of ongoing traffic.

I hated the way Alaipayuthe ended. All those old movies where the 'power of love' brings the person out of coma or keeps them from dying come to mind. The movie's great! But I find it hard to watch the end when Maddy cries and begs Shalini to muzhichify. I mean..c'mon!!! Roja was much better, but there's the part where he falls over and she screams and then he rolls down the stairs. We know he's been through a lot, he was kidnapped and held for ransom by terrorists, for Pete's sake!!! Now there's where they probably got the phrase'falling over himself in his haste' from. Necessary? Blah! Her dropping down to her knees and making him hold on to the railing to come over to her. Arvind Swami looks so cute in Roja. What happened to him since then? I mean he looks so fat in everything he did after that. Haven't seen him since Alaipayuthe.

The way Bombay ended was probably the worst. Moving from dousing a couple of innocent children with kerosene to having Hindus and Muslims drop their weapons and come together and hold hands...and if I remember right sing? Do they sing? All I remember doing was screaming in my head...No NO NOOOO! The movie was such a realistic take on what happened and it slid to being a run-of-the-mill Hindi/Tamil movie. I didn't like Iruvar that much. Maybe it's because it's a real life story and I don't like the main characters in it. Kannathil..was probably a good movie. I say probably cos there were times in the movie when I was thinking what's the heck's happening and why the heck is it happening? I know a whole bunch of ppl thought that the kid was good, I found her kinda irritating.

I'd have to say Dil Se was a big let down. The movie had a good enough storyline going for it. The way it was taken was just too abrupt. Manisha was ok, so was Zinta. But SRK totally killed the movie. I used to be a big fan of his, thinking him to be a versatile actor. He's so not one. (Chandler impression there) I think he should stick to what he does best. Stupid movies like Kal Ho Na Ho, Main Hoon Na, Mohabatein and all those crappy melodramatic movies. Even in those movies you'll notice that SRK just cannot emote. Ever notice how he vibrates when he cries? The music for this movie is one of ARR's best yet. It's true that there are plenty of great ARR's songs that never get heard,because the movie wasn't a hit. Check out Meenaxi..some really good songs there. Was Dil Se a hit? Well I shouldn't be saying anything about Dil Se....when there are such movies as Paheli and Koi Mil Gaya that go on to become hits. Dil Se wasn't a great movie, no...but give me this one rather than Paheli anyday. I was disappointed by the fact that Maniratnam was the director. I probably would have been less critical of it had it been a Karan Johar movie. I would have been amazed at Johar's insight. Personally I think that as long as there are pathetic directors such as Johar around, Hindi movies are going to stay low. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to iggy them. Paheli was the abso worst though. I expected much more from Palekar.

I didn't know that ARR had done the score for a Chinese movie called Tian di ying xiong aka Warriors of Heaven and Earth back in '03. I was amazed. When he goes international he well and truly does go international. I was able to catch only 30 seconds of some of the songs on http://musicstore.mymmode.com/album.do?albumID=815889. I'm looking to buy it soon. There were some reviews about the music, both good and bad. Nothing ugly though.
http://hometown.aol.com/musbuff/page74.htm . It was called Between Heaven and Earth for the US media...I think? http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/articles/2004/03_Nov---CD_Reviews_Battlestar_Galactica_and_Between_Heaven_and_Earth.asp .

Oh well, I'm done with the SRK bashing for a little while. Or well maybe not...I just remembered that SRK's all set to remake Thenali in Hindi. Ye Gads! Thenali itself was a copy, and a fairly rotten one of 'What About Bob?'. I vaguely remember seeing the 1991 released Bill Murray starrer when I was younger. I'm fairly sure I found it funny back then. I'm pretty sure I did not find Thenali funny at all, given that Jothika was flabby and wearing close to nothing in the movie. Yeah I know, there have been several occasions when my Dad has told me that if only I would use some of my memory for storing info about studies rather than movies, I'd ace all my tests. Kamal's a great actor, and he did a great job on a mediocre movie, but SRK??? That's one movie I'm not looking forward to watching. My all time fave Kamal movie is MMKR. I was looking around for it but was unable to find it. Wonder where I can find that one.

I have this theory that Maniratnam uses only brand new faces(Arvind Swamy, Madhavan) because he's able to mold them easier. Seasoned 'pros' like SRK could be harder to elicit the required response from? Maybe? I wonder if thats why Dil Se didn't do so well. I'm scared of what the outcome of The Mahabharata will be. SRK and Aamir Khan. Yeah he's another one I'd love to rough up sometime :) Again...the Patti ilk...iggy the blog if you can't stomach the criticism.

2005-10-20T10:24:00.000-07:00

It's Thursday and the weekend is almost here. If it weren't for that one 8 am class that I face every MWF I'd be able to sleep in every day. Even when I need to get some sleep, I toss and turn until 4-5 am before I get any sleep. No wonder they call it beauty sleep. Now I've always had these hideous dark circles under my eyes, and they used to get me out of classes and unexcused absences all the time. "Ma'am/Sir(depending on whether it was ECW or LC), I was really sick yesterday, and here's the letter from my mother." Pulled a long face and looked a lil tired and it worked like a charm all the the time. Now I don't even have to try. I look like a racoon.

Oh yeah, ECW used to insist on a letter from my parents. They used to want to meet my parents too, twice a year! Imagine that!! In college no less. My dad never had the time, he got so annoyed once that he told me to provide them with a photo of him. He insisted that they'd be able to see him more than twice a year that way. I used to wonder if my education in a high school convent just got extended for another three years. Compared to the classes I attended over here, ECW seems worse than a convent. Do this, don't do that. Break the Rules from Boys is the most apt song for ECW. Anyone who had to listen to the crap that the teachers dished out, would agree with me. The stuff I take from my students over here is amazing. If Mala Ma'am were to ever listen to these kids she's probably have a coronary. They eat in class, they put their feet up on the desk when working in class, they walk around whenever they want to, and they also drink soda in class without asking me for my permission!!!! Remember those days when the teachers would threaten you with a TC? I would've chucked these kids out on their ears gazillion times for just their belligerence.The URL of this page is the result of one of my football player students, who insisted on calling me Sushi Baby(I have a feeling he just wasn't about to even try to remember my real name). Shyamu Baby would have gotten me kicked out of the college :) Yes Mala Ma'am, they keep 'frowning their eyebrows' at me all the time.

The best part of ECW was the time when one of the QT teachers gave us homework and then went around grading us, in class!! Of course, I hadn't done my homework. I was then forced to stand for what was left of the class. This was college! Oh! and there was the time when I wasn't able to answer a question in class and had to write out the answer to that question 15 times. Not so bad when compared to the kids who got a score lower than 50 on their test. They wrote out the entire exam 15 times. I have a feeling I'd lose my job if I ever did that to any of my students. There was this other time when a couple of my classmates actually had to wear only salwars for a month because their t-shirt was too short....or they shouldn't have been wearing capris....or something equally inane.

There was this other incident that comes to mind when discussing the narrow-mindedness of Madrasis. I remember a teacher telling me that she'd nabbed this girl playing hooky with her bf every day from college. Her car would drop her off at college and she'd hop into another car with her bf and get dropped back at college in time to go back home. 'We caught her red-handed!' and she looked so triumphant about it too. C'mon!!! and don't give me all that crap about our 'culture'. Almost every kid in Madras has a bf/gf. They hide it real well. They start as early as 6th-7th std. It happens in co-ed schools all the time. That's probably why there are still so many convents still reigning in Chennai. I can vouch for the fact that convents are the most stifling, intellectually stunting places. They ingrain such stupid ideas in students. The girls go stir crazy...become sex starved by the time they're out of school. The opposite is true too. Guys tend to look at women as mere sexual objects. Hence the incidents relating to ' eve-teasing' is rather high in Chennai. Hindus pray to godesses too. Shakthi, Devi, Meenakshi, call her whatever you want. They pray to her, yet they treat women so badly. That's another issue altogether. I hated the two years I was forced to attend classes at the 'Chapel Meadow'. I don't know about the other schools but the nuns at this one were real curmudgeons.

Right, I have a tendency to ramble on. Oh! and a self professed nonself-critical reader. My advisor has been expressing his feelings on my shortcomings quite a bit of late. I think that would be evident from the fact that he's kept me on the same chapter for a while now. Anybody who knows me also knows that I have frustration pouring out of every pore of my body right now. What can I say? I could say what every body else has been telling me. Patience! Lordy! If only He had doled out extra my way I think I'd be a better person all around. Believe you me, I've learnt patience the hard way after I got here. I just need a large dollop of it right now.

Alright, I'm done whining for now. I have many many 'whys' in my head now. Will be found pondering them while listening to ARR at my desk if needed.

2005-10-19T14:03:00.000-07:00

I've always been a bit of a Rahmaniac. Its only due to this really annoying friend of mine, I call him Patti, a take on his other nickname Pathe, that I actually listened to every single song composed by ARR. Yeah Patti! ARR does kick **'s ass! For those who don't understand Malayalam, Patti = dog. I think if someone smells like a dog, acts like a dog and thinks like a dog, you can be assured that he/she is one...a dog. :) JK Patti JK(disclaimer)!!

Moving on to more important matters, such as the enlightenment, I've always thought that he was one of the most talented music directors of all time, but I never realised the extent of his talent. If you haven't already listened to his Water tracks, get a move on and listen to them. Well all of his music is mind-blowing. The sad part is that most non-Tams can't listen to and completely appreciate his most beautiful creations. They hear the dubbed versions and appreciate them, imagine what they'd do if they could understand his originals. What I absolutely love abt ARR is his humility. There are so many instances of this wonderful trait of his. He's huge, he's an international phenomenon. If you don't believe me check this gentleman's blog out.
http://moviescore.blogspot.com/2005/10/elfman-still-number-one-composer.html

He also seems to be the most humble celebrity from where I stand. There was a concert in Bangalore on Oct 8th, and living in this village called College Station, and being as impoverished as I am, there was no way I could possibly have gotten to fly home to see him in action. I heard all the accounts though and for a while there I got asked by everyone I met whether I was doing fine? I turned a very pretty shade of green for a few days in between. There were a whole bunch of pics being circulated of people photographed with a very tired looking ARR. Dang! I wish I could've been there! He's supposed to be coming to North America(prolly not even the USA) in Feb of next year. Hopefully(keepin my fingers and toes crossed) I get to see him live in concert.

I've posted one of my fave pics of his. I'm going to have to look up who took the pic, it wasn't me. You can see him, the lil guy inside of his car, surrounded by his fans. He looks like any other ordinary guy. So unassuming. He's what I would call a dark horse. Brings back to mind that old adage: never judge a book by its cover.

Every time I try to think of which of his songs are my favorites, I find all of his songs tumbling through my head. I can tell for certain which ones aren't my faves, but I'd probably have to say that his first movie has his ultii songs. Roja....oh man! my Mom probably rues the day she bought the cassette for me back in 1992. Rest assured I played it over and over till the cassette gave way. My family was heartily sick of Roja by the time that happened, I was also forbidden to buy another one. However, I am now the proud owner of the movie itself. There was this one time I couldn't find the Kaadhalan tape and I actually asked my mother where my kaadhalan was. She gave me the 'look' before she went purple choking on her laughter.

What is the deal with ARR and Manirathnam? When asked why he comes up with simply awesome music for Mani Sir, he smiled and replied that Mani Sir knows how to use the music. I'm sorry but I disagree. Dil Se had amazing music, one of his best yet, but I always felt that the songs were just stuck in, for no reason at weird intervals in the movie. Oh well, I could go on about the choice of actors and all of that but, that could make another great post.

I'm not done extolling ARR's praises. There's plenty more where this post came from. If you're of the Patti ilk, ignore this blog. Cos I'm goin' tuh be runnin' down every other MD who lacks originality.