That has been the journey of this music maestro from Chennai. He shot into fame with Roja and went on to become the first Indian music director to win the Golden Globe award for his score in the Slum Dog Millionaire. His rise to fame can be associated with India’s liberalisation era of early 90’s, the Internet, Napster etc. It was also a time when the Indian film Industry saw some serious marketing with the likes of glitzy music launches and the role of Music Directors came into prominence. He has to his credit some of the catchy numbers, catchy but ephemeral, very few lingers eternally.
This was not the case long back; songs on its own had to find its way into the ear drums of the listeners and then settle down in the dark recesses of the mind for ever, to be recalled when needed, years or even decades later. Let me give you an example. The song ‘Annakili Unna thedinen’ was a song in the Tamil movie Annakili which announced the birth of a legend, the Young Prince of Music, Illayaraja. He had and still has a cult like following and yours truly is a member too. Coming back to Annakili, a movie released when I was 4 and the song heard for the first time when I was probably 6, but even three decades later listening to it, is bliss. This is what I call everlasting music.
My intention was not to compare the two, since both are iconic names in Indian music, though one will be remembered by a generation of music lovers while the other will be remembered by more than one generation.
Congratulations Rehman!!!
Monday, January 12, 2009
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2 comments:
U said it! It is unfortunate that Ilayaraja happened to operate at a different era ..slightly earlier than Rahman.. otherwise he had a range of tunes and a depth of music that is unmatched by anyone.
Congrats Rahman.
Listen to the soundtrack.. One of his best, I think.
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