Originally Posted by Hulkster
Well i have been looking into the working style of these two and i can say that this might be the closest i can get to IR's thoughts.
The thing about ARR is that as much as he is a extremely talented musician, his success and achievements are bound by commercial viability. He cannot afford to refuse good offers that come his way to give good music and of course aim for the best to keep competition out of his way. That defines him as the best film music composer in india but commercially and in terms of success.
When we look at IR, he is more of a music scientist. Even though he did come to film music just like ARR and came in to achieve, his thoughts were more about "to conduct an orchestra" or like how "raagams can be applied to western classical music" rather than reinventing himself to stay ahead of his competitors.
His dreams have never been about film music, it was rather researching and exploring it to see what other gems can be found. If you notice his three most famous non-film albums they are not to show just his composing ability but his burning desire to research music. How to name it showed us that indian instruments can be used for a symphony format in four movements and also raagams can be used to relate with a western classical piece. Nothing but wind was IR's theory that music is really nothing but wind, just changed to suit out ears in film music or commercial music. And thiruvasagam was IR's trial to see if a divine set of lyrics can cope with a symphony orchestra to bring out its intended emotions.
Watch the interviews of ARR and IR. While ARR interviews are more about achieving and his desire to enthrall audiences around the world IR's interviews are about he would stop composing if he knew all about music. He always mentions there is alot to explore. They are both totally different set of people. A hollywood film will mean a good chance for ARR to step up but for IR it is just a film which he can compose in 30mins. No challenge .
Now how does this bring us to the topic? Simply because IR does not believe in awards, publicity or overachieving. He is more about " give me something that can make me think and create a composition to explore it ". He does not bother about global recognition and awards. It is more about we as music listeners understand the theory he is bringing in his compositions.
ARR - Music composer.
IR - Music scientist.
A music composer will be elated at the sight of a better film, a music scientist will be elated at the thought of a totally challenging theory that has not been stepped into yet.
