http://backgroundscore.blogspot.com/2009/01/why-arrahman-deserves-it-for-sdm-score.html
I am really surprised by level of ignorance about movie background score as
most of the media reports mentioned that A.R.Rahman won the golden globe for
‘Jai Ho’ song. The irony is that it is exactly
not for what Rahman got the golden globe; in fact the song wasn’t even
nominated in the best original song category (ofcourse to compensate
two songs have been nominated for Oscar).
On the other side,
though unanimously everyone is happy about an Indian winning a golden
globe and especially Rahman winning it, most weren’t sure about whether
Rahman deserves it for Slumdog Millionaire score. And I am sure they
will be unsure even if he wins the Oscar. And all those who claim so,
either haven’t seen the movie or have seen it on pirated DVD or
internet. If you aren’t someone who is interested in the finer aspects
of background score, it is hard to get its real impact while watching
on such illegal means where the experience isn’t a complete one. These
finer aspects of a movie like the background score can be best
experienced, understood and appreciated only while watching the movie,
the way it is meant to be where all your attention is just on the
movie, its characters and their emotions.
As I already have
mentioned, there is no bigger sin than reviewing the music on an
Original Soundtrack CD before even watching the movie. The purpose of
the music in that CD is not to entertain while you shit at home with an
iPod on your ears but to engage, involve and suck you into its
narrative when you are watching a movie. In that process, if the music
finds a life of its own, it is just a bonus. This is not to mean that
the Slumdog Millionaire score doesn’t work without the visuals but I
try to emphasize that its emotional impact is much higher with the
visuals.
And everyone easily arrive at a conclusion that as it
all sounded so fresh and unique for a western crowd, it appealed to
them more compared to other clichéd (by their standards) orchestral
scores and so it won.. Of course there is some truth in it, but nobody
realizes that how it all would have easily gone wrong. (Satyajit Ray’s
golden words come to my mind at this moment– “An easy way to ruin a
perfectly good film is to apply an unsuitable music to it”). A.R.Rahman
and Danny Boyle are taking a big risk by using such a loud score in a
movie which is primarily made for a western audience and both would be
quite aware of the fact that western crowd don’t like such loud score.
But they cleverly pulled it off by filling the soundtrack not with loud
orchestral outbursts (and there are quite a lot of such moments in the
movie which would easily tipoff any ordinary creator to go for such a
score) but with loudness of Indian classical exotica and eclectic
electronica. And their big risk has paid off and how.
After
watching the movie, I realized that it couldn’t get any better than
what Rahman did and no one could have done it in the way Rahman has
done it. Even if it was done by someone else, it would have gone as a
purely functional background score which doesn’t harm the movie and
which doesn’t add anything special by itself to the movie. But Rahman’s
score bombards the audience with its high energy, unique sound and its
symphony with the visuals is just so perfect.
This is an attempt
to make people understand that we all can be proud about A.R.Rahman’s
victory not just because he is an Indian, but also because his work in
‘Slumdog Millionaire’ is truly worthy of it.
If you haven’t seen the movie yet - spoilers ahead.
Those
who complain that ‘O Saya’ was too loud for a routine chase scene, have
either seen just that one scene in the trailer of the movie on the net
or completely missed the real essence of the scene. The complete chase
sequence between the kids and the police is an excuse to showcase the
colour, energy, the spirit and the vibrancy in those narrow by lanes of
slums in Bombay. In true Indian film tradition, it is a hero
introduction song of the movie, and the hero here being Bombay and the
music more than serves its purpose with thumping train rhythms and
rocking guitars.
The ‘Riots Theme’ which we hear in the
soundtrack CD doesn’t have one main layer of a tension filled
oscillating melody (played on harp, harpsichord, piano or plain
keyboard, I can’t say) that is used in the movie. Rahman also hits some
deep piano chords in between to heighten the tension further. For
almost same kind of scene, 13 years back Rahman scored similar
percussive score for riots scene in Maniratnam’s Bombay but this one is
edgier and suits the pace of the sequence well. It is not that Rahman
just composed some piece with layers of rhythms and e-sounds and just
played it on the background in the scene, if you carefully listen, as
the main rhythmic layer proceeds with Jamal and Salim running around
the streets, Rahman introduces one more rhythm layer and makes it
louder as people running behind almost catch Salim and Jamal and as
Jamal shouts ‘Baagh’. And when the whole episode cuts to the present,
showing Jamal answering the question about Rama, the rhythm just plays
again in the background implying that the whole riots episode was
playing out in his mind as he was taking his time to answer the
question.
The starting guitar bit of ‘Mausam& Escape’
appears when Jamal meets Lathika for the first time after the riots and
it is the same piece which appears again when Jamal finally finds
Lathika arriving at VT station. There is a pleasant aura that this
piece creates which perfectly suits their warm meeting on a rainy night
in the earlier scene and a sweet surprise and a dream like brief
meeting that happens in the later. And that’s the Mausam part of it.
And
the Escape theme is used many times in the movie as there are lots of
chases and escape scenes. It appears first when Jamal, Salim and
Lathika escape from Maman’s camp and is also used later in the scene
when Salim chases Lathika in VT station. The piece was put to great use
in the former scene because as Salim, Jamal and Lathika escape from
Maman’s camp and try to get into a running train, the sitar plucking
and the beats get more and more energetic as the three approach the
train, and finally when we expect Lathika to get into the train, all
that energy in the music suddenly stops and deeply moving vocals of
Suzanne takes over singing the Lathika’s theme. With the scene set in
complete darkness, it is the sudden appearance of Lathika’s theme that
tells us the amount of disappointment of Lathika and Jamal than
anything else in the scene. Later when Maman finds Jamal and Salim in
Pila Street, as they are now trying to get Lathika out of there, the
escape theme again comes in handy to establish the connection between
this scene and the first great escape scene. It is used so subtly along
with a sustained bass loop to underline the tension in the moment. And
finally it is again used when Jamal searches for Salim K.Malik’s phone
number in the call center, and ofcourse by doing so he is virtually
chasing Salim to find the real whereabouts of Lathika.
Lathika’s
Theme is the main theme of the movie as Lathika is the pivot around
which Jamal’s life swivels. This theme has the ability to express a
wide variety of emotions in the pinch of sadness that it evokes. The
Lathika theme appears first when Lathika gets separated from Jamal and
then it is used in its entirety when Jamal comes back to Mumbai in
search of Lathika. The whole montage of Jamal searching for Lathika in
the streets of Mumbai is emotionally uplifted by the theme. A very slow
and mellow version of the theme with just the vocals of Suzanne fills
the atmosphere as Jamal gets to meet and hug Lathika finally in Javed’s
house. The theme is at its haunting best in the climax when Jamal and
Lathika meet in the VT station, and it plays out as a theme for Jamal’s
entire life as the scene intercuts to shots from their troublesome
past.
‘Ringa Ringa’ aptly fits in when Jamal walks into the
Pila Street in search of Lathika. ‘Gangsta blues’ lasts just for a few
seconds when Salim goes to meet Maman’s opponent Javed in their area.
It is very difficult to understand the thought process behind the track
‘Liquid Dance’ which is used for the scene in which Jamal secretly
follows Salim to find where Lathika is. But surprisingly, it doesn’t
sound odd or out of place with the visuals. And the techno
‘Millionaire’ theme is used in the scene where the whole India is shown
to be preparing to watch Jamal face his final 20 Million rupees
question in the show.
When I saw ‘Jai Ho’ for the first time,
I thought it was so badly choreographed, but later I came to know that
the song was composed for already shot visuals and they had used a
completely different song for shooting. Though it shows quite badly,
nobody seems to be caring, the thumping rhythm and energy of the song
just blows you off and especially as it comes after the triumphant
climax.
Finally, it is so difficult to technically analyze and
objectively comes to a conclusion about which is the best background
score when you have five equally deserving works in the list of
nominees. For that, one has to ask other four composers to score
background music for ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ and see if they are able to
outdo A.R.Rahman. What is important is the fact that Rahman’s score
fits and it fits to an extent that people tend to believe and accept
that it can’t get any better.
Here is wishing Rahman to bring 2 Oscars home.
