AR Rahman is a genius no doubt, but
iView Author: Anand (Chennai, India)
Email: withheld
AR Rahman is a genius no doubt, but
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AR Rahman has won his first golden globe and all of us are shouting from the rooftop that he has done us proud.
Yes indeed, but let me play the devil’s advocate and ask you the question, how many of us have actually listened to the soundtrack of SM? (I am not talking about NRIs here). Many of us who have not listened to the soundtrack are now predicting that he would even get an Oscar!
My opinion: AR Rahman is a genius and he does not need a Golden Globe to prove that. I have not listened to SM so far, so I cannot form an opinion for sure if he deserved it. What I can surely say is that he deserved the biggest of awards for his score in Roja, Thiruda Thiruda, Kannathil Muthamittal, Dil Se, Alaipayudhe, Rang De Basanti, Minsara Kanavu, Kandukonden Kandukonden, Lagaan, Swades, Bombay Dreams, 1947 Earth..the list is huge. Does a Golden globe change our perception of him? We do not need a golden globe to recognize his talent. But I notice that many of us (by us, I mean Indians) do not comprehend the magnitude of talent that is available with us. All of us went ga-ga when Elizabeth was nominated for 7 Oscars. Did we even think about what a talent Shekar Kapur was/is, before Elizabeth? I remember only bad things said about Shekar before Elizabeth. After Elizabeth, he has not won any award..does that make him a lesser filmmaker? In my opinion, his ‘Four feathers’ and ‘Golden Age’ were equally good films. And so were Mr. India and Masoom.
It is unfortunate that many of us badmouth our geniuses and need West to recognize their contribution. I have several examples. Take any blog about Kamal Hassan, there are at least a few comments which criticize him…that he hams, that he wants to project only himself etc. A performace like Mahanadhi, Guna, Hey Ram and Virumandi anyday can be compared to the best in the West(or East). Yet we ridicule him saying that his ambition is to win an Oscar.
Ilayaraja..After Subramaniabharathi, this is one artiste who has never been given his due(by the State, by the society at large). We are doing a big mistake by not appreciating the kind of talent that Raja is. There are many die hard fans of Raja and I am sure they would object to my opinion, but can you justify not giving a Padmashree to a talent like this man, who has contributed for the last three decades?
AR Rahman himself – Do you know that ARR was ridiculed for his background music when he initially entered films? Just watch Roja now and you will understand how his music enhances the film. Dil Se, 1947 Earth, Golden Age – a number of films where the BGM has been exceptional.
K. Viswanath – The contribution of this genius to Telugu Cinema has never been appreciated by the ‘Neo Pan Indian’ media and therefore his genius has never come to limelight outside AP, and to some extent, Tamilnadu. At a time when films all over India were nothing but Masala potboilers, he thought of Sankarabaranam, a carnatic musical. He had the comprehension to rope in KVM for music and the master stroke was to rope in SPBalu for rendition of songs. Sagara Sangamam, Swathi Muthyam – such gems…!
I am not much aware of Malayalam films, but in whatever I have seen, Mohanlal and Mamooty are no lesser than any talent that is ruling the world today.
And to top it all, Bachchan’s over the top performance in Agneepath. After he won the National Award for it, so many people criticised him. Yet today we are praising Slumdog and from whatever I have seen bits and peices of it, it just looks like a ‘Classic over the top’ Indian masala film.
Does it mean that the Golden Globe is not important..Let us put this in perspective. The GG is important. In two aspects. Any recognition is inspiration for an artist and therefore as a recognition it is important. Also, a GG or an Oscar enhances the business potential of a film. It enhances visibility for the GG/Oscar winner’s other works. Once an Indian gets a Golden globe or an Oscar, it opens a lot of business avenues for Indian filmmakers across the globe. Mind you, these are two important benefits that we get from a GG or an Oscar and I am not undermining that. Today the news is out that Taare Zameen Par is out of the Oscar race. It is not in the top 9 shortlisted films by the academy. With due respects to the academy and to the shortlisted other 9 films, Academywaalon, we respect your decision, but I personally think that most of your members have either not watched our film or have not comprehended it completely.
Let us not wait for GGs and Oscars to appreciate huge talents that we have amidst us. I am happy for Rahman, the kind of genius that he is, this is only another beginning for him. But make no mistake, GG or no GG, Oscar or no Oscar, he is one of the best of all times! And so are our own Kamal, Raja, Mani, Mammooka, Lal sir, K Viswanath, Naseer saab and many others. Oscar and GG – Yeah, you are welcome, it enhances our business potential, it gives us a good feeling, but thanks – we have people who have given better performances than some of the GG and Oscar winning performances.
Tags: Amitabh Bachchan, AR Rahman, Golden Globe, K Viswanath, kamal hasan, Mohan Lal, Nasseruddin Shah, Oscar
Anurag Kashyap
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Hansal Mehta
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Bhavani Iyer
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Onir
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Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
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You said it in your post…”it enhances our business potential and it gives us a good feeling”.
I think those effects deserve more credit than you merit.
Afterall, capitalism and hedonism is making the world go round.
Awards, I like.
merit than you credit…
(god, don’t you hate it when a smarty-pant line goes wrong)
I didn’t really like the movie,but the background score is amazing!!!
Great writing!!
Good points.
I agree with you absolutely on Raja and K.Vishwanath.
However as Raaja said in a function, what he is is because of the work done by all his predecessors who set songs to so many wonderful tunes that he had to do it differently to gain recognition. Same way what ARR has achieved is no doubt a great thing of his own efforts, but it is also because he had to do so different things from what had already done by Raaja, MSV, RDB, SDB, Salilda to get his due. Instead of looking it as achievment of one individual – lets celebrate it as a fruit that has come from a tree planted by all those luminaries whose names the west might never know.
Most of the tracks of SM are good (especially Mausam and Escape, which is used very liberally in the movie). But I’m not sure if it’s worthy of a GG or one of ARR’s best (again, I have not heard the soundtracks of the other nominated films).
If you haven’t heard the soundtrack of SM, you can check it out at http://www.musicindiaonline.com/music/hindi_bollywood/s/movie_name.10198/
The thing is when you realize the worth of an artist, you cannot go back and reward his previous works with accolades such as awards for the current year. So you have to see if the work from a current year stands up to the challenge, and reward it. I definitely don’t think Martin Scorsese deserved an Oscar for The Departed, especially when compard to Taxi Driver and the likes. But Martin Scorsese DID deserve more than one Oscar. So how does the Oscar committee make up for that? By giving him award for a lesses glorious work (which I don’t think is even a case with SDM, but just for the sake of argument)
slumdog was a masala potboiler all right. I think Page3, traffic signal definitely needed to to to GG and oscars then.
all the Salaam Bombay hangover will get more good buzz for Slumdog…BUt it makes me sick in the stomach somehow…..
are we parading our third world problems, potholes and filth to garner an award…
The movie definitely lacked in the acting deptt..
dev patel and frieda could have done much better.
Seen much better Hindi movies this year and before.
Its like American Beauty wins one year and Schindlers list another…no comparison.
Like you correctly identified yourself, you are just playing devil’s advocate.
You haven’t seen the other nominees in the Best Foreign Film Category.
You haven’t heard SM.
The GG can only select from talent that is available to them, most of these geniuses were never on that platform. Of course, this doesn’t mean that the best wins. We might not even know if the best is in some corner of the world waiting to be recognised. But those are the rules of the game.
SM music is neither Bollywood nor Hollywood. You are going to be hugely disappointed if u go in expecting a classic Hindi film score. Listen to SM BGM and other hollywood movies, and you’ll realize why he got the award from the judges.
Again, while roja, bombay dil se were good in their own right, I wouldn’t go ahead and predict that they would have won the award for music if nominated those years.
One thing I can agree with. Our respect for him or anyone else does not depend on the GG. But the respect and attention he and the Indian film industry is getting is the only thing that is important here.
Kanda Poha – Yes, I agree they deserve a lot more credit than the offhand way I had mentioned.
Jaiganesh – Thanks. Interesting POV. My view is slightly different. Rahman was different from others in two ways:
1. He thinks big (SM is not an overnight achievement; he has built it brick by brick with Bombay Dreams, Lord of the rings and Golden Age).
2. He had the advantage of the post globalization audience.
Pratik – Thanks for the link, but have anyway got the CD now and listened to the songs. My opinion: the are surprisingly catchy for a first time hearing, considering it is from Rahman!
Tejas – Deepak: What I wanted to say primarily through my post is about the neglected(or not sufficiently respected) talent. Had wanted to use Rahman and GG only as a platform. Hope my objective came through clearly in the post.
@Anand – I agree. I wasn’t posting in a particular response to your post. It was more of an observation to a few comments since ARR won, that have been flying here about SDM not being ARR’s best work. And your article started on similar notes, and also the post right before mine was along the same lines.
Also, the success is not just post-globalization. As has been pointed out in other articles, the advent of cable television, the wider spread of films from directors like Manirathnam and Shankar, has contributed to his success. One more factor is IT revolution (and, how!!). People from different parts of the country have flocked to B’lore/Hyderabad and Chennai for jobs, and so have people from these cities to Gurgaon, Pune, Mumbai and Noida. ARR’s lot of work that would have gone unnoticed at the national level otherwise, has found a new audience after 97/98 because of this reason as well.
SM is one of Rahman’s average creations ,but then this shows the power of his music ,if one of his average creations can win a golden globe ……..to AR’s fans this award is like a token gesture nothing more nothing less …..it’s like giving a Grammy to Lata or Kishore ,pretty much pointless IMO.
SM music is good but not his best.. just imagine if hollywood guys listened to roja, sathiya, or dilse they would fall at rahman’s feet and worship him
i have had my share of working with stars but watching Lal sir working his magic during Kurukshetra’s shoot last year was spellbinding. The amount of respect and devotion he commands from the rest of the cast and crew is amazing. Being an outsider from Mumbai i was totally mersemized watching ppl performing puja on him every morning when he came out in costume!!!
I had a similar experience watching Mithunda enter a set recently. The entire lot of technicians, artistes and spotboys went on applause….
These people dont need and Oscar or a GG man they are on a different plane altogether.
for all those who are slamming and wondering why SDM is getting all this attention and who construe it as nothing more than a potboiler comparable to page 3 etc etc ate talking through their Arse.
a good film is a good film and gets recognized worldwide irrespective of its cultural nuances , people in india might be use to seeing slum kids getting treated like shit having their eyes gouged out etc , but to a foreign audience its shocking and astonishing, and its those nuances that make the film work ,
TBZ is a nice film but nothing more , i would say it fits into the “hallmark” variety of cable films produced in the US and hence its deletion from the List.
and yes winning a Golden Globe or an Oscar or a Cannes is a BIG thing wether u prefer to own up to it or not , it stands for quality of Cinema and Ideas
@mfa, you are the one talking through your Arse. As a non-indian lover of Indian cinema (Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, etc.) I can fairly say that Slumdog is not a great movie. It was entertaining but not award worthy. The grown up lead actors were not even very good. I have seen much better movies from Indian directors. SDM is overrated and getting attention for some unknown reason.
I’m very happy ARR is getting recognition. But to be honest the SDM soundtrack is not his best work.
Regarding TZP, it was never going to make it on the short list for the Oscars. It is just not that good a movie – standard hallmark tv movie of the week stuff will not cut it with the academy. I have seen a few of the movies that made the cut and they are superior to TZP. This was a bad choice once again by the selection committee to represent India.
@Lee
yes , your opinion and taste is more valid then all the finest cinematic opinions of the world who for some “unknown reason” hold the film in high esteem
but then again as the saying goes “opinions are like arseholes , everybody has one ” ;)
Nopes, “Opinions are like erections. If you are healthy, you can have more than one.” :P
The number of awards that movie gets can never be said to be foolproof and final bench mark for judging it. YEs but it enhances its business prospective. I dont think any Indian is gonna see Rehman any different becasue of this award. People liking him will continue to like him, and people who think he is overrated and unworthy are gonna think the same. SDM may be overrated or not, but it can be definetly be used as one more platform for projecting Indian cinema to a wider audience. AR Rehmans award might make a few more people from the global cinema to pay more attention towards Indian cinema.
With respect to the neglected lot in the Indian Cinema, first these artists have/should get their due from our own country. The National Awards have several times completely ignored many great works. First we need to bring in a system where movies from Tamil, Malayalam, Bengali and Marathi gets equal recognition at the National Level. Then they can be marketed to global audience.
Raja was a great Talent but many can sniff his Ego from the air. Such attitudes doesn’t help one succeed in Bombay.
Even Maniratnam said in a interview in Hindu that Once a Tune is finalized with Raja it’s impossible to modify it later.
If anyone has to be blamed for Raja’s lack of National Success it should be himself.
“SDM may be overrated or not, but it can be definetly be used as one more platform for projecting Indian cinema to a wider audience.”
lol it was a British film
@mfa
to be more precise it is a movie by a british filmaker funded by US/UK film houses. SDM is not Indian cinema, i meant it definetly throws some more light on Indian cinema with Ar Rehman getting all these internation acclaim. Guess i wasnt clear in the previous post.
Sundar – Even Kamal has a huge ego. But as far as I know, only mediocre people find it tough to handle Raja and Kamal. And the film fraternity, to a large extent, is filled with mediocrity. But let me tell you, ego has nothing to do with National success. There have been empty vessels with a huge ego in Hindi Cinema before and after Raja, and many of them were/are very successful. Giving examples here may digress from the topic being discussed, but still can’t resist the temptation :-)
Rajesh khanna
Raaj Kumar
Salman Khan
Nadeem (Shravan)
just to name a few.
SDM music is very good. We shd not compare SDM with Rahman’s other scores, because the music is BG driven – not song driven. If you need to compare SDM’s music, u need to do that with Rahman’s other BGM’s and not his songs. I personally feel that Rahman has done a great job in fusing the East and West through his music (although that comes very easy to him)
Moreover i totally accept what Anand says abt the recognition aspect. But the reason why people go gaga over the GGs and Oscars is we are always in awe of the West. The day we take pride in ourselves from the good work we do, we wont need a third-party to recognise a genius among us. But with the kind of imitation that we do of the West be it out films, music or art – i dont find that happening any time soon.
I have seen SDM and it does not showcase India in a bad light. It has a few gut wrenching scenes in the slums but as the film progresses you just feel how the underdog ends up a winner. I think the Western audiences identify with the film as Danny Boyle shows the odds these 2 little slum kids fight with and finally ending up with one of them a millionaire. It is a typically Indian subject film with an Indian feel but handled by a British director. Let us give it to him because if the same subject was handled by an Indian director he would have had unnecessary fights and item songs because the story gives ample scope for it. Rather Rahman’s songs and music definitely moves the story forward. I have the soundtrack and the reason why Rahman is international stuff is obvious when you listen to his compositions and MIA. The treatment of sound is at par. What sticks out like a sore thumb is Aaj ki Raat though the situation demanded it.
The BG music of Slumdog was great, but there were better competition . It was nowhere near “The dark knight” which had one of the best scores of the year and also “Benajmin Button” which had some great BGM.
Nice article,i feel A.R Rahaman truly deserved an award for SM.His music was really unique to West..It was not a usual hollywood background music..truly a genius musician!!
Good one Anand
….Awards get recognition but is that a direct implication of talent.. well not necessarily…but in this case it is a big YES… btw Arr proves his talent again in his new soundtrack — Delhi 6… one awesome soundtrack 
It’s like some ready my thoughts and articulated them even better that I could imagine. Can’t agree with you more.
@Anand:
Probably Raja was unlucky not to have found Producers that pamper his Ego in Bombay. But i seriously doubt if people from the other side of Vindhyas had a vendetta against him. I’ve read a few articles on such tones.
If you look at it Objectively you can see in early 90s some ordinary composers like Deva, VidyaSagar, Bharadwaj, Adityan and Sirpi mushroomed from nowhere and they had the knack of imitating Raja’s tunes. These clones ended up eating his Pie and in mid 90s Raja started losing Good projects just because the directors had a better say during Composing.
sundar: I have met Raja and he is a very humble man. I dont think he expects others to massage his ego. He just calls a spade a spade. And is he is egoistic not to massage other producers ego. Thats his problem. I’ll give you and example. Lets say two producers come to meet him without an appointment – he will first meet the guy who comes first, not necassarily the bigger producer – that makes the bigger producer fret and fume. Thats the problem. But as I said earlier, in the film industry, this is not such a big issue. This is not the reason for his failure in Hindi; Raja was not a success in Hindi because his priorities were different.
On your second comment, I agree. The resonably good projects went to the clones and the real good projects went to Rahman.
Anand,
I’ve not met Raja personally but am an AD, the producers and directors i know have their share of grievances about Raja whilst Composing.
Well if i get a chance to make a film I would prefer a free flow collaborative affair rather then being given limited options.
All regular Raja Loyas like Maniratna, Balachander, Bhrartiraja, Kathir moved out of Raja.
Obviously something was not cooking well, Ain’t it?
Anand, I cant think of a single movie in the 90’s which could have added value to him or he could have added value to. Except for Rahman, nobody else really got top-of-the-line projects. And movies like Alai Paayudhae, Dil Se werent really cut out for Raja. Rahman’s music propped up these movies and without that, they wouldnt have been much – and that means that they were ordinary uninspiring movies which IR wouldnt have delivered in his 90’s form – during 90’s he needed the best of the movies to show his best.
IR got his Mahanadhi, Hey Ram, Sethu, Pithamagan – he delivered and how. In a parallel world, the last 3 would have got the National Award for the BGM alone. Instead, we had Kal ho na ho types winning the national award – so where is the level playing field? Even Rahman wouldnt have got so much fame if he hadnt conquered bollywood. Even now, Times of India makes comments like “Rahman may have won the award but Anil Kapoor and Sharukh Khan won the hearts by ‘celebrating passionately’ and ‘blowing kisses to crowd’ respectively”!
Amazing sense of talent-appraisal these guys have
sundar, otoh Kamal and Balu Mahendra swear by him. But it is okay – you are biased against Raja so you cannot be convinced. He cannot stand mediocrity – in each of the cases you mentionedd, the problem came when he categorised the latest movies of the respectiver directors as mediocre – KB with PPA and MR with Thalapathy. RUumour goes that MR slapped IR after his comments during rerecording of Thalapathy.
Kadhir did exactly one movie with IR so what are you talking about?
Think about it you are just desparately trying to find reasons against Raja
Raj,
“- you are biased against Raja so you cannot be convinced. ”
At the end of the day, the world sees you by Facts and results and not what you and i think. A Legion of directors and just stopped working with IR except BM Period.
Even Kamal who sings Raja’s laurels constantly flirts with Deva, and tier 3 composers like Vidyasagar, Bharadwaj.
I took Kathir’s name because his collaboration with Raja in Idyam had Chart busters yet he moved out.
If you look at mid 90s objectively you can see this pattern yet call me biased and close your eyes.
I am ending this conversation with this.
I like SM’s music except for JAI HO which got Rehman the award.. Riots, saya has rehman signature..Mausam and escape is good..
Ringa Ringa is so unlike rehman…hard to believe he did this number..
He has admitted to ringa ringa being inspired by Choli ke peeche kya hai..kya inspiration hai.. wow..
raj: agree with point 36, though it is hard to believe that MR slapped IR. MR gave an interview to Hindu after the movie Bombay and he praised Raja’s music in Thalapathy.
sundar: Good to see a future director in this blog(actually I think there are quite a few). Some nitpicking, Shankar worked with Harris, Subhash Ghai worked with Anu Malik and Ismail Darbar after Taal, Vikraman worked with Sirpi and SA Rajkumar after Pudhiya Mannargal, Bharathiraja worked with Vidyasagar, Balachander worked with Deva, RGV worked with so many others despite Rangeela, Govind Nihlani and Shyam Benegal also did not repeat him…this logic is stupid.
Being an AD I expect you to at least meet a person before forming an opinion. But if you are looking at directing Bharath and Vishal and writing punch dialogues for them, then I am conversing with the wrong person.
Anand,
I think you are desperately trying to hide under the carpet that Raja lost out good projects in the mid 90s and top directors and Actors did not repeat him.
What was the need for Rajnikanth to opt Deva when Raja could give him excellent songs in Veera?
No matter if i ask you guys to look at the fact objectively you will retort to Selective Amnesia and blatant name calling.
You blog on a popular site and resort to name calling just because someone differs with you hmmm …
“But if you are looking at directing Bharath and Vishal and writing punch dialogues for them, then I am conversing with the wrong person.”
Writing dialogues for Bharath or Govinda or Akshay kumar doesn’t make one a lesser person.
Get down from your Self-made Pedestal.
sundar, have you met him? Here is a musician who has time for young new directors with new ideas – and the new generation of the meaningful directors in tamil swear by him – Myshkin, Bala, even Gautam Menon who is a great fan. So waht if the over the hill BRs and MRs are not with him?
By your own logic, top directors are still with him – it doesnt make a difference to me -looks like it does for you
Why have you to speculate on his character and if you have a reason, so have we a reason for speculating on you. Get away your self-made high-heels.
Raj,
Talking about his Ego doesn’t make me a non-fan. Nobody can forget his music and contribution but the problem with you guys is you don’t think one can be a fan and yet be objective or critical. So you guys resort to speculating on my charcter to strengthen your arguments.
Even Raja and Kamal worked in so called low class Masala movies in early 80s, it’s no lesser art but for it is always looked down by pseudo intellectuals and critics.
It’s a fact that when the clones were available in 90s (Vidayasagar, Bharadwaj, Deva, Et all) people started moving out from him.
You can keep denying the facts till your last breath and i won’t reply further in a conversation where objectivity from common inferences and available opinions is ignored.
Based on the premise that Raja was nice with you guys you want the world to disbelieve what some producers and directors have to say!! Point taken
There is not only ARR and Raja doing BGM for films.There is someone called Johnson in Malayalam who gave superb BGM for Padmarajan films in 80s and also won 2 national awards for BGM.Please listen to superb title music of Padmarajan’s film by Johnson here
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=ANi6pCWtc3Q&feature=related
Johnson’s BGM for another malayalam Padmarajan classic ‘Thoovanathumbikal’ can be found here
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=Y168PKbIQBo&feature=related
sundar: I am prepared for a fair debate..are you? If yes, why dont you answer these?
“I think you are desperately trying to hide under the carpet that Raja lost out good projects in the mid 90s and top directors and Actors did not repeat him.” – I agree, but Raja lost out on good projects because Rahman scored more saleable music than Raja. What you are implying is this is because Raja was egoistic. This is what I am contesting. Secondly, going by your logic, Raja lost out due to his ego because people did not repeat him. Then what is your answer to this? “Shankar worked with Harris, Subhash Ghai worked with Anu Malik and Ismail Darbar after Taal, Vikraman worked with Sirpi and SA Rajkumar after Pudhiya Mannargal, Bharathiraja worked with Vidyasagar, Balachander worked with Deva, RGV worked with so many others despite Rangeela, Govind Nihlani and Shyam Benegal also did not repeat him..”
“What was the need for Rajnikanth to opt Deva when Raja could give him excellent songs in Veera?” – Well, for your kind info, Veera’s music was by Raja. Before Veera, Deva scored for Annamalai, and after Veera, Deva scored for Arunachalam. Arunachalam’s songs were a big hit…why wasn’t he repeated??
“No matter if i ask you guys to look at the fact objectively you will retort to Selective Amnesia and blatant name calling.You blog on a popular site and resort to name calling just because someone differs with you hmmm …” Where did I call you names? Please point out.
“Writing dialogues for Bharath or Govinda or Akshay kumar doesn’t make one a lesser person.” – I agree. What I meant was if you have such opinions, then our sensibilities are different and therefore there is no point arguing. But looking back, it looks like my comment is hitting below the belt. I am sorry.
sundar: In your comment addressed to raj, you have mentioned ” you guys” more than once. It implies that I am teaming up with raj. I strongly object. Would request you to respond to me on my comment and answer others on their comments seperately. (i.e if you choose to respond)
I am not sure why you dismiss the value of an Indian artist getting a foreign award. It certainly makes Americans take notice when American film wins at Cannes, Toronto, Berlin or sometimes BAFTA.
Evelyn – is that necessarily true? I don’t see the American media hyping up an American win at even Cannes (the most media intensive of all the film fests).
Americans tend to be a lot more insular when it comes to their films.
Even if an American film wins a BAFTA or Cannes, an Oscar win would be considered a much greater achievement, despite the ridiculous amounts of lobbying involved (Weinstein has perfected this into an art form).
That sort of insularity is not necessarily a bad thing. We Bengalis venerate Satyajit Ray because in every film of his, he managed to tap into a part of the Bengali discourse and aesthetic that we instantly connected with through a shared culture.
It was quite immaterial to us what international awards he won, although those only confirmed the esteem we had for him.
To give another example, Ritwik Ghatak is equally respected as a director in Bengal although he’s nearly unknown outside India. Despite his obscurity abroad, he is mentioned almost always in the same breath as Ray.
I guess what I’m trying to say is, that the recognition of greatness within a specific cultural context and neglect outside of it is not a bad thing. Show me a cultural product that has near universal appeal (Titanic, Coke, McDonalds anyone?) and I’ll show you bland mediocrity.
Anand,
You’ve cited various anecdotes of Director-MD collaborations. Ignoring the lesser composers like Sirpi and Deva; Rahman despite letting people go still continues to bag the biggest projects in Tamil (Robo, Marmayogi or Kamal’s next movie) and in Hindi. It has not affected his career much unlike Raja.
Producers, Directors for some untold reasons moved away from Raja and patronized his Clones (Deva et all).
And not all of them moved to Rahman who was Talented but worked just in 7-8 films every year. We cannot compre it to Raja replacing MSV.
Rahman did take the baton as a Transitional Shift but the Volumes were still there which the Clones filled up.
If Raja does poor work and is ousted we can feel apathetic but if he can continue to surprise us once in a while with a HeyRam or Bharathi or Virumandi there is no smoke without fire.
Producers prefer not to touch him and are willing to work with lesser composers.
Yes, Gowtham is a Raja fan yet he doesn’t want to work with him and there are many Gowthams who can just talk Sweet. The industry has definitely sidelined him by their actions except Kamal, Bala and few others.
Bala works on first copy basis so it’s easy for him to hire Raja unlike other directors who have zillion obligations with Producers, Distributors, sometimes even Heroes.
If Maniratnam says “Whatever score Raja writes in 40 page book is Final” it just speaks the undertones of Raja’s composition style. Nothing wrong with it but just that i guess directors/Producers want more freedom/flexiblity/say whatever it may be called.
Sundar!
Raja is egoistic, so he lost projects to Rahman and clones. Are you trying to say that they wouldn’t have otherwise?
Fact remains that Raja became choosy post the Symphony he did for RPO and Rahman’s national reach meant more sales and commerce was simply too good – and his talent too. So a musician looking to reduce his output after 20 years of non stop work and one more rising – the passing of baton couldn’t have been more graceful IMO. So I fail to grasp where the ego factor came into picture. An ego that was ‘great to work with’ in 70s and 80s and suddenly intolerable in 90s? Words are very powerful my friend Sundar – be responsible while writing something about a legend who has rewritten and changed the way music mingles with cinema. If two gentleman deserve to have a himalayan egos – it is these geniuses. Lets not belittle them with our mediocrity and expecting them to be ‘humble’. For the talent they possess they can have super sized egos and there is absolutely nothing in that. I would recommend you a watch of ‘Amadeus’ to properly understand such geniuses before you or me can start taking our ‘verbal aims’ at such gargantuan talent!!
Jaiganesh,
Nobody expects Raja to be humble. His personality is his choice.
The Author of this post felt that Raja was not given due accolades Nationally and i concur with him.
That is the purview of this debate and not What Raja’s character should be or should not be! This is like Objectively discussing the failures of a Roger Fedrer or Sachin Tendulkar period.
In 70s and 80s Raja was at his peak and he dished out great music besides his peers Chandrabose & Sankar-Ganesh were so mediocre. People thronged to Raja.
A telgu hero who recently acted as Villain in popular movie was ready to slash his remuneration to half if the producers were willing to hire raja. Film fraternity just accepted Raja Per se.
In 90s Raja would’ve wanted to cut down on Projects but many good ones went to his clones. The inside information I have from the few directors or producers is Collaboration is more easy with these clones who duplicated Raja’s sounds very well.
I don’t need to be said about Self-implied censorship whilst talking about a Legend. I believe in free speech, if you don’t like what i speak you can ignore me or content objectively. That’s the last thing needed in a Blog.
By the way, I don’t think Rahman deserves a GG for SDM. It’s noway near to some of his compositions which revealed his prodigy. If Rahman fans have a problem with that and they call me an Anti so be it.
Thank you!
sundar: Are you an AD in Tamil film industry? Just curious to know. If you are, I’ll be happy. For the kind of trash that is getting produced by Tamil Industry these days, we need young, educated and strong opinioned people like you. If you happen to direct a film, please post about it in PFC. I’d definitely think it would be worth a watch.
Having said that, I still disagree with your opinion that Raja lost out to others due to his ego. :-)
All the best!
Thank you, Anand. I’ve worked in Hindi serials as well as in Tamil Films. Keeping my options open though I’d personally prefer to direct Tamil films as it’s my first love.
About raja: Fine, we shall agree to disagree
Anand, why do you strongly object being grouped with me:-) Nowhere have I used words stronger than Sundar has. And Sundar is not 1 millionth the legend IR is.
Sundar, you are strongly opinionated and are unwilling to see the other side of it. You are just going by a certain image. I dont think there is a point in me trying to make you see the other side as well. If you are happy with the work the clones produced, good for you. Mediocrity thrives because it is patronised by people like you.
raj: “Anand, why do you strongly object being grouped with me”
Well, we know we have different opinions on certain subjects – don’t we? :-) BTW, it did not have anything to do with your language, and it was not intended to be rude.Did it come across like that?
BTW, What’s your take on Nandalala..? I initially thought, it was so-so, but now think that it is even better than Naan Kadavul.
Raj,
“If you are happy with the work the clones produced, good for you. Mediocrity thrives because it is patronised by people like you.”
I think you too emotional now that you put words in my mouth.
1. I never implied anywhere that I am happy with Clones.
2. If being Critical about Raja makes me Mediocre and waxing his name entitles you to condemn others, it just speaks volumes of your Fanatic mindset.
Are you American? If you cannot win by Talks you resort to Attacks?