Maestro Ilaiyaraja New Albums 2011 - Hello Jaihind / Sri Rama Rajyam

[Plum]

Finally! Bapu, the 80+ Director, who firmly keeps belief in his old fashioned techniques - at one stage you have Rama speaking out his thoughts to a statue to give us a clue of what the scene is about - he shrewdly invests on two major strengths - a) his own aesthetic sense; an artist first, he helps in shaping the rather middling graphics to tasteful ends, his magic touch straddling the line between garish and grand very effectively. Even the Smooth Blue on Rama isn't as jarring as it could have been. b) his second shrewd choice is to bring Raja's music as the central force of the movie - a choice, it must be emphasised, is not the most obvious. The earlier movies in the genre, while they had pleasant and classic music, paid extra ordinary attention to verses and lyrics, so much so that the tunes and music themselves were subservient to that aspect. Bapu has been shrewd enough to realise that in this era, the one man in his crew who stands heads and shoulders above is the music director. I firmly believe the choice is conscious and pays off brilliantly.Known for his sensitivity, and focus on human relationships, Bapu succeeds in portraying Rama, the human being, for most part. Inescapably, there are several screenplay moments when he has to succumb to the Godliness of his characters - and these are the least engaging moments that bring down the movie from what it could have been. It seems to me that while Bapu is old-fashioned, he is not that conservative to not see the human aspect of the story but is restrained by the need to cater to the divinity-seeking audience. Nevertheless, he captures several sensitive moments of Seetha and Rama, and these are the moments that give the movie its emotional quotient. Sadly, it is not fully realised thanks to the sensitivity of the audience which cannot face a full length human drama starring these characters. In the end, Bapu is part of that audience as well, and I think the movie is exactly what could have come from this internal conflict of Bapu himself - between a free thinking artist sensitive to femininity, and the conservative, religious male underneath. Nevertheless, it is hard to imagine Raja will get a better vehicle and a better director who can dignify his songs/BGM with prime position in the movie. For that, I shall be grateful to the veteran.