IR News and Other Titbits Ver.2009

* IR is/was had enough business savviness to get chances and stay in the business for long without people cheating him out of money or leverage. Suffice it to say, that IR gave many incentives/disincentives for directors to stay with him.

* TIS is a failure in my books. Commercially and Technically. Following are my opinions and I could be wrong. Music wise - the indian audience does not seem to care for the WCM format that much or the western audience does not care for the lyrics or indian music. Technically, I thought it would be a "pure" WCM format where there is no volume "level" adjustment between instruments and voices (for eg, symphonies are unamplified by electrical instruments in an opera house). But the "mixing" of tracks made it like film music and so I am not sure the WCM purists will take it seriously in the west. Apparently, IR heard an oratario first time or noticed its significance and decided "I could do something like this, because I have been doing this anyways" and no wonder I get the filmy feel.

* Re: lyrics and philosophy - cannot agree more. There was a poster here by name Udhaya long time ago (who was an amateur lyricist as well). He opined that IR's music lost popular appeal, as soon as became spiritual. He probably is right, maybe, the fun aspect was gone and everything became too serious. Rahman probably put the fun back in the music.

* Re: Rahman vs IR on producers/directors - IR insists it is the plot that inspires. I think he is honest and his songs reflect the character/storyline much more than any other MD. But he probably does not care for "I am going to shoot this in a cool way in a transparent bus etc".

* Motivated purely by music - I do believe IR is devoted to music and when he sings for example you know he surrenders himself completely to the tune/situation (no wonder he signs off as isaiadimai). There will be no tinge of individual ego etc in the voice (for eg. with Hariharan I feel some self-involvement/ego). His approach to music is "I surrender before thee" whereas others might be "I will conquer you" . But ..BUT..fame and popularity does have an impact on him..even money ..maybe not for money sake but the sense of importance/recognition it gives to him. When he was paid a high salary for thalapathy (apparently 60 lakhs) he went bonkers with the orchestra. Even today, if you approach him for a movie with reasonable good story line and say you can do whatever you want and pay the same amount as Rahman gets, personally, I trust you all of us here will like the music (not sure about the general audience today :-) )[/list]

Now the thing is none of us know what it is like in tamil cinema. Papers may say alot of things and there are sources but not good enough to decide what exactly happens with thalaivar in the business aspect. But the clearest indication is like what you said he is only bound to music and nothing else.

Like i said before it is us fans who are complicating things cause we want it to happen and we want him to be recognised and that puts us on a spot of bother when we cross ourselves with the character of thalaivar. I think its best to leave him like that and enjoy whatever music is coming. Moreover i feel he has achieved beyond the time sphere he was in and perhaps is the only true blue composer who can say that his output is a genre by himself.

Kiru, that Udhaya bit is too much of an exaggeration. I remember he used to divide pre-1981 and post-1981, and say thats the time frame he got spiritual, and the music went downhill from there. However, the reason for that is Udhaya doesnt consider Nayagan, Mounaragam, Geethanjali, Agni N etc. as good enough as 70's stuff. I dont agree that the fun content went down after 1981 - which is what was Udhaya's point.

Secondly, IR's kollur experience happened before annakiLi - it was when Karthik Raja was born. So, he was already spiritual when he entered the field. Only thing is around the time of Thai Moogambikai, he started to be more explicit about it. Udhays's was an amateur theory. I dont give a whit of credence to it. A song like thaamarakiLi paadunnu dripping with joy came after 1981 *only*(with due apologies to CR).
I wouldnt relate his spirituality and the perceived downgrade in musical quality

//Dig : aiyyo idhenna ellarum Udhaya pera izhukkarom? Naan ippo dhaan avara quote pannittu inga vandha.. :)) paavam , avarukku innikki porai yerikka poradhu
Udhaya, OISG, vengayam , sriramLakshman indha maadhiri pazhaiya jambavangaL, confirmed IR bashers , had fixed "date" for IR music like pre 82 post 82 etc. Idha "date" matter ellam MSV kku Kedaiyaadhaakkum !!!

kiru,

I have no idea of what goes on in Raja's mind or what goes on in the Tamil industry but one thing I would definitely not agree is about fun vanishing from his music. If "Sringara Bangara' doesn't convey joy, the problem probably lies with the listener. What about "Acchadicha Kasa' or 'Odadavane' or 'Enna Senjalum'? When he is in a fun mood, we say he is not like 1978 and when he composes like 1978, "Swapnangal Kannezhudiya" we say the fun is gone!! I do not know what was posted earlier but agree with Plum that most of that sort of theory is amateurish at best. 'Kala Pani' and 'Guru' happen in 90s and they can stand up to whatever anyone can throw from the 70s or 80s. 'Aatirambile' with its myriads twists and turns is like the knockout punches that Plum once described about 'Sumam Prati Sumam'. M G Sreekumar sings 'maane poonthene' and wonder how someone can conjure up such a descent. Sheer magic.

i dont think any other fun loving MD has given Yesappu songs like 'Maane madhura kozhambe' and 'Kaana karunguyile' absofreakingly fun songs to sing. and this is yesappu whom we associate only with 'bhakthi' or sad songs.

Article about different people composing songs and BGM:

http://www.screenindia.com/news/back...laiman/496037/

"...Govinda’s brother Kirti Kumar insisted on Ilayaraja for the background music of his thriller Hatya when the songs were being done by Bappi Lahiri, ..."

thanks,

Krishnan

Read a news tidbit about Paa in Bangalore Mirror.

Amitabh plays the son.
Abhishek plays the Dad.

Amitabh suffers from a rare disease which makes him age fast , so that he appears older than his son Abhishek. The emotional story between Abhishek and his son Amitabh forms the film.

Not sure who enjoys with Vidya Balan :)

Raja_fan, I thought you have an update about the music of the movie. This is known news (the story part). Ippadi yemathitteengale :-(

I think vidya is abishek pair.

Krishnan

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kiru

..even money ..maybe not for money sake but the sense of importance/recognition it gives to him. When he was paid a high salary for thalapathy (apparently 60 lakhs) he went bonkers with the orchestra. Even today, if you approach him for a movie with reasonable good story line and say you can do whatever you want and pay the same amount as Rahman gets, personally, I trust you all of us here will like the music (not sure about the general audience today :-) )[/list]

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I sincerely doubt if anyone would invest crores into IR now, as they do with ARR!