Maestro ilaiyaraaja news & titbits

[Plum]

Aakarsh - excellent points. Forget the commercial points, the 3 national awrds he already has don't mean much to me - you know why? Because he didn't win it for the right reasons. He won because the trend then was for the generally musically agnostic jury to award any significant film based on classical music - the same trend that conferred undeserved honours upon Keerabani for Annamayya over Raja's magnum-opus Guru. So, I really don't value those awards. On the contrary, when Rahman got appreciated it was for the right reasons - I mean we could argue for Thevar Magan over Roja but when the jury awarded Roja, it stated clearly that it was recognised for its " new sound and new paradigm". Which is exactly Rahman's mission. So he not only succeeded in his mission but also got nuanced appreciation recognising his mission. In that sense, Rahman is truly blessed in a way Raja isn't. But that's the way these things go - what Raja has is fans like us who deeply understand these dichotomies and quirks of the universe and WE are the awards to him - recognisig his musical philosophy and its application in his works and deeply understanding the significance and non-significance of external recognition.