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ARR losing his talent?

Topic started by oosai (@ 63.115.132.3) on Wed Dec 19 16:13:04 EST 2001.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

Hey everyone,

I like to write to this forum every once in awhile, and here's my newest question: Is ARR losing his talent?

Here's my answer:

Although ARR is, in my opinion, someone who can break the mold with the occassionally great music, he is sinking fast!

Here are some of my complaints:

I hate the way he is signing up for a lot of movies. He apparently can't handle that stress and the amount of work it calls for. Although he may be able to write ten songs for Mani Ratnam or Shankar in one night, this means one of two things: (1) 9 of the songs will be horrible, or (2) songs for his other movies will suffer. Maybe he is in a slump this year because he has to write awesome tunes for "Bombay Dreams" and is therefore lacking songs for the tamil and hindi audiences.

I hate the fact that he is recycling tunes for his tamil/hindi movies. Even though some people justify this as saying that the directors are begging him for music and ASK him for old tunes, ARR should have the integrity NOT to do it. The movie director for "Jodi" and "Star" has asked for this, and i suppose so have the directors for "Pukar" and "Thakshak." All these movies have reused songs, and it personally makes me sick. ("Nayak" was a remake of the tamil "Mudhalvan," so reusing songs in this instance is ok) If he writes bad songs, at least he is being original and not just copying himself.

Have you listened to the songs in "Paarthale Paravasam"? Well--I don't know what many of you are talking about when you call them good music! I mean, who are we kidding? Almost all of the songs are complete stinkers! The only songs that I think are even frankly interesting are "Azhage Sugama" and the title song. Although the title song took a few listenings to, I ended up liking it--think of it as a guilty pleasure (I, personally, would never admit to liking that song in front of my friends or family--it would be too embarrassing). "Azahge Sugama" is strange because although I like it, it sounds like a million other songs that I've heard before.

So, is ARR losing his talent? May be not. He may just be in a slump to think up good songs. I mean, how many of you remember the year when he came out with "Ratchagan," "Jeans" and "Dil Se/Uyire"? I thought I was hearing music that would go into the history books as being the best indian music, ever! But, in that year, he only did like 3-4 movies. The past few years, I guess he has become more money-hungry and is going after nearly ten movies a year.

I think none of us want to admit that ARR is making bad songs. I know that I will get many responses to this post, but I think that in the back of your minds, you all agree with me--you just do not want to admit it. ARR has always been someone that I could've counted on for great music, but in the past few years, he hasn't been on a great streak.

He has grown old before his time, and hopefully, he can get out of the slump. Although a few of his recent songs can still be considered beauties (e.g. "Radha ke se na jale" from LAGAAN), most of them fit into the "forgettable" category.

I respect him, as I do Illayaraja, for all his past good musics, but.....would I listen to his music with the same awe? sadly, I must say....no.

Well, what do you all think?

(Please, none of us want to, nor should, see insults in this discussion group--just intelligent conversation, thank you)


--Karthik1

Courtesy : www.rahmanonline.com
Author: Karthik1
Mon Dec 17 00:34:22 2001

An interesting posting by Karthik. What do you guys think?.

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Responses:

• From: Peter Pan (@ 209.177.206.90) on: Wed Dec 19 17:19:43 EST 2001
  
  Very good observation by Karthik..
  
  I think it has been a while since ARR gave us some real good numbers. I was hoping that with his second innings with Balachander, he was going to give us another 'Duet'. Unfortunately, PArthAlE paravasam' did not qualify as 'KEttAlE paravasam'. Some of the songs looked like they were composed in the day (I mean while he was asleep)
  
  Agree, he gave us some good numbers in Zubeida and more so in LagAn. It was a great score and I am sure he's going to be rewarded... starting with the Filmfare award and ending perhaps with the National Award, considering the fact that the movie as well as the album has been a commercial success, it has some excellent marketing and PR back-up, and that Hindi films are the current favorite with the National Awards committee.
  
  Perhaps he is busy putting together 'Bombay Dreams' in London, working with the likes of A.L. Webber & Shekhar Kapoor, and trying to cater to the tastes of the people north of the Vindhyas, not to mention the NRI population...
  
  Perhaps he is disillusioned with the watchdogs in the Hindi film industry that go for his jugular at the drop of a hat, calling him repetitive and uninspiring but have only praises for poor, mediocre scores like 'Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham' and doesn't say a word when Anu Malik comes up with the same pallavi in dozens of songs, or when he hogs all the credit which is due to Ranjit Barot, who ghost-composes for him these days... (if you notice, AM's tunes still continue to have his stamp.. the same old mediocre stuff.. but the orchestration, the interludes, the 'sound' is all sophisticated Ranjeet Barot stuff, and especially when he gives some carnatic twists to songs and brings in singers like Chitra (like in the latest 'Filhaal'), overall, they sound almost ARR-ish!!
  
  Perhaps he is disillusioend with the Tamil film industry that is quick to corronate one-song wonders like Harris Jayaraj and 'NijAm PAkku' and 'jAlim arippu Lotion' jingle composers-turned-TV serial title song composers as the next ARRs.
  
  Perhaps he is fuming at the fact that TFM audiences are patronising the new crop of music directors who make their songs 'sound' like ARR compostions, ably aided by their now-commonly available loops and choice of singers such as Sukhwinder Singh, Udit Narayan, Devan, Clinton, Tippu and Sadhana Sargam.
  
  Perhaps he needs a break...
  Perhaps he wants all of us to wait for 'Kannathil MuthamittAl' alias 'Kudai' alias 'ManjaL/Sevappu/pachai/oodha kudai'
  
  *** Digression: MaNi Ratnam, please don't make the mistake of talking about this umbrella color theme, azhagu, poRuppu themes, or number themes like Aimbulan, AaRaRivu, Saptarishi, Ettu Thikku, Nava dhaaniyam with Vairamuthu.. Please. ***
  
  The man is talented, but has been stressed-out of late. Let's give him a break and wait for him to get back to 'form'...
  
  Amen
  
  
• From: musicfan (@ 172.189.105.43) on: Wed Dec 19 19:58:01 EST 2001
  
  Rahman - Losing Talent or Talent Untapped? is the real question.
  
  Tamil Industry:
  Having to unseat the legend called Ilayaraja, having done that well in his own unique style is now seems to be left clueless. There are probably many reasons for this. one, the enigmatic distance that Ilayaraja kept from the new competition, the waiting game... Besides, Rahman had to bear the constant media propelled so called ARR-IR enmity. Rahman could have only benefited from some creative challenges from Ilayaraja, instead he had to only compete with the enormous vacuum left by Ilayaraja and filled by Devas, SARs, and new generation MDs apeing his style.
  The second more important reason could be the depleted talent in tamil cinema industry. The Directors who propped up Rahman were on their downward trend in their creativity. Barathiraja, K Balachandar were reduced to mediocrity. Whether Maniratnam has some sustainability will be known with his next release. Shankar, Kathir came up with quickfix MTV approach to music which could not create enough creative challenges to Rahman. Inspite of this dearth in talent in directors, tamil industry was only producing more and more movies to the point of indigestion.
  
  Though the tamil industry provided him the pedestal to propel him to national recognition, now it is suffocating him and chasing him away, and his disillusion is very evident. To top it, the industry is only seeking his commercial promise rather than the quality music that he can generate.
  What he probably needs to do is to stay away from this mess in chennai, let the industry sort out its mess and return on his own terms later, when the right opportunity arises and hopefully boom again.
  
  Bollyhood:
  Ignoring the fact that majority of the movies produced here are mediocre, it has turned one cycle and has recovered from the similar affictions in tamil industry. Path breaking movies are coexisting or cohabitating with mediocrity. It is this promise of opportunity of working with talented directors that has probably lured Rahman to Bollyhood. It seems like deja vu for Rahman, those golden period when directors in Tamil gave him the opportunity to reach new heights in his creative ability. The challenge to experiment. In many respects, Rahman is like the adolescent in Roja, he likes to be nurtured, cajoled and to some extent spoilt by his directors not to forget the media and the mass as well. Face the fact, Bollywood directors are doing this to him more than the tamil directors. So his best is going to come from here for the near future.
  
  The Lloyd Webber factor:
  This has the potential of making him or breaking him to non-existence. Naturally he must be feeling quite nervous which is showing in his recent releases. He must be feeling similar to when he created Roja. It must be painstakingly slow. He needs to tread very carefully. The critics in London are the worst I have seen. They can cut a person to pieces. Even Mr Webber has not been spared. They will send it to trash if the broadway musical is only intended for the NRIs. They will do the same if it is intended for the whites, specially if it comes from an asian. The conservative audience here are known for their tight lipped, polite nod of appreciation but merciless stamping of cigarette buds. This has been the state of many desi plays in London theatre. It takes just a few perusals in the famous London Timeout magazine to realize this. Purists from India such as Hariprasad, Ravishankar, Zakir, Trilok etc survive here since the critics here don't have sufficient knowledge to criticise and like to show that they welcome cultural exchange. But try to replace them then you belong to the trash can, like probably what happened to Ilayaraja's Symphony.
  So, i hope Rahman is well prepared to handle either consequence of this unique opportunity. and i also hope that this effort doesn't leave him with acute creative depletion.
  
  Wishing him the best
  
  
• From: lazyboy (@ 151.201.36.8) on: Wed Dec 19 21:41:44 EST 2001
  
  if something is lost, how can it called as a talent?
  
  a talented person cannot lose his/her talents.
  We can only say the talent is not put use in the proper way.
  
  
  
• From: KSS (@ 24.126.149.245) on: Wed Dec 19 22:25:12 EST 2001
  
  Of course, a talented person can definitely be overworked.
  
  
• From: Normal Man (@ 199.207.253.101) on: Wed Dec 19 23:25:43 EST 2001
  
  The second more important reason could be the depleted talent in tamil cinema industry.
  
  I wouldn't buy this point. IR had even more worse directors in his times and he gave excellent numbers to them.
  
  

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