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Ilayaraja's comments in Kumudam

Topic started by Karthik (@ 164.164.128.13) on Thu Feb 8 07:26:45 EST 2001.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

IR has, in an interview in the latest Kumudam (also covered in the front page with his snap), said that 'He has wasted 25 years of his life in film music'.

I dont know how others look at it, but I see it as a very harsh statement of total disloyalty. Its tamil film music that has given IR all the attention and praise he is receiving now. If he's a genius in composing WC, that, in any way doesnt affect anybody in TN. What affects the common man in TN is how good IR has composed in his tamil films.

IMHO, it was a statement totally unwarranted and shows utter disrespect on IR's part towards his craft.

Karthik

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Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: arattai arangam (@ 210.214.5.218) on: Tue Feb 13 04:25:09 EST 2001
  
  Karthik, when you can't do something but you crave to do that something while you continue doing something else that you have been doing for a while but cannot get out of...frustration builds up:-))
  
  
• From: Travis (@ 194.85.200.36) on: Tue Feb 13 05:28:59 EST 2001
  
  Ok. Do u think Ilayaraaja cant get away with this? What, from now on, anybody, if at all, is signing him are going to say ók, this bloke said so about tamil industry, so we wont sign him anymore??? ridiculous. All this debate will die out in no time and raja will still be what he is.
  
  Money, he has enough.. WIth 750 films or so to date, do u think he doesnt have money to do his own home production? Well, he does have a company i believe. Also, if he was some one after creativity and art, why was he giving us, barring some good ones, mostly mediocre works of late? Why, bcoz he thinks tamils are not fit for his higher intellectual pursuits? Why doesnt he really release his now much-acclaimed 'symphony'.. and boy, people are comparing him to the doyens of WC without even listening to it, here in TN. How many years since he composed that? He releases a few albmus in the middle which were good but no one stopped from making more. He didnt. and why is it so? Instead he toiled in the 'worthless' TFM. Why?
  
  
• From: Gangai Amaran (@ 194.127.2.7) on: Tue Feb 13 05:43:11 EST 2001
  
  Travis ,
  u are right. His Symphony will never be released. There is nothng special in that Symphony. Thats y it is not released. Just a few people who get some money from IR praised it. If it is good why didnt they release it.
  IR is a Pshcho patient. He underwent treatment in Columbus for some time.
  
  
• From: Travis (@ 194.85.200.36) on: Tue Feb 13 06:38:15 EST 2001
  
  I have to respond to the long list of movies with ilayaraaja's listed by some here.
  I thought I would put aside some time in doing some research myself... please check out www.raaja.com - Ilayaraaja's raajangham cybersite... and check his discography... from 1990-2000... You will be amazed that he has composed mediocre music for so... many films (at least 100) and where did they all go? Except for a few mentioned by Mr. Fliflo, the rest is 'history'. I didnt even know he composed music for so many films.
  
  I know this is irrelevant to the thread but just to prove my point.
  
  
• From: NotAnIRorARRFanbutTrueMusicLover (@ 24.4.252.137) on: Tue Feb 13 07:33:30 EST 2001
  
  Mr. Gangai Amaran:
  
  I am sorry to have analyzed your psychology -I guess your incompetency in every field that you have worked, and repeated failures in them have made you look at the life in despair...Otherwise you wouldn't comment on anybody this way. However travis kind of people support your thoughts, so handshake alike (weak) minded souls. What's he trying to prove?
  
  NotAnIRorARRFanbutTrueMusicLover
  
  
• From: NagaS (@ 202.169.129.72) on: Tue Feb 13 07:34:16 EST 2001
  
  >>>>You will be amazed that he has composed mediocre music for so... many films (at least 100)
  
  Travis, If the films turns-out to be mediocre, Do you think it is IR's mistake, Is there any Defenite scale that you can suggest which can be used to find Mediocre movies before Puja itself ?
  
  IMO, IR's music in all the Kasthuri Raja movies - Mediocre as you call it - is wonderful and I don't feel anything wrong in supporting such directors and movies by a good quality of music, In such movies, IR takes the role of what sachin was doing to Indian Mediocre cricket team sometime back., (Not now, Adikka varaatheenga makkaLee ;-)
  
  NagaS
  
  
• From: Karthik (@ 164.164.128.13) on: Tue Feb 13 07:36:36 EST 2001
  
  Its possible that IR is using the oorugai analogy to explain that he'd add more music which is close to his heart and coat it in the traditional film music he's doing, after all reach is what matters in music. If it doesnt reach the target audience, then whats the purpose?
  
  For instance, hardcore WC might not be understood, leave alone enjoyed by normal ppl in tamilnadu (or elsewhere). So the best way is to add it to his existing film work so that it reaches people. This is as good as using carnatic music to good effect in tamil film music, which ARR does so well combining good fusion effects to it.
  
  The question is why does IR just keep talking about it. I want to listen to his new kind of music and probably create a new trend in TFM (he's already done that time and again, but with competition its time he reinvented himself with the changing tastes, without compromising his standards).
  
  On that note even if I personally love Minnale's music, I still feel Harris has to do something different from Rahman. No doubt Vaseegara is a fantastic composition, but its nothing path breaking. But full credits to Harris for the choice of Bombay Jayshree.
  
  --Karthik
  
  
• From: Travis (@ 194.85.200.36) on: Tue Feb 13 07:54:25 EST 2001
  
  First of all, I am talking about music from the movies and not the movies themselves... there are so many instances when ilayaraja's music alone has saved a movie from disaster.
  Its really sad that people with Masters in Psychology cant just realize there is truth in what the other side has to say. I dont want to get up close and personal in naming and arguing, but as Karthik has been persistently mentioning, I ask only why doesnt raja do something new and innovative than just talk?
  
  Before anyone can gauge my soul strength or others', I suggest, these people get off their snobbery and do justice. (also when these people get time, in between replying with extensive psycho-analysis, I advise them to check the earlier posts..Thanks)
  
  
• From: Fliflo (@ 130.203.161.21) on: Tue Feb 13 08:41:26 EST 2001
  
  Gangai Amaran:
  
  First of all, You yourself can not come up with a decent name and keep coming with some body else's. Put some arguments here rather than just keep repeating the same stuff in every thread. I sincerely pity for you because IR has made your life so terrible. All psychos say I am not the one but he is. He refers to the guy who has spoiled him. If you become terriby frustrated then you may end up with stress, BP..problems...take care
  
  
• From: Fliflo (@ 130.203.161.21) on: Tue Feb 13 08:57:19 EST 2001
  
  Travis:
  
  I ask only why doesnt raja do something new and innovative than just talk?
  
  Tell me what is innovative. What Other MD's are doing innovatively. ARR's first few movies looked like some innovative stuff. Otherwise, I don't see any innovativeness in the rest. If you look for that kind of innovativeness, then YSR is more innovative. HJ is innovative and other new MD's too. But Raja is a music ocean. A layman like me talking about innovation to him is a total nonsense. I would say recently, "Bharathi" was different from regular style..I am sure nobody else is dare enough to come with such an exellent album. The taste of music can be enjoyed more by doing a deeper analysis of it. I would say anybody's life time is not enough to do reearch about it. Raja is evergreen. He will keep coming with great albums then and there...
  
  Somebody commented about Raja working for money. Remember, producers had the option of choosing any MD. why the hell they went and poured money only to Raja? Because they found Raja was the only man to suit their needs. So it was more a two way benefit.
  
  
  
• From: Travis (@ 194.85.200.36) on: Tue Feb 13 10:00:32 EST 2001
  
  Innovative? First of all that raja is a ocean and he is not to be questioned for whatever he does seems to be the predisposition for this DF-ers.
  anyways, I dont buy that and everyone is subject to criticism. and so is the 'maestro'.
  
  Please tell me in what way not ARR innovative as raja? truthfully, vande mataram is one prime example.. Though some sections may claim, as always, that arr exploited the theme to make money... But tell me, didnt everyone in india was chanting vande mataram after it was released? What about Jana gana Mana? do u think a commercially oriented musician(technician, sound engg... or whatever) will dedicate a whole album just for it? Is it commercially viable?
  If you would care to elaborate raja's innovations, then i can give u what arr did.
  
  and some said the producers all chose raja... Then the same industry, why doesnt it run to the evergreen ocean nowadays...? forget about rahman, dear... they are instead running to the likes of others who not even deserve mentioning...Why, have they gone crazy? have all turned commercial? Have Sony and BMG and Magnasound miscalculated the genius in raja? or is he not saleable anymore? or has he run out of ideas?
  for starters, raja is still as he was, alive and well, like he was 10 years ago. I dont want to answer my questions myself... doing only will make ti dirty... You can ask the same about MSV and others... But they are from a bygone era and will be cherished and they were decent enough when they retired... and MSV doesnt blabber these days to the effect that I wasted my time in TFM.... Why Raja has to do it? Everybody composes music and some do it extra ordinary...raja is one of them but undeniably arr is one also.
  any problems?... too bad...
  
  Bharati was different, why so? bcoz the situation was different... do u think arr could nt have done it? misconceptions that arr is fit for only urban-educated life is absurd... his works in karuthamma, kizhakku cheemaiyilae and taj mahal...are ample examples....
  
  Whatever reason raja has lost out to time right now...maybe he will come back and do wonders... no qualms... but u cant just sit in the past all ur life? Get to grips people and come back to reality...
  
  Finally one analogy... i feel all this is like the aura around the grand old Ambassador... my father prefers an ambassador whereas i prefer my maruti...
  
  
• From: Fliflo (@ 146.186.113.254) on: Tue Feb 13 10:33:22 EST 2001
  
  Well. Raja's innovations are countless. I put them in general. His innovation was the reason for his success. Starting from annakili, he has gone into varieties and was extremely successful in mixing symphony interludes in tamil songs. Moreover, he has used variety of complicated ragas, this phenomenon has been written as topics under the title "Classical Ilayaraja". I would suggest you to go through those big essays as somebody has spent their invaluable time in doing great research about it. Ramasamy Gireesan's page is one other useful source for these matters. In spite of so many resources on his innovations and if you still come up with a question what Raja has done then I don't think I can satisfy you.
  
  "Then the same industry, why doesnt it run to the evergreen ocean nowadays...? forget about rahman, dear... they are instead running to the likes of others who not even deserve mentioning...Why, have they gone crazy?"
  
  Well..When you compare IR and ARR we do see only their music. But that is not the sole truth underlying. There is something called a time factor. There is something called an age factor.
  Your fitness keep going down slowly. I hope you do agree comparing you and your father. When you grow up you can nnot do whatever you want...Rahman is young 30s. Raja is 58. Rahman is more like Raja's son. How can you expect you to do the same thing like your father and vice-versa. IR's sons and other MDs are catching up and we see a total multipolar music world in next 1 to 2 years. Just keep an eye on YSR. Raja, if he wishes, can still accept many movies. Vaanchinathan was to be done by IR and IR recommended that to KR. He could have accepted Bharathi Raja's movie. he did not do that. All of us, who just discusses, do not know the exact thing going on...Time is a great factor...I assure you that you don't feel the same way after 5 years from now....
  
  
  I do not want to discuss about ARR's capablities and situations to where he fit.
  
  
  Whatever reason raja has lost out to time right now...maybe he will come back and do wonders... no qualms... but u cant just sit in the past all ur life? Get to grips people and come back to reality...
  
  Everybody has to obey time includng you and me..that is the simple reality. Regarding raja's music till today I feel it is evergreen...You can feel that when you hear "Nitpadhuve..nadapathuve" and "Manjal Poosum" in Friends..They are not past. They are reality...Don't argue a reason for each and everything..Accept it.. Sun TV, Raj TV, and all newspapers, when they accpet it you must..
  I donno what you mean by wonders...I feel YSR is coming out with your kind of wonders..
  
  You say you are die hard fan of ARR and you are open. I question that!.....I would suggest you read about the music articles written on Raja before making any big statement. TFM website has them all, I guess.
  
  
• From: Travis (@ 194.85.200.36) on: Tue Feb 13 10:53:44 EST 2001
  
  I guess I am not an effective df-er.. People argue with me and tell I argue... Anyways, If people care to remember, What i wanted to mean, perhaps did put it in as right words, is that raja is raja and he is fine...I have no problems..or who am i to have so? But You people miss one big point of mine (i am getting tired in trying to drive this home) is that you are totally neglecting arr.. you can see one person said he is not a composer and is a technician and he has come to pass.
  all this may sound nice for ego, what would have been true is that the same would have been said abt raja in his early years... so he did stand the time test... and now he has bowed out to others...I do respect him...at least for his age and talent. But what I find shocking is that none of df-ers than a few even accept arr as a md... maybe its my age and i will become more mature one day... But i am just curious...ARR is not an MD? in one of my first mesg, i had clearly stated that arr is arr and raja is himself... but when people started making ugly statements and questioned arr's talent, I was mad. maybe thats why you wont find the refinement in my mesgs... But what i have asked is true... tell me mr. fliflo, ilayaraja doesnt have time to do new music? doesnt he have money? doesnt he have talent? he has everything... he has age and the experience that comes with it.. you said he is doing less movies...due to age... fine by me... then why should be bragging about wasting time? he could have done it or be doing it now? In all these years, from `94, he has been doing relatively less film music... well, if he wanted he could have stopped it and stepped in to higher pursuits... thats what i want to know... and however people may take me, i will not keep quiet for all injustice done to rahman.
  
  

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