it was just impossible not to notice the kind of zeal and enthusiasm from the entire media in India to brand AR rahman as mediocre these days.
the problem is, I believe it is also a reflection of the general mentality of the people in India. I might be wrong. But it seems to me that most of the Indians for some reason (it might be a cultural thing) don't like someone they love to become famous. The moment they find international stardom, indian media starts using everything in their power to give them a totally negative image. and when media starts saying stuff like that, the rest of the general public will join in. because most of the people have this "if it is on TV, it has to be true" thing. And, with time it has turned into "if it is on internet, it has to be true" thing. It's not just AR Rahman though. Amitabh bachan (constantly under the media radar and bad press), Aishwarya Rai bachan.. well the entire Bachan Khandaan. Ilaya Raja ( I remember reading about some actor claiming that the down fall of Ilayaraja was his arrogance), Vishwanathan Anand, most of the cricket players, Shashi Taroor - sorry to bring up a politician's name.. but his tweets have become quiet notorious for all the wrong reasons. it's just that media couldn't understand a thing he was saying. they took it quiet literally. This thing was inevitable. and we could all feel it coming. even members in our group had started bashing his music vigorously in the past 2 or three years. now in the next few years, Ar RAhman's music will be under constant scrutiny by the media and those who don't like him will joyously join the parade. We are going to see a lot more of bad press on AR pretty soon. even if the songs in the upcoming albums are phenomenal, they will call it mediocre. mark my word. this is how the media works. they like underdogs. because it gives them a story to write about. media loved AR when he was known only in India. they praised his songs and bashed Ilayaraja and the rest of the musicians. now it is time for AR to be in the receiving end. now we have to see how AR and his team will handle such things. I still think that taking up the CWG theme song project was probably a bad decision. but no one anticipated it. quiet sad to see such a great song being criticized and called mediocre just because the musician is famous!
