OK. Flash back time.....
It was roughly 3 months back when I started listening to Slumdog Millionaire. The first listen to "O.. Saaya" was soooo captivating that I was mad at Rahman for keeping this a secret project. Then I couldn't wait for the movie and to my surprise, it released quite quickly and in fact without much publicity. Though the movie was quite normal, the background score was mind-blowing!! The credits read out "Music produced by Rahman". What a perfect choice of words to describe such a unique and original score! All 12 tracks were pure magic !!
After that, I expected world-wide acclaim for Rahman but didn't expect so many nominations/awards. The Golden Globe was an awesome addition to his resume not to mention quite a few other awards in the international stage culminating with the Oscars. Watching both the Golden Globes and the Oscars in full HD on a 40" TV made every cent I invested in it TOTALLY worth it !!
While watching the Golden Globes, when Rahman mentioned "I thank all my musicians in Chennai and Mumbai", I felt so elated that he mentioned my home-town !! Since then, the countdown to Oscars started and all I could do is pray for Rahman to win both Oscars even though one was a sure-shot win (2 nominations out of 3 in the same category.. can't get much easier than that for a man of his talent !!). But I believed the "Best Original Score" was a tough category to win considering that he was alongside some greats including Thomas Newman (10 oscars) and James Newton Howard (8 oscars) . If Hans Zimmer was also nominated, then Rahman could have had the chance to beat all of Hollywood's top music composers in his first nomination !! Imagine these guys' plight if Rahman was nominated every year !!!
But then, Rahman proved his mettle (once again !) by claiming both awards and also performing (extraordinarily) two of the best songs in the movie. I screamed so hard at Rahman's name being announced that I almost missed the start of the speech. There were 6-8 people at our place cheering like some India-Pak match! My excitement reached its peak when Rahman said "I would like to say something in Tamizh, which I usually say at all award ceremonies.. ELLAPUGHAZHUM IRAIVANUKKE... God is great !". In a situation where all people who start with their usual "peter" on accomplishing small things, this guy walks on perhaps the most watched award ceremony in the world and takes the most coveted award in the world movie industry and speaks God's praise in his mother tongue Tamizh.... wow ... thala's simplicity rocks !!
I have nothing more to say except... "My salutations to you, oh God of music. May you enthrall us with your exquisite compositions forever. I know you made a billion people proud of being an Indian but you also succeeded in making me a stronger, more fervent Rahman fanatic!!"
12 comments:
I actually saw this coming(u r blog).In fact I was jus mentioning to Varun yesterday as to what is goin to stop u now. Dont really have any words to say now(not because I used to be the devil's advocate). I would like to correct u on point though. A billion people are not happy in India. Though the majority are happy, as usual I was unfortunate enough to come across ppl with certain conspiracy theories and narrow minded views. Anyway y bother, I know you are not goin to give it a damn anyway. I would like to add another point which may not be very imp. ARR didnt opt for any of the clothes made for Oscars by the designers over there, but instead took his own tailor stitched clothes from his family tailor.
Yeah it was good to see him speak in Tamil :)
Tamil punchline was a crappy gimmick. The only people who would have not understood English but a regional Indian language were the children who were actually from the slums of India. But neither were they there nor were they Tamilian.
So ironical that the so-called "slumdogs" weren't invited to the oscars.
What was with the "All my life I had a choice of hate and love. I chose love and I'm here" speech?
@ Ech :
The slum kids were actually invited and they were on stage.. And the Tamil touch was because any statement carries more effect when it is said in your mother tongue. All translations end up ruining the effect.
@ Gans :
Can't blame the guy. He does not choose hate... Even though Ismail Durbar and Himesh hate him and issue taunts, he doesn't retort... !!
as raki said :) we saw this coming :) but hey this ine noooooooone disputes - in fact we all thought even if not for jai ho he deserves it for aaaaaaaaaaaaaaal that he has done so far - cheers!!
nice post!
yes, if rahman composes for just one hollywood movie every year...thats enough for him to get nominated and mostly even win all the awards!
Thanks Somu, Raki, Varun and Andy!
Regarding the acceptance speech he made, I happened to see his interview to NDTV where he said that throughout life he was faced with so many conflicts and that he had the choice to retaliate with hate or love. We all know what he choose. Besides the world is filled with so much of hatred, with people fighting over one reason or the others, he believes that when ppl come to a theatre, his music is being loved,appreciated and accepted by ppl across various groups(the things over they fight).He sees his music as being a unifying factor. But alas, its ironic that ppl do fight over him as well.
At last I read it surs .. :) Good one .. But as I had said earlier to u ...I cannot believe "Jai Ho" got him the oscars.. It doesn't even sound like ARRs :( . All said, I am extremely excited that thala won the award and thanks to u ...err...ur TV for making the experience of watching it more exciting :P
Jai Ho is not that great a song to have gotten the OScar.. infact O..Saayaa was much better.. and its a pity that ARR has composed faaarrrr better songs that should have gotten the Oscars and wasnt even recognized.. but whats the big deal with Oscars? :) Its not like the entire world's cine industry competes here... :)
Late Reaction, I know...Still, I don't know if you guys noticed - He spoke in Tamil for the 2nd award, and said "Mere paas maa hai" for the 1st one. Does that mean he knew he was going to get the 2nd one (if, as we assume, he was particular about talking in the mother-tongue) or was he more particular about speaking in India's supposed National Language? I think most of us were reasonably confident of one award - so, if he did wish to attribute importance to his mother-tongue, shouldn't he have spoken it after the 1st award, as opposed to taking a chance?
Just my pathu paisa.
Post a Comment