Neethane En Ponvasantham | Yeto Vellipoyindhi Manasu | Assi Nabbe Poorey Sau

Kamal,

I honestly don't have an issue whether BR is a Raja fan or not. In a very strict sense, I would never want to identify myself as a 'fan' :)

My only grouse is not about his liking. He has every right to like what he wants. But he is also a critic. In which case it is expected that he points to some outstanding works and make people listen to good work done. (Rather than you asking him about some of the good work done!!!) It may be happening in other cases but not in case of Raja. The way he approaches other music directors is quite different from how he approaches Raja. In case of Raja, he has only a couple of routine defense: One, I don't like the sound. Second, it didn't work for me. I was not surprised by the answers he gave you. As I said I fully respect his liking as a listener. It is only when you take him as a critic that you have trouble with those statements. I would have rather had him pointing to all those songs you gave in his blog sometime earlier. To make people listen to those lovely songs and say, "Hey, forget for a minute the recording technique. There is lot of good music coming from Raja. Listen to it." Now, for me that would have been the critic's primary job. After having pointed it out, had he gone hammer and tongs on recording techniques and limitations of the singer, then it would have been good. Unfortunately, the way he writes, many a times gives the impression that the songs are not worth listening to because of recording techniques and singers !!!

Suresh - Beeyar has a different take on his role as a 'critic' - he believes he is not out there to give recommendations or "stars". Reading through him for years, i get the feeling that basically, his problem is that he is a failed "original" writer. That is, he has an extraordinary facility for expression and articulation - except that, he needs some skeleton of a creation to hang his articulation around. He is forever in search of a beautiful object that he can talk about in his brilliant style. What happens is that depending on his mood and particular state of his creativity "on that day", he tends to see non-existent virtues in unworthy creations "on that day of review" and sometimes misses out on actual beauty(Disclaimer on beauty and beholder notwithstanding).

As a result, he is a prime candidate for inconsistency in thoughts, logic, rationale and opinions. This is where his laziness - reading up several books on Cinema and other topics notwithstanding - in shaping his opinions lets him down badly. I realise the irony in me saying it for I suffer from the same affliction.

I have sort of settled into viewing him as "how beautifully" he expresses his opinion than the opinion itself.

thanks MRamki!

It is nice to read, though I didn't read his earlier column or interview with GVM.

See.. yesterday after San_K pointed out, I listened to Azhagi songs which I totally forgot, recalled I enjoyed them with visual. I need to rent out the DVD today to experience it again. I think Parthiban did visual good.

it happens you know..

nice to know The Great Baradwaj Rangan is likeVinatha sometimes!:-D (OK! He has more knowledge about music, movies and art!)

some not working rasa, not working... going back to SRI DEVI EN VAAZHVIL VANDHAL... with fondness and admiration, still longingly looking forward to your future albums!

Ranga! We are not alone! Neraiya peru erukka nambalai maadhiri!http://www.mayyam.com/talk/images/sm...on_biggrin.gif

Plum,

You are spot on. I didn't think of the 'failed writer' bit but that sounds consistent. He writes lovely prose, no doubt but when he wastes it on a film like 'Rockstar' (which according to many who saw it was a terrible 'mokkai') you wonder about his role as a critic. Anyway, as I said somewhere else I am happy that people like BR have a decent number of readers and fans. Atleast it is a positive reflection given the 'fans' which our film 'stars' have !!!

Thanks K, app, KV. :smile:

Suresh, see that's one of the problems. You say he wasted good words on Rockstar and have a problem with him being a critic. From your words, I gather you haven't seen the film personally. But you are making a conclusion. To me, a critic doesn't have to be making a popular opinion. I like the fact that he makes his opinion, not the people's opinion. It's your choice to take it or read it like " nice prose". I'm perfectly fine with Plum's stand...it's his opinion on BR's writing, not something he concluded from what others said. You can have opinion on his merits as a critic and what you think is a critic's job. That's okay...you have a right to it but it doesn't have to be the universal opinion. To each his own. That's all. Please don't take this as though I'm siding with one person. I'm just giving my perspective on it. Besides you know me, so you won't take this in the wrong sense.

For that matter, I did see Rockstar and did like many things in it. But that's just my perspective. Please don't see me a failed movie fan :-)

// I wanted to be on a certain wavelength with Raja sir, so I started picking up books about reading music and studying music. That’s what I’m doing right now. Not that I want to become a music director, pose with a guitar in my hand… //

// He said, “Namma sankalpam nalla irukku. Idhu continue aaguma-nu theriyala…” //

Doesn't this sound promising ?
Reading these, one gets a feeling that both IR and Gowtham might want to continue their association in the future :)

May be after few films, I don't see any movies in near future! Though Raja (himself!) signals (which is rare of rarest!) I don't see Gatuam has any immediate plans.. Lets see!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sureshs65

Kamal,

I honestly don't have an issue whether BR is a Raja fan or not. In a very strict sense, I would never want to identify myself as a 'fan' :)

My only grouse is not about his liking. He has every right to like what he wants. But he is also a critic. In which case it is expected that he points to some outstanding works and make people listen to good work done. (Rather than you asking him about some of the good work done!!!) It may be happening in other cases but not in case of Raja. The way he approaches other music directors is quite different from how he approaches Raja. In case of Raja, he has only a couple of routine defense: One, I don't like the sound. Second, it didn't work for me. I was not surprised by the answers he gave you. As I said I fully respect his liking as a listener. It is only when you take him as a critic that you have trouble with those statements. I would have rather had him pointing to all those songs you gave in his blog sometime earlier. To make people listen to those lovely songs and say, "Hey, forget for a minute the recording technique. There is lot of good music coming from Raja. Listen to it." Now, for me that would have been the critic's primary job. After having pointed it out, had he gone hammer and tongs on recording techniques and limitations of the singer, then it would have been good. Unfortunately, the way he writes, many a times gives the impression that the songs are not worth listening to because of recording techniques and singers !!!

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Hmm..fair enough! I think your statement "the way he approaches music" pretty much defines is school of thought perhaps. Yes, it would be good if he ocassionally pours out some words on raaja's recent works but perhaps he is a fan of raaja's works till early 90s only. I agree that as a critic, it would be good if he gives a chance to output of any era dispassionately and then have an opinion on it. But then, looks like he is not completely out of touch. His replies to his post tell me that he does listen to new output. But may be he cant relate to this new raaja. May be he is still in that Raaja music which had extensive string arrangements topped with VS Narasimhan pieces etc. I know so many people who somehow cannot relate to Raaja's new output. They fall at Raaja's feet when you talk about 80s songs but they cannot relate to new output. I dont know why and how that happens. But it happens and we just have to accept it may be :-)