Our Madras Mozart

First of all Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year!!! (Better late than never)

I am sure that, most of you would have found what this post is all about, from the post's heading. Yes, it is about, the one and only AR Rahman. I am sure I am not the only one posting about him, after the Golden Globe Awards, click here for some goose pimples.
I feel proud to say that I am one of the million fans that Rahman has all over the World. I have been his fan ever since I heard his name in Roja.
Later when I googled (hope they add this word to the dictionary soon :)) I found that many of the BGMs in Indian advertisements which I liked had his magic woven in it. The best example for this is Leo Coffee ad. Even now if I hear this music, my mind is rejuvenated as if I had a strong cup of filter coffee that my mom makes (One of the things I yearn for now a days).

I wanted to see AR Rahman perform live at least once in my life, I was lucky to have got a chance to satisfy this desire when I was in Chicago. It was a treat to my ears and eyes. Can never forget the experience, especially the song from Bombay that Chitra sang.

If Manirathnam and Kamalhaasan made us proud with an awesome movie called Nayagan which made it to Time's Top 100 all time best movies in the World, AR Rahman made us all proud with his debut work in Roja which made it to Time's all time best Top 10 soundtracks in the World. Ever since his first movie Rahman has been climbing new heights in each composition of his.
I am sure Rahman had to fight his way up, but even I had to fight by arguing with a lot of people who did not give him enough credit, saying he was nothing next to Maestro Ilayaraja. I agree, respect and love Ilayaraja's music, but I would never accept to the fact that Rahman is not comparable to Ilayaraja. I thought time had answered everyone and thought the argument would come to rest, but unfortunately for me, my B1/2 is a big time Ilayaraja fan, so the argument continues in our house.
I like Rahman for a lot of reasons, the main reasons being his soul full music, his down to earth attitude, recognizing talent, finding new voices, giving credit to his musician team (he was the first one to list his musician on the cassette cover), his patriotism, for the human he is.
Now, to the movie that got him the Golden globe award, Slumdog Millionaire. It was a good movie, nice screen play and great direction. I loved the way they had taken the movie, the movie really deserves the recognition and awards it gets. If you have not seen the movie yet, I strongly recommend you to watch the movie. Among Indian viewers there have been mixed responses about the movie, as far as I have heard all of them like the movie plot but many find it difficult to digest the way the movie is taken. Meaning, they are complaining like how Mr. Big B is complaining, saying they have shown Indian in a demeaning way. I strongly disagree to that, I feel whatever is shown in the movie does happen in India, I have personally seen child beggary like this in a small city like Coimbatore, then why not Mumbai? Check here to see some true incidents reported in Mumbai which kind of backs the movie. If Big B is so offended I feel he should work on how to make things better in the slums of Mumbai and other cities rather than denying the fact that the movie is baseless.

Check out the following song, this is my current favorite from the Madras Mozart. The song is from the movie Dilli 6. This movie is directed by Rakesh Mehra, the man who colored India with Rang de basanti.


AR Rahman We are very proud for you!! Congratulations and Good luck!!! Hope you make us proud in February again and make us call you O sarkar!!!!

Varta!!!