Arsh, Shakalaka Baby in Hindi is mostly translated from the Tamil version. But the song is supposed to be absurd. Telephone dhun main hansne wali also means the same thing in the Tamil version. Silly lyrics like that translate oddly.

Arsh, I don't understand Tamil or Telugu, aside from a few words I've figured out over the years listening to Rahman, but over time, I can tell when lyrics 'flow' with the music especially when comparing it to other language versions. The meaning of the lyrics, I have no idea..but dubbing an album from one language to another has its limitations. Listening to Rahman's Tamil works opened my ears to other fine movie music coming out of the south. I knew about Ilyaraaja since the early 90s...his genius is beyond dispute. I also buy Harris Jeyaraj's albums. Jeyaraj worked with Rahman and is considered the hot MD in Tamil Nadu right now. Very much similar to Rahman's style, but not as polished. Minaale aka RHTDM was a wonderful version, I don't think he's topped that yet. I liked a few tracks out of his most recent release, Kovil and I really liked a few tracks from Kaaka Kaaka. It will be interesting what he delivers for Shankar's next album. The expectations will be huge.

-Bh

So DRAGUN.."tou moonch waala poda hai kiya?" meant the same in TAMIL?

IMHO..blessed soul of ANAND BAKSHI tried his best..but knowing SHANKAR, he wont move an inch from his CRAP!

BUt I did not MUCH complain abt SHAKALAKA or TELEPHONE DHUN.till date? Did I ????
.but I think DUMB LYRICAL WORK ON YUVA is CRIMINAL imho!

The cover art of sargema Aayutha Ezhuthu looks freaking ugly! Zero creativity went into it. I'd have prefered the 3 black dots coverart.

IR was all I listened to as a kid in the early 90s until Roja. Now I look back on his music that I listened to and I don't like quite a bit of it. Maybe it was because back then I was more into his albums like Singaravelan. I've never quite understood why he was called a genius, but I'm open to suggestions of his albums. Oddly enough, I like IR's guru M.S. Viswanathan and his sishya ARR, but not IR!



HJ has potential to do some terrific songs, but he seems to get mostly mass films like Saamy and Kovil. Give him a an interesting film and I believe he could do something great.

DragunR2

I was hoping someone will respond to your question about IR. Please follow some of the links in this site.

http://www.dhool.com/ir/

Singaravelan was not something you want to consider when you talk about a genious. Take any song from

Mudhal Mariyathai
Sindu Bhairavi
Alaigal Oivathillai
Chinna Thambi
Naadodi Thendral
Anjali
Thalapathi
Nayagan
Idhayathai Thirudathe
Mouna Raagan
Rettai Vaal Kurivi
Moondram Pirai
Keladi Kanmani
Kadalora Kavithaigal
Ejaman
Man Vaasanai
Marupadiyum
Jhonny
Poo Vilangu
16 Vayathinilae
Chinna Gowndar
Kizakku Vaasal
Eeramana Rojave
Nizalgal
Veera
Aboorva Sagotharargal
Bharathi
Guna
Mannan
Mullum Malarum
Raja Paarvai
Vaidehi Kaathirunthal

I mean I can keep on going. The number of movies he scored music is more than the number of songs these new people scored. With out talent and creativity you can not complete 600 movies in 10 years. It is a great achievement. Also remember he is Mastero and also scored Symphony. AR failed in stage 1 of symphony and attempting for repeat.

We do not like his songs now a days (not IRs songs are good still, Virumandi is good. Konji Pesalam is excellent still his songs are good) because it does not attract the youth, who want fast beat with some english words in it and music that does not follow rules/notes.

AR on the other hand is excellent, in the sense he listen to various western classical and brings the best out of it and mix it with Carnatic.

Deva also is very good (apart from being a copy cat, he does excellent job)

HJ is still still to proove. So far, only few movies are good (Leysa Leysa, Minnale, Kakka Kakka, Samy). He has long way to go.

Karthik Raja is also talented, but his movies does not do well. So he is considered "Raasiyilla Raja".

Yuvan Shankar has his own trend (more fit for Tamil POP albums). He pretty much score music for new comers.

Vidya Sagar also gave good numbers, like Parthiban Kanavu, Dhool etc.

Thanks for the recommendations. I have heard the following and own a few of these:

Sindu Bhairavi
Chinna Thambi
Naadodi Thendral
Anjali
Thalapathi
Nayagan
Idhayathai Thirudathe
Mouna Raagan
Moondram Pirai
Keladi Kanmani
Ejaman
Chinna Gowndar
Kizakku Vaasal
Veera
Aboorva Sagotharargal
Bharathi
Guna

Payanangal Mudivadhillai is also a good one.



I think IR's prolificness, especially in the 80s, is one reason I haven't quite liked much of what I've heard. Wasn't he doing a film a week at one point? I don't believe such output comes without a price. What I've heard of his film songs often uses standard percussion beats with little or no layering of orchestration on top, so I often ask, "This is the work of a 'maestro'?"

I recently heard a few songs from How To Name It and they were pretty good.



I liked his background music for Hey Ram, though I thought the songs themselves were mostly mediocre. That could be the work of L. Subramaniam, but only a few people know for sure. Virumaandi and Pithamagan were good. When I saw Pithamagan, the audience applauded when IR's credit appeared on-screen.

Bharathi had a few good songs, but I expected something a little better from him considering the subject material.



I haven't cared for Deva's music so far, a big part of it being his copies of often blatantly popular American music like Michael Jackson or Powerman 5000. Other MDs usually pick more obscure material



12B also had some good songs. His songs tend to be very pop-oriented, even in the serious Kaaka Kaaka, and rarely displays the sophistication ARR can produce, but he has potential to be something great IMO.



I've liked Vidyasagar since Jai Hind (1994) though in the past few years he seems to have enjoyed a resurgence of popularity.

http://sify.com/movies/tamil/fullstory.php?id=13472432

Censors find `AE` too steamy!

By Moviebuzz
Tuesday, 11 May , 2004, 12:45


The regional censors in Chennai found Mani Ratnam’s Aayitha Ezhuthu too steamy. There are some steamy bedroom scenes in the film which the censors have toned and finally after a lot of deliberation they have given the film a “UA” certificate.

Mani wanted a “U” certificate but the board members say they found these scenes to be a little too much for family audience. Aayitha Ezhuthu is loosely based on Amores Perros, a Mexican film which was nominated at the Oscars 2000 under The Foreign Film Category.

If Mani Ratnam had refused to the ‘UA’ certificate his film would have been referred to the revising committee and the release would have to be postponed. So Mani has taken the best decision by agreeing to some minor cuts.






Maybe we'll get a "director's cut" on DVD?

akkthefilm.com and yuvathefilm.com have some crew comments in the Crew section.

The 'loosely based' must be really, really loosely !!!! Just because YUVA is episodic just as AMORES PERROS was does not make it 'based' on the movie......in any case I dont see how the two can be even remotely similar.......AMORES PERROS had among other things a rabid dog fighting sequence that was pretty gory and gut wrenching (I hope this is the same movie we are all talking about).....theres no way this can ever be replicated in any Indian movie for it to fly within the desi context ie !

http://www.teakada.com/archives/001208.html#1208

May 14, 2004

Ayudha Ezhuthu, the Crew speaks

The 'Aayitha Ezhuthu' official website is indeed adding some flesh, offlate. Latest in the website is experiences of the Technicians, something unheard of in the Tamil industry. Of course the captain in question is not your regular Tamil Director, is he!

What struck me most was the one where ace Cinematographer
Ravi K Chandran recounts the logic of shooting each of the three protogonists in different styles. This brings strong memories of Steven Soderbergh's hard-hitting movie 'Traffic' (adapted from British Tele), which lets us into the world of Drugs and the people affected by it. In his movie Steven Soderbergh tried out some innovative styles to isolate parallel stories that wind up intertwining.



In 'Traffic' the four parallel stories are shot in diffrent hues of colour (filter) to impose the mood of the story. The scenes involving the pair in Mexico is shot entirely with handheld Cameras with bright light, to induce tension. The Scenes involving Michael Douglas (in DC and Ohio) has a deep bluish tinge to it and the San Diego ones have a lush (White, Green & Brown) feel to them.

Another innovation was the sound recording, which was done in Mono!

OK, few other similarities I couldn't help avoid when I was at the Official site:
1. Check out the websites of Aayitha Ezhuthu and Amores Perros. Notice how the dots drive around! Both movies have the concept of three different people affected by a single incident. Review of Amores Perros tomorrow.
2. Do you see a common pattern in these promos?







I don't understand the mono comment. WTF?

Lol. He probably meant to say sync sound.