Suma reads James Hadley Chase!! Ms. Shumway Waves a Wand is one of his best books! I agree with a lot of points she raises - Waka Waka is not good, CWG itself is a big mess, Slumdog is lacklustre. But I think she missed the boat with no classic Rahman for 2 years. Yes, Delhi 6 was a masterpiece, but VtV is an excellent album, as is Raavan. I think Endhiran has blinded her to that and she forgot about these 2. Or, maybe, she has never heard of VtV.
On Thu, Sep 9, 2010 at 3:24 PM, karthik <kattspull...@yahoo.com> wrote: > > > Is Rahmania Over? > By Suma Nagaraj – September 8th, 2010 > > Poor A R Rahman is at the receiving end again. > > The CWG theme song, Jiyo Utho Badho Jeetho, (inspiration for the song title > falls somewhere between Swami Vivekananda's clarion call, Arise, Awake and > Stop Not Till the Goal is Reached and 4 Non Blondes' Bigger, Better, Faster, > More, I think) is facing a lot of flak from all quarters, I feel for all the > wrong reasons. > > First, A R Rahman is a creative genius, but he's no Miss Shumway and can't > magically wave a wand across a sheet of paper and come up with a catchy tune > every time he's asked to (or paid upwards of Rs 5 crores to). > > Secondly, odious comparisons to Waka Waka (which was insufferable, if you > ask me) are grossly unwarranted. All those screaming from the rooftops that > there's no catchphrase like `Waka Waka' in the CWG theme, there is. If a > catchphrase is all you wanted, how about Jiyo Utho? Or Badho Jeetho? > > Thirdly, I feel the whole anti-Rahman movement is some kind of a ploy to > take attention away from the many ills that plague the Commonwealth Games. > This song is just that – a song, another of our attempts to ape what other > mega sports event organizers would do. Since Rahman enjoys global > recognition and appeal (thanks to one of the most lacklustre compositions in > his oeuvre), he was promptly signed on for better visibility in the global > sports scenario. Now how the Games will play out is anybody's guess. > > If only a song could avert a debacle, we wouldn't be having this argument, > would we? > > But signing him off as creatively bankrupt and horror of horrors, rumours > of him being asked to "recompose" the tune is an insult to a musical genius > who's remained humble in spite of wild success, fame and fortune. He's not > had a great score in the last 2 years (his last best was Dilli 6) and the > one song the world knows him by, to put it in the words of a random > commenter on some article on the Internet, sounds like a jingle he composed > during his lunch break. > > Genius is genius because, by definition, it's not ordinary. Now if every > tune he composes is extraordinary, what does that make him? > > I think he should be given the room to breathe and the time to clear out > the ordinary tunes in his head and bring out more of those melodies we love > him for. > > What do you think of this controversy? Vote on our poll below: > > Does A R Rahman deserve all the criticism over the CWG theme? > No, leave him alone. > > Yes, he was paid for it. > > Undecided - which is the majority here? > > Haven't listened to the song, not interested. > > Can we move on already? > > Why do we need a CWG anthem? > > Courtesy: http://in.yfittopostblog.com/2010/09/08/is-rahmania-over/ > > >
