Sunday, March 01, 2009

Dividing lines

Even these days, it is hard to break the geographical barriers in India. Inspite of the techno boom, education etc. there is still that 'North Indian', 'South Indian' line that divides India.

Now, why am I talking about this?

I am thinking about A.R.Rahman, who managed to break these lines and become big in Bollywood which usually doesn't recognize South Indians as much as their very own. There are exceptions like Mani Rathnam, Shankar Mahadeven to name a few.

I remember a time when I was talking to someone from Bombay. Asked him why Hariharan doesn't sing enough in Bollywood and he answered 'He is a South Indian'! I was shocked.

Kamal Hassan, Rajinikanth, Mamooty, Mohanlal, Yesudas and Vani Jayaram couldn't do well Bollywood thanks to the same issues.

That's brings me to Ilayaraja. IMHO - he was one of the best during his times if not -The Best-. Somehow he couldn't shine in Bollywood.

I would attribute that to the N/S divide that was so strong those days. Another point to note is the media, especially the unavailability of Satellite TV / Internet that sealed Ilayaraja's fate when he was doing so well in South.

Can someone else match Rahman and break the divide? I don't think so, at this point. I have slight hopes on Rahman's nephew GV.Prakash..but I doubt if others can make it. Let's see.

In the meantime, I read today that Ilayaraja is setting tunes to Gulzar's lines for SRK. They are getting together after 'Sadma', a 1983 movie that failed to impress Bollywood about Ilayaraja despite those wonderful songs!

Let's see how SRK turns out!



3 comments:

Kishan said...

I think the tastes in music differ a lot. Rahman was able to mould himself and create music that was universal.

However, even when I tried my best to make my friends listen to Ilayaraja's music, they didn't like it. For Ramgopalvarma's Shiva (2006), illayaraja gave wonderful music. It was ignored and to my surprise I read some bad reviews on his music for that album.

Ilayaraja was best. No doubt. It is very unfortunate that his music will not be recognized even by majority of Indians.

Ganesh Venkittu said...

4 months ago, well before all this "slum" business started, I started writing something about Ilaiyaraja...

I got stuck...largely due to the fact that you cannot adequately write about this genius in a few words....you have to be way too learned, know the nuances of the music, to be able to string together a set of words that would describe him...

In my mind, what made Ilaiyaraja what he is, and what did not was this -- geniusness....sans pareil....

there are two things that he could have done differently -- first, he did not market himself correctly....his life was stuck in making background score for fight scenes in stupid films and his quest like "how to name it"/oratorio etc....

second, he was stuck between few singers and whether knowingly/wantingly, and did not try out others....even if they happen to sing "paruvaa illai"....those singers are your gateway to the "northern" world and with their heavy budgets, to the "Western world"....

when asked to write about ramanujan, Hardy said "he used to conquer everything with brute force"....ilaiyaraja is that....no synthesizer business...a full fledged orchestra....and perfection...listen to the interlude just before the last paragraph in the song "vetti veru vaasam"...that violin will speak...

in essence -- ilaiyaraja is a "koorai pudavai"...something you do not and cannot wear everyday, but nevertheless your most important moment in life is etched on it....

Freehit said...

The loss was not ours. The "Madarasis" got to enjoy the best of both sides. Equus asinus, camphor, smell...