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Articles on ARR from YG.

Topic started by Are Yaar (@ 203.197.141.186) on Thu Oct 10 08:44:25 EDT 2002.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

For many days, I felt that I should have a thread to share some of the articles about ARR in desi and international press and website. I intend to start this thread and expect others also to post some articles about ARR here.

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Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: Are Yaar (@ 203.115.31.67) on: Wed Dec 4 04:19:12 EST 2002
  
  NDTV's Review on Saathiya
  --------------------------
  
  Film
  Album: Saathiya
  Music: Various
  Label: Saregama
  
  
  
  - Monalisa Sengupta
  
  
  A R Rehman is at his experimental best in Saathiya, part of which he pulls off with aplomb and others which are a little too quirky. And while Gulzar too is his usual self, with some soulful and fresh lyrics, there are times when they become a little too abstract.
  
  The pick of the score is the title track Saathiya, with Sonu Nigam at his melodious syrupy best. Rahman, on his part blends in some interesting sounds that keep the tempo of the soothing track alive.
  
  Adnan Sami sings for the first time for Rahman in Aye Udi Udi. And the score could have been brilliant but for Adnan. The singer goes overboard in his efforts and you will have to strain your ears to figure out the lyrics. Nonetheless, the composition of the score is brilliant, and is sure to catch on.
  
  Chhalka Chhalka Re, another experimental track that is a mix of folk and classical sounds, rounds off well. Sung by Richa Sharma, Mahalaxmi, Vaishali, and Shoma, the track creates a festive mood with the whiff of some south Indian flavour.
  
  Rahman's musical genius comes to the fore in Chupke se, which has a delectable blend of two different melodies. The talented composer brings the striking contrast between mellow and solemn Sadhna Sargam with forceful interludes of Murtaza and Qadir.
  
  Madhushree joins Sadhna for Naina milake--a romantic track with some basic traditional Dholak supporting the singers. The music director wields the mike for a very sufiana composition in Mera yaar mila de, with some soulful lyrics by Gulzar.
  
  Of the tracks that falter is Oh humdum. Mainly a chorus number, Kay Kay, Shaan, Kunal and Pravin Mani give their vocals to the track supported by some heavy techno background music. And the most irritating part of the number are the rap vocals on Halloween! Mangalayam is the second (and shorter) version of the song, and is definitely more preferable over the former.
  
  Another track that misses the trick due to some more inane English rap lyrics is Chori pe chori sung by Asha Bhonsle and Karthik. Though Asha is her usual best, but for the rap parts, it could have well been one of Rahman's all time hits.
  
  Saathiya packs in all the quintessentials of a Rehman hit, and while it may not be in the league of a Lagaan or Taal, the album is definitely one of the highlights of the year.
  
  ****
  Average viewer rating:
  (389 Votes)
  
  
  
  
• From: Are Yaar (@ 203.115.31.67) on: Wed Dec 4 04:21:08 EST 2002
  
  One different mail on IR
  -------------------------
  hey guys,
  
  I didn't hear about IR until this AR vs IR thing started, I was born
  in Hyderabad and lived there until I was 14. I don't speak Telugu,
  so I didn't listen to Telugu songs or know any Telugu MDs. Since I
  speak Urdu, I was all into Hindi music.. until Rahman came into the
  scene. There was something different about his music.. which we all
  know. I realized I was Rahman's fan in '95 or so when I noticed all
  my all-time favorites, Roja, Humse hai muqabla, Bombay, Chor chor
  and stuff was composed by AR Rahman. And that was it, after that I
  bought every single Hindi album he came out with, and I noticed I
  was the only one buying Rahman's albums while all my other friends
  were listening to typical; anu malik and jatin lalit. In '97, I
  came to USA, I have been here ever since and I still am Rahman's die
  hard fan, after coming here I also got into Tamil music, I have
  every single hindi albuma and most of Rahman's Tamil albums . I
  don't understand a single tamil word but I still listen to it. I
  have seen Rahman go from Zero to Infinity..., He really got fame in
  the hindi industry with dilse and taal and with Bombay Dreams, he
  has just crossed limits. He does not sieze to amaze me everytime,
  but of course it's Rahman!. I believe each and every song composed
  by him is a master-piece in itself.
  
  All I have to say is, I think Rahman has achieved a feat no Indian
  composer has ever achieved or probably ever will. Now, if IR was
  anywhere near this..I would have definitely heard about him. I
  asked a lot of people here about IR and most of them have never
  heard of him, like myself. A couple people told me he is a well-
  known composer in the South. Rahman not only crossed the inter-
  state barrier but crossed the international barrier. IR is probably
  the best at what he does, but Rahman is the best all-rounder, b'cuz
  everytime he composes somethin... he Delivers!!
  
  as far as the BBC poll is concerned, it looks like a spam by some IR
  fan, with 50% votes, are u kiddin?, more than 50% of all voters
  listen to Tamil music?, if that's the case, then the poll is not
  even valid, cuz what happened to the rest of India?
  
  I'm still glad an Indian song tops the chart and Indian songs
  dominate the chart, but validity of the polls is still debatable.
  
  
  Regards
  
  
• From: WN (@ 203.24.100.132) on: Wed Dec 4 06:15:34 EST 2002
  
  An interesting one:
  
  "I was reading president APJ Abdul Kalam's "Ignited Minds" and in one of the chapters called "Patriotism beyond Politics and Religion", he has mentioned about ARR ...
  
  I am just reproducing the paragraph from that chapter which mentions our man's name,
  
  "Kerala's chief Minister, A.K.Antony, is not a heretic because he and his people are part of kerala's culture.Being a christian does not make him alien.On the contrary, it gives an added dimension to his Indianness. A.R.Rahman maybe an muslim but his voice echoes in the soul of all Indians, of whatever faith, when he sings Vande Mataram."
  
  
• From: hehehe... (@ 172.186.198.223) on: Wed Dec 4 10:02:12 EST 2002
  
  //IR is probably
  the best at what he does, but Rahman is the best all-rounder, b'cuz
  everytime he composes somethin... he Delivers!! //what does this mean?
  //I'm still glad an Indian song tops the chart and Indian songs
  dominate the chart, but validity of the polls is still debatable. //-I am sure this would have been beyond debates if VM or CC was on the top!
  //Now, if IR was anywhere near this..I would have definitely heard about //-how many people in India have heard of beethoven or mozart-does it make them all a lesser musicians than Anu mallik or JL or ahem...our own mozart from madras (or is it tchaikovsky from chennai?)
  
  
  
• From: curses (@ 219.65.109.56) on: Wed Dec 4 11:03:52 EST 2002
  
  >>how many people in India have heard of beethoven or mozart-does it make them all a lesser musicians than ... <<
  
  let's rephrase this shall we?
  How many ppl in India have heard of the Raja clan?
  
  
• From: hehehe (@ 172.182.223.86) on: Wed Dec 4 18:16:47 EST 2002
  
  that is exactly my point-rajini is more popular than kamal-is he a better actor?
  Just because a yadav or sharma in UP knows ARR and knows nothing about IR does not make ARR a better musician.
  edho purinja sari...
  
  
• From: curses (@ 219.65.109.105) on: Wed Dec 4 21:25:33 EST 2002
  
  Who is the better musician? the qn is debatable.
  But whose music has reached out to a WIDE gamut of ppl from all over the country (now world?) is certainly evident.
  ARR's music certainly breaks all language barriers.
  I'm not saying IR's a bad musician or that ARR's a better musician than IR.
  Just trying to say ARR's cleverer! ;)
  
  
• From: curses (@ 219.65.109.105) on: Wed Dec 4 21:28:45 EST 2002
  
  and what i tried to convey by my 1st post was that when ppl in India have not even heard about the great IR, how can u ever imagine them to know about Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, Chopin or even Yanni for that matter! :)
  
  
• From: WN (@ 203.24.100.132) on: Thu Dec 5 05:56:15 EST 2002
  
  "that is exactly my point-rajini is more popular than kamal-is he a better actor?"
  No, it jus means rajini is more popular than kamal.
  
  
  curses, well said.
  
  
• From: hehehe... (@ 195.93.34.7) on: Thu Dec 5 07:31:13 EST 2002
  
  //No, it jus means rajini is more popular than kamal.//
  Jayalalitha is more popular than kamarajar ever was.
  Is she a better politician?
  I was trying to analyse that statement from that yahoo posting -he asks 2 of his freinds-They have not heard of IR!
  so ,this poster has heard not heard of IR, his freinds have not heard him-so that means IR is nothing!
  I presume the above ignorant friends will also not heard of MSV-does that make MSV a nothing?
  ARR is more popular than MSV-so what?
  conversely they have heard of anumalik and JL-are they better musicians than IR?
  just curious....
  ARR got himself heard all over world ONLY after going to hindi.IR has got himself heard all over the world thru his tamil songs.
  //as far as the BBC poll is concerned, it looks like a spam by some IR fan, with 50% votes, are u kiddin?, more than 50% of all voters listen to Tamil music?, if that's the case, then the poll is not even valid, cuz what happened to the rest of India? //
  who is preventing the rest of India from voting?
  I sent a mail to one of my freinds and he forwarded it to 20 of his freinds without even me asking him.
  
  
  
• From: WN (@ 203.190.193.6) on: Thu Dec 5 23:13:17 EST 2002
  
  Kamal is more popular than Vijayakanth. Is he a better actor? (ans: Yes, except to VK's HC fans who probably also think he is the best actor, best looker and has the tightest abs in the whole world)
  
  
• From: Are Yaar (@ 203.115.31.67) on: Fri Dec 6 03:13:13 EST 2002
  
  Every thing is a matter of subjectivity. But ARR became popular only after going to Hindi is too harsh on him. His Roja, GM and TT were spoken in TVs and news tabloid as tamil film itself and no body here stoped IR from going there.
  
  If you look objectively, ARR has had a credible reach that any of the composers that India has produced. That in itself is an achievement.
  
  
• From: Are Yaar (@ 203.115.31.67) on: Fri Dec 6 04:27:09 EST 2002
  
  Saathiya makes cash registers ring for Saregama India
  Indrani Dutta
  
  
  
  KOLKATA, Dec. 5
  
  SHE is giving company to many - spreading cheer among households and corporates alike.
  
  She is a music cassette called Saathiya which is flying off the shelves of music stores at a time when the industry is going through a severe downturn.
  
  Coming at a lull period, the likes of which the Indian music industry has not seen for a long time, the sales of the Saathiya music cassette have sent the cash registers of Saregama, the company which has the music rights, ringing.
  
  The IDBI Bank has already co-branded itself with the product, sending out special editions of the cassette to its customers saying that it could not think of a more apt word than Saathiya to describe the special bond that it shares with its customers.
  
  At the last count, the cassette, priced at Rs 40 and released around three weeks ago, has sold over eight lakh pieces, Mr Abhik Mitra, the Managing Director of Saregama told Business Line.
  
  Sources said that there was optimism that sales would pick up further, once the movie starring Rani Mukherjee and Vivek Oberoi, is released later this month. The music score is by A.R. Rahman and it has songs by Sonu Nigam, Adnan Sami, Shaan and Asha Bhosle among others.
  
  Information culled from various sources revealed that sales would have to touch at least 10 lakh for the loss-making SIL to approach break-even for this product on which it has also released a compact disc priced at Rs 150. CD sales would have to touch 30,000.
  
  In recent times, when the entire music industry is in doldrums as much on account of piracy as the flop Hindi film releases, not only Saathiya but also the sales of the music cassettes of another film Dil vil pyar vyaar is doing well, industry sources said. In this case, the songs are old R.D. Burman numbers the rights of which are already with SIL.
  
  However, what marks out the success of Saathiya is that in recent times SIL's release of music cassettes of new Hindi films have not done well at all and the failures have stung the company hard as the acquisition costs of these rights were very high.
  
  While the losses of the music industry on account of the flop movies and the high acquisition cost are estimated at Rs 100 crore in 2001-02, SIL too bit the dust making a Rs 25-crore loss in 2001-02. The first half losses of this RPG-controlled entertainment company has already touched Rs 25 crore.
  
  The process of renegotiation which was triggered off by these events has seen the reopening of deals cut even a year ago. Saathiya is one such case. Available information is that the rights which was acquired at Rs 4.5 crore was renegotiated at Rs 3 crore.
  
  
  
  http://www.blonnet.com/stories/2002120602050600.htm
  
  
  
  
  
  
• From: Are Yaar (@ 203.115.31.67) on: Fri Dec 6 23:25:33 EST 2002
  
  Screen Reviews Saathiya (Funny about the reviewer's musical taste)
  ------------------------
  
  Saathiya
  
  Sa Re Ga Ma, Rs. 55
  After captivating the West with Bombay Dreams, A.R. Rahman is back on home ground to enthrall you with Saathiya. Though not among his best scores (it will take Rahman lot of inspiration to give us another Taal), it works its magic on the listener after repeated hearings.
  
  Some of the compositions have Rahman experimenting and in some he has stuck to his typical style. The title song is typical Rahman, but very likeable with the sound of the flute used to enhance appeal. Sonu Nigam sings it exactly the way Rahman would have. Chalka chalka re is a girlie song and again a typical Rahman number reminding you of the title song of Taal. The dholak sound in the song is very effective. It's the Adnan Sami sung Hey udi udi which is the highlight of the album. Pacy, with a different rhythm and semi-classical feel to it, the song is sung with ease and panache by Adnan and in style. A potential chartbuster here. Chupke se doesn't impress tune-wise, but makes its mark because of good singing by Sadhana Sargam and Murtuza Qadir.
  
  The flipside has the groovy O humdum suniye re followed by Mera yaar mila de sung by Rahman himself, in which he sounds different. Naina milaike is a semi-classical thumri type of song, while the grand finale is the Asha Bhosle-Karthik sung Chori pe chori which has the punch and should be another big hit.
  
  Gulzar's lyrics are trademark him, where he plays arround with words, yet making their impact. Another good score here.
  
  
  
  

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