Wednesday, March 10, 2010

A request for AR Rahman


Though I am not a big fan of AR Rahman, I like his music. Always liked his music right from 'Roja' days.

I was one of the several thousands who watched 'Roja' the first day it was released. It was an Independence day, of a forgotten year at 'Udhayam Theater' in now Chennai, then Madras.

Oh boy..did everyone scream for all the songs, especially for 'Chinna Chinna Asai'. What a simple sweet melody.

Fast forward...... several years...to 2010. Where is AR Rahman today?

Oscar winner, Grammy winner, most admired Music Director in India, Most wanted Music Director.etc..etc. ......But...................

Somewhere down the line, ARR began to complicate his music, in the name of technology, digital sound !

When was the last time we heard a simple melody from ARR, by simple I mean a song like 'Chinna Chinna Asai'.

These days, ARR is into multiple tracks, all kinds of sound bytes ( nice to hear though). Every song is too complicated. Melody lost in the bargain ?

PS - The Title song of VTV is a decent one, but its not a great melody IMHO.

2 comments:

Shankar said...

Completely disagree. The reason we still remember the simple yet great melody of Roja even after almost 15 years is because it was fresh, brand new and gave a new definition for film music. There are about 50+ music directors today and people are exposed to other language music directors (relatively speaking compared to 80's and early 90's), pop stars, appan, subban etc. Listeners have created new definition for melody these days - remember our parents saying MSV maathiri varathu when we were enjoying IR? There is a reason why he is still #1 after so many years and that is because he still wants to bring something new every time. Most of the VTV songs are considered extremely good melody by most and I agree too.

Narayanan Venkitu said...

VTV songs are good no doubt Shankar. It's in repeat mode at home...but too complicated !!

Sorry If I sound confusing - I am talking about simple melodies !!