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If he wanted, can Isaignani make it in Hollywood with the greats like Spielberg, etc?

Topic started by Skeptical (@ 152.163.206.201) on Sun Feb 11 13:48:01 EST 2001.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

Often, I bacame part of discussions involving the mastery of Ilayaraja. Die hards claimed he could take Hollywood "by storm". I was a bit skeptical. I couldn't picture Bruce Willis or Anne Heche or Dustin Hoffman mouthing a lilting English hit with Tamil overtones as they floated down the Colorado River in a canoe with flowers all around them and the hero rescues the pretty little heroine from the gaping jaws of a vicious rattlesnake. Can someone take this further and expand? Assume Ilayaraja WANTS to make it in Hollywood.

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Responses:

• From: Fliflo (@ 130.203.167.72) on: Sun Feb 11 14:15:45 EST 2001
  
  How well Spielberg can do films like Keladi kanmani or karagattakaran or for that matter any other tamil movie? Technically, hollywood is sound and unmatchable. That doesn't mean they can understand Indian sentiments, especially tamil sentiments. What happens to "Chinnathambi" if released in hollywood. So let me put this way. Movies from everyland has an associated culture and sentiments. Manytimes that can not be understood by a different cultured man. The same way music too. Technically speaking, raja may finish composing for a hollywood movie in less than 2 hours or so. He may not be able to give what he has given in Chinnathambi, or Keladikanmani..or other movies.
  See background score in "Kaalapani" . It's more similar to a hollywood matter.
  
  
• From: Vijay Venkatram J (@ 202.54.33.161) on: Sun Feb 11 14:37:18 EST 2001
  
  Well Said, Fliflo! But I still think He can do an English film easily! As He knows how to manage Hey Ram and Karisakkaattu Poove simultaneously and after composing the Symphony for RPH, London, it would be a child's play for Him!
  Also, one who has so much touch in WCM can easily understand their sentiments, IMHO!
  
  Maestro's Fans come to:
  http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/maestroilaiyaraajafansclub
  
  
• From: cram (@ 206.103.12.102) on: Mon Feb 12 04:36:32 EST 2001
  
  watch aboorva sagotharargal, or mouna raagam. the BGM is world-class. Hollywood would be a cakewalk for IR.
  
  
• From: kiru (@ 192.138.149.4) on: Mon Feb 12 14:11:30 EST 2001
  
  I could not hear Hey Ram BGM very well here in Bay Area theatre (pathetic sound system). But I watched kaalapani on video. The BGM was almost like a Hollywood Orchestral BGM. I am pretty sure for certain kind of movies (like Star Wars - depicting different cultures) IR would be great. Dead Man Walking had scores by NFAK. BTW, people in TN are tired of tabla, but the West is slowly discovering it. So if IR does tabla/mridhangam scores for BGM it will go very well. After all, Hollywood is always looking for change. Maybe Hey Ram will bring international exposure to IR, if screened in film festivals around the world.
  
  
• From: kandan (@ 202.88.152.8) on: Tue Feb 13 07:02:49 EST 2001
  
  hi guys it sounds great to hear our tamil md made some splendid performance, but i ask u guys why the films u mentioned doesn't go well, then what is the role of isainani in this case, not even audio cassette of ir has made a remarkable performance.
  
  i just want to know about this
  
  
  
• From: Flilfo (@ 146.186.113.254) on: Tue Feb 13 09:56:32 EST 2001
  
  kandan:
  
  It is a million dollar question that has never been understood for years!
  
  
  
  
  
• From: BGM (@ 209.187.151.146) on: Tue Feb 13 10:20:19 EST 2001
  
  Fliflo, Kiru:
  
  I recently watched "Sirai Chalai" and to be honest, I was disappointed about BGM. I would rate Hey Ram's BGM is much better. I watched HR on theater and in DVD, I could listen to the details of BGM very well in the DVD. The theater has very bad sound system as Kiru said and I couldn't hear anything. Because the music is very subtle throughout the movie.
  
  
• From: Fliflo (@ 146.186.113.254) on: Tue Feb 13 10:56:44 EST 2001
  
  BGM
  
  BGM of siraichalai is not good....oh no!! I watched the movie 5 times just for BGM....It was more like a feeling of watching Hollywood movie...
  
  
• From: aruLaracan (@ 134.124.160.10) on: Tue Feb 13 12:27:48 EST 2001
  
  hey ram bgm was superb! the continuous eerie score during the riots (goes on for about 25 minutes!), the short playful awesome score when kamal's wife looks through the peep-hole, bgm for kamal's hallucinations, ... you can go on listing for a long a time. hey ram's score was of international standard.
  
  
• From: Fliflo (@ 146.186.113.254) on: Tue Feb 13 12:53:10 EST 2001
  
  I just found few bgm pieces of sirachalai from G. Suresh's page. Folks just send few minutes and enjoy IR's western classic pieces.
  
  http://members.tripod.com/sgiridha/bgm.html
  
  
  
• From: Fliflo (@ 146.186.113.254) on: Tue Feb 13 12:54:16 EST 2001
  
  Of course, the above site gives some excellent interludes from other movies too.
  
  
• From: UV (@ 134.113.201.48) on: Tue Feb 13 14:02:47 EST 2001
  
  IR has done so many wonderful project in Malayalam films. No wonder both IR and Kamal has a great respect and a deep bond with Malayalam films and directors. Atleast there avanga mullaikku neiraya saval udakutiya padangal irruku and they also have worked in those kinds of films. Thats why IR actually wanted to start his School of Music there.
  
  
• From: kiru (@ 192.138.149.4) on: Tue Feb 13 18:23:13 EST 2001
  
  I think in Kerala knowledge of music and arts is much more than in TN. They also have better knowledge of many things (courtesy of high literacy). Some say that reading and thinking is common in communist states (like West Bengal). This is the reason for the audience for many intellectual movies. My wife was the Dean of a Nursing College in Bangalore. Majority of the students were from Kerala. She says almost all of them had good singing skills. Dont think it is just the women students. Even male students could dance bharata nAtyam !!!. Whereas trying to remember how things were in my alma mater in singArach chennai, I was not impressed with our college band, where the singers and the quality of singing was very predictable. I think this is the reason why IR tends to do well in Malayalam. How many directors in Tamil filmdom have a basic understanding of classical music be it Carnatic or Western Classical music ?
  
  
• From: Fliflo (@ 146.186.113.254) on: Tue Feb 13 18:50:55 EST 2001
  
  Enjoy BGM tracks of few other legendary movies from this site
  
  http://www.directoryindia.com/songs/bgm.html
  
  
• From: Jag (@ 35.9.24.131) on: Tue Feb 13 19:07:38 EST 2001
  
  I watched Unbreakable for the second time and noticed that the movie had a very pathetic BGM, Raaja could have done wonders given the scope of the movie's scenes. When??????
  
  
• From: Kupps (@ 156.153.255.195) on: Wed Feb 14 03:04:44 EST 2001
  
  Kiru,
  
  i agree with your idea of kerela regd. musical knowledge. but i beg to differ in the reason u sited high literacy. literacy is not the reason. interest is the reason. if u have interest then being a literate may/will enhance ur interest more, but not viceversa, IMHO.
  
  i have certain point regd why there is very less interest in TN. im sure if i site that point that will drag this thread to entirely different topic degenerating this thread, that i hate. i shall post that in some other appropriate thread :-)
  
  
• From: cram (@ 206.103.12.102) on: Wed Feb 14 04:29:25 EST 2001
  
  kupps
  
  the real reason is the culture. here in TN, we have "high" culture (bharatanatyam, carnatic music) and "low" culture (film music, folk music, traditional dance and theatre). that's causing the rot.
  secondly, TN prefers to live in the past rather than open its eyes to the wonders of the world. which is not the case with Kerala. do you know marquez is an idol in kerala? how many in TN have been exposed to his kind of literature? no wonder our literature is in the state it is in.
  
  all this reflects in the kind of TFM that we get. i would say it is our great good fortune that people like MSV and IR (and of course, ARR too) worked in TFM.
  
  
• From: kiru (@ 192.138.149.4) on: Wed Feb 14 11:30:29 EST 2001
  
  As cram says there is some sort of divide in TN regarding 'high' and 'low' culture. But I think things are changing. I knew a guy from thirukkOvilUr, who went to the music college in Chennai. He is in the voice database of K J Yesudass. This guy is from a very poor family, it is really tough for him to pay his way through the college but he is very talented. He does the music for dramas directed by my cousin. My brother's friend plays/used to play in gangai amaran's troupe. One of our brother's teacher is a popular villupAttu artiste (rAjasEkhar, if I remember right). So there is no lack of interest. But only the lack of formal training schools/teachers, I think. To some extent, I would say we have less discipline in TN these days. This is where Keralites score. They are disciplined, motivated and hard working. TN people seem to go for the big bang directly without steady work. This shows up in the lack of depth in the output. I am not sure what cram means by 'live in the past' but I think the strength of current TN is ability to handle new/high technology. With some hardwork and discipline we will make impressive strides.
  
  
• From: Kupps (@ 156.153.255.195) on: Thu Feb 15 00:06:02 EST 2001
  
  thanks cram and kiru,
  
  even though i did not state my point, i have it in my mind. your(both) points are radically different to mine(or should i have to say it in the otherway round :-) ). still i agree to your points totally. afterall, the drawback of TN people cannot lie exactly in one point. mine is historical and yours is cultural.
  
  once again thanks for the thought provoking ideas.
  
  i dont want to digress any more.
  
  others sorry for my digression.
  
  
• From: cram (@ 206.103.12.102) on: Thu Feb 15 04:13:21 EST 2001
  
  kiru,
  by living in the past, i meant that people here still keep referring to sangam age, the epics, valluvar, etc. fine, accepted. what about the 20th century? how many great poets have u produced? how many great writers, great works of literature? how well have they been promoted? so much has happened and keeps happening in the world of literature. where does TN figure? are the people clued in? what about the reading habit? Writers like MT Vasudevan Nair are idolised in Kerala, here people save their idol worship for Simran and Jyothika.
  and kiru, i don't see how tech savviness helps in the development of art.
  
  
• From: suresh (@ 203.199.228.229) on: Thu Feb 15 14:24:21 EST 2001
  
  digression again, pls. excuse
  ------------------------------
  
  cram, i don't know if you mean to wish away scores of tamil literary giants with just a shrug, on the grounds that malayalam stars such as MT enjoy iconic status. i have a different take on this, in the sense that ever since leftist intellectuals began to dominate the "culture and literary" fields, there has been a marked emphasis on awarding keralite and bengali artistes to the exclusion of well-deserving others. I'm sure there are equivalent works of tamil art comparable to a Thakazhi or a Vayalar..
  
  Now, i don't wish to dispute MTs marvellous skills as a screenplay writer, but to just broom away people of the calibre of jayakanthan,asokamitran, ki.ra, or thi.janakiraman on the count of popularity scale is patent injustice.
  TN can justly be proud of its koothuppattarai and cholamadalam, just as the surya society in trivandrum promtes good cinema.
  
  Today, the Kerala film scene is not too encouraging with low-brow mimicry charades and pedestrian action flicks ruling the box-office. So for every malayalam 'Karunyam' or'Vasanthiyum..', Tamil produces atleast a Sethu or Bharathi that can also claim a measure of commercial success.
  Kerala is also caught in a time-warp of 'tharavaadu' movies that are sickeningly communal and casteist to the core, and I count this trend as sick as the 'jaadhi' movies springing up in Tamil. No Amman movies as yet in Kerala, but give them some time...
  
  Reading habit? Straight comparison of best-selling Manorama, Mathrubhoomi, or Vanitha with a Anandha Vikatan or Kumudam will reveal that Tamil mainstream magazines are much better in terms of content.
  
  I hate to generalise, but i think the malayalee attitude of smug superiority is their biggest inherent threat. Today, bumper successes of movies such as "Narasimham" or "Tenkasi Patnam", go to prove that give or take a few points, Kerala is fighting to be even with TN in every aspect of the game.
  
  Kiru, you wouldn't be heaping all those accolodes on the malayalee appreciation for good cinema if you'd known that ALL recent non-commercial films, including the much-touted 'Vaanaprastham' were disasters at the box-office.
  
  Cram, i appreciate many of the points you're making, but to pass sweeping judgements on tamil literature (marquez who?) without a thought to the honest and untiring efforts in the tamil literary scene is unfortunate. i suggest that you look up
  http://www.aaramthinai.com/ilakkiyam/index.asp
  for some pointers to the fact that the tamil scene is not so morbid as you think.
  
  Your point about 'TN prefers to live in the past rather than open its eyes to the wonders of the world' is very untrue considering the assimilation of external influences in every walk of tamil life from art to industry. On the contrary, it's the malayalee who's now finding the cultural cocoon a trap from which escape is not easy.
  
  

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