[arr] Re: Lost to the world

[Rahul]

Gr8 post Pavan bhai ...

Rahul

--- In arrahmanfans@yahoogroups.com, mb4zap® <moinboss4...@...> wrote:
>
> Good post! Thanks..
> 
>  -Moin Ali
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ________________________________
> From: $ Pavan Kumar $ <pawancum...@...>
> To: arrahmanfans@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Sun, September 5, 2010 8:20:52 AM
> Subject: [arr] Lost to the world
> 
>   
> http://www.bangaloremirror.com/article/81/2010090420100904205519203a6b75953/Lost-to-the-world.html
> 
> 
> Lost to the world
> Has India’s favourite music composer moved on to a bigger, global platform?
> Chandrima.Pal
>      
> Posted On Saturday, September 04, 2010 at  08:55:19 PM
> 
>  
> From Internet blogs to the denizens of Delhi’s South Block, everyone is 
> splitting hair over his compositions. But the man behind it all is ensconced 
> in 
> his Chennai studio, unfazed by the furore around him. Like the proverbial eye 
> of 
> the storm. 
> 
> 
> For A R Rahman, these are the best of times, the worst of times. His art is 
> at 
> its most eclectic, garnering international acclaim heralding him as one of 
> the 
> world’s best. In his own country detractors are declaring that he has lost 
> his 
> touch. He is buying a  five-acre plot in Los Angeles to set up his production 
> facility with sound engineer Resul Pookutty. He is also being accused of 
> being 
> indifferent, aloof to his Bollywood projects, delaying them and churning out 
> music that often stumps listeners. With every milestone in the West, Rahman 
> seems to move a step away from home.
> 
> His fiercest critics are ironically in the industry that has given him his 
> biggest successes â€" until of course Slumdog. The Hindi film fraternity has 
> always had an uneasy  relationship with Rahman, who is still god down south. 
> Many in Bollywood find it hard to accept his artistic ways â€" he remains in 
> Chennai, works mostly at night, has his own creative yardsticks for choosing 
> projects and delivers only when he is ready.  Some feel his best is behind 
> him, 
> others feel he is constantly breaking new ground.
> 
> “Given his style of functioning and his inaccessibility,” says trade 
> expert Amod 
> Mehra, “Bollywood always had a problem working with him.” Rahman  has 
> never made 
> any excuses for the way he functions. And his studio can seem forbidding, or 
> inspiring.
> 
> “There is a divine energy there,” says Subhash Ghai, who has shared an 
> emotional 
> bond with the composer since his Shikhar days. “It is not your usual 
> sharaab-kebab kind of atmosphere that you encounter in most Mumbai 
> studios.”  
> Ghajini-producer Madhu Mantena, who has worked closely with Rahman since 
> Rangeela, too says watching the maestro in his studio is like entering a very 
>  
> sacred space.
> CONSPIRACY THEORIES
> But Rahman’s inaccessibility â€" which critics say has increased post his 
> international-success â€" has  not helped.
> 
> “If you are a newbie,” says a producer who has met the maestro and is 
> still 
> waiting for his verdict on his proposal. “You have to make at least 10 
> trips to 
> his studio to discuss your project with him. Unlike other music composers, 
> money 
> is no criteria for him. There is no saying why or when he will pick one 
> project 
> over the other,” the producer adds.
> 
> “Now he is zipping around the world,” rues an ad filmmaker who is still 
> waiting 
> for a meeting, “it is almost impossible for one to get his time and 
> consent.” 
> Rubbishing these as conspiracy theories, Mantena points out that Rahman has 
> worked with several newcomers including Abbas Tyrewala, whose Jaane Tu... he 
> had 
> accepted way before Aamir Khan came into the picture. 
> 
> “Besides, he is so dedicated to his work that each song probably goes 
> through 
> more changes than the script itself,” Mantena reveals, agreeing with other 
> insiders like Ram Gopal Varma.  “No matter how pressured he is, Rahman will 
> never let a tune pass until he is happy about it.”
> 
> On the flip side, that can translate into nail-biting moments for the 
> always-in-a-tearing-hurry Bollywood producer. Thus, the notion that Rahman is 
> delaying projects.
> 
> Mantena denies the maestro kept him waiting for months for the title track 
> for 
> his latest, Jhootha Hi Sahi.  “There are nine songs and the time taken was 
> the 
> same as any other album,” the producer says.
> 
> There were also rumours that the Jodhaa Akbar music launch was delayed 
> because 
> the soundtrack was not ready, though the label and the production house 
> denied 
> it. The Commonwealth Games theme took six months, and then it was back to the 
> drawing board after the organising committee wanted Rahman to make changes.
> 
> “A single failure does not bring anyone down, not at least Rahman, who 
> still has 
> the mass with him,” says Mehra, referring to the Commonwealth controversy. 
> “However, Rahman has not been showing his best elements on his recent 
> works,” he 
> adds.
> 
> “You cannot judge Rahman on the basis of  one song,” says sitar maestro 
> Pandit 
> Kartick Kumar, who was featured in Rahman and Bharat Bala’s Jana Gana Mana 
> project. Pandit Kumar worked with Pandit Ravi Shankar during Asiad ’82, 
> when the 
> sitar legend composed the then-hugely popular Swagatham. “People have been 
> comparing that tune to what Rahman has created. It is not fair to compare a 
> classic with a more contemporary track,” Pandit Kumar says. “But, yes, 
> maybe 
> Rahman should not have sung the song himself. Just because his Vande Mataram 
> clicked, does not mean he can bring the same energy to every song he lends 
> his 
> voice to,” adds Kumar. 
> 
> The veteran sitar exponent puts it down to an unfortunate error of judgement 
> by 
> an otherwise superlative production designer and musician.
> CRITICS VS LOYALISTS
> Rahman’s world is divided into critics and loyalists. “It is every 
> filmmaker’s 
> dream to work with Rahman,” says director Anthony D’ Souza, who has 
> graciously 
> accepted all the brickbats for the mega-budget disaster called Blue. Critics 
> flayed Blue’s Chiggy Wiggy, in which Rahman worked with one of the 
> world’s 
> biggest pop stars, Kylie Minogue.  “I am willing to do anything to have 
> Rahman 
> agree to my next,” D’Souza maintains.
> 
> Rahman loyalists say you cannot judge a Rahman tune instantly; it’s not 
> fast 
> food, it’s gourmet cuisine. Others seriously question whether he takes any 
> real 
> interest in the Bollywood projects any more.
> 
> Ram Gopal Varma, who gave Rahman his first Hindi break with his 1995-hit 
> Rangeela, wrote in his blog about the making of the soundtrack: ‘...the 
> compositions he came up with used to  surprise me, though not always 
> pleasantly. 
> That is because his tunes were so original in his interpretation of the 
> emotion 
> of a situation that a conventional ear will take time to let it sink in.’
> Mantena too believes Rahman’s style is so ‘different’ that it shocks 
> you the 
> first time.  “It depends a lot on what you have been used to listening 
> to,” adds 
> the producer.
> 
>  “Rahman has always maintained he cares less about how the music is 
> received and 
> more about being true to the project,” says Mehra. “And while in the past 
> his 
> musical instincts have served him well, something seems to be going wrong 
> now.”  
> The evolution of Rahman from the man who made hummable, instantly likeable 
> tunes 
> to someone who makes stylised and challenging music that often leaves you 
> scratching your head on first listen, has coincided with his exposure to the 
> best in the West. Sagar Desai, composer, sound designer of Quickgun 
> Murugan-fame, has an explanation:  “May be Rahman does not feel obliged to 
> make 
> tunes that appeal to the humble rickshawwallah anymore, but is more 
> interested 
> in staying true to his artistic core, no matter what the consequences.” 
> 
> There’s no denying Rahman is one of the world’s busiest musicians. He has 
> toured 
> across continents â€" including trying to put up a Michael Jackson-esque show 
> in 
> his last aborted US tour â€" worked on some of the world’s biggest 
> projects, with 
> the world’s biggest names. He has also  delivered at least 60 soundtracks 
> (Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, you name it), with a hit or three in every one of 
> them. 
> But increasingly, the misses have piled up. Has Rahman â€" who once admitted 
> to 
> being bad at multitasking â€" spread himself too thin?
> 
> “When Rahman was working for Taal,” says Ghai, “he was completely 
> immersed in 
> the craft of composing. But while working with him on Yuvraaj, I realised he 
> was 
> probably having trouble focusing with so much on his plate these days. You 
> cannot blame  him. He is an explorer who is hungry for more and wants to 
> discover new sounds and new techniques. You have to allow him to grow. May be 
> there are not enough challenges for him here.”
> 
> One of Rahman’s biggest contributions to the Indian music industry is the 
> way he 
> has treated musicians, who often feel short-changed by most composers.
> 
> “What makes him stand apart from the others is his ability to understand a 
> musician and his comfort zone,” says Neil Mukherjee, who has played guitar 
> for 
> Rahman over seven years on several projects. “He will never make you feel 
> uncomfortable.” And this quality of empathy, feels Mukherjee, is also tied 
> to 
> the maestro’s strong spiritual leanings. 
> 
> But in the chop and change world of Indian film music, you cannot survive on 
> spirituality. “He is extremely spiritual and sharp at the same time,” 
> says Ghai. 
> “He is like Lord Krishna.”
> 
> Rahman’s demanding the lion’s share of the music publishing rights for 
> his films 
> has not earned him too many well-wishers in the  industry. The Om Shanti Om 
> music composer shift (from Rahman to Vishal-Shekhar) was because Rahman 
> wanted 
> part of the music royalty rights. “Any change is frowned at,” he said 
> then, “I 
> am standing up for what I think is right.” 
> 
> Ghai also says Rahman has become tech savvy, worldly wise over the years: 
> “I 
> have seen him update his gadgets and consoles after every six months, and 
> 2001 
> onwards [post-Lagaan], I have seen him get increasingly clued into what is 
> happening across the  world. He is the best we have. Sometimes the artiste 
> becomes much bigger than his art. You can’t help it.”
> 
> Recent Rahman
> 
> CWG Anthem
> Only for Rahmaniacs
> 
> Robot
> Hit in south, crashing elsewhere
> 
> Raavan
> Confusing
> 
> Blue
> Mixed, mostly negative
> 
> Slumdog Millionaire
> Global phenomenon, but perplexing at home
> 
> Delhi 6
> Acclaimed
> 
> Jaane  Tu...
> Pappu made India dance
> 
> Yuvvraj
> Better than the film
> 
> Ghajini
> Mixed response
> 
> Jodhaa Akbar
> Esoteric, classy
> 
> Sivaji
> Fans rejoiced, few takers elsewhere
>