Two Line Reviews - #305

Movie: Rockstar (Hindi,2011)

Plot: A talented guitarist lacks the aura that could catapult him to fame as a rockstar. Feeling that a tragedy in life could get him there, he seeks one  as a 'means' by proposing to a beautiful stranger. What happens is not what he expects & suddenly roles revers and music becomes the 'means' to the romantic 'end' he's after.

Highlights:

• This can be tagged a 'musical' for the sheer role songs play in moving the plot from place to place. A.R.Rahman gives all that the film requires with some highly riveting songs!
• Ranbir Kapoor's performance as Janardhan a.k.a Jordan is a revelation. His amazing screen presence combined with power-packed expressions makes him shine brightly.
• Imtiaz Ali, though not completely successful, weaves magic here and there. The scenes around Kun Faya Kun, Is Lamhe, Dichotomy of Fame songs were magical.
• Superb Camerawork brings the venomous beauty of Kashmir, Prague & Rome to view.
• Supporting roles are few (such is the power of Ranbir's role) and those of Shammi Kapoor, the master-cum-manager & Nargis (who looks pretty but doesn't act that well) deserve a mention.

Lowlights:

• The love (though the pairing is nice) doesn't create as much impact as the 2nd half would have wanted it to.
• The swings in mood of the hero are confusing at times. So is the reason for some of his public outcries when all the mishap he's gone through are personal. That makes the rocking Sadda Haq's placing irrelevant too.
• The craze of crowds' in cities project as though he is a rebel for a nation's cause which he definitely is not considering what happens on screen.

The 2Rs (Ranbir & Rahman) are the Two Eyes of this film which is good in parts.

My Academy Awards Wishlist

My Oscar 2011 wishlist!*

Best Movie: Black Swan
127 Hours was inspiring; so was The Fighter; True Grit was good too. But the real contenders are Black Swan & Inception for the sheer fascination they provide. Black Swan beats Inception by a small margin & I ve picked it over Inception just based on an instinct.

Best Director: Christopher Nolan for Inception
Here again the contenders are Chris Nolan, Darren Aronofsky & for his brilliant tweaking & interesting presentation of a true story Danny Boyle joins the list. Considering Boyle already got his due in 2009 and for all the splendid works of the other two in their past, the toss-up is between Aronofsky & Nolan and I would like to see Nolan win it here.

Best Actor: Colin Firth for The King's Speech
Everybody around says Eisenberg did awesomely in The Social Network but to me, it wasn't an extraordinary work that deserves an Oscar. It is the stammering & complex-ridden King-to-be who deserves the statuette for his awesome & subtle portrayal in The King's Speech. James Franco's essayal of Aron Ralston in 127 Hours isn't far behind though.

Best Actress: Natalie Portman for Black Swan
No second thoughts. One must watch the film to understand why. Period.

Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale for The Fighter
His was a lovable role in the film & he made it extremely lovable with his silly pranks, hyperactive reactions & a shocking makeover from his usual brawny self. The other contenders who he has pipped are Andrew Garfield of The Social Network & Geoffrey Rush of The King's Speech. They were good in their own rights but when I ve got to choose one, I would choose Bale.

Best Supporting Actress: Hailee Steinfeld for True Grit
Even though Helena Carter's pillar-like support for her husband in The King's Speech was pleasing, it is Hailee Steinfeld's resolve in bringing the killer of her father down in True Grit that tilts the table in her favour & the young talent gets some brownie points for her age too!

Best Cinematography: Guy from 127 Hours
The weird shots of the grand canyon; sudden tranisition to handycams & a single-tone employed for the entire film make the work stand unique. Alas, it hasn't even been nominated. Who cares! This is my wishlist!

Best Artwork: Guys from Inception
Structures turned 90 degrees; Stairs ended mid-air; Trains sped through speedways & there was a snow-clad building in a skiing mountain. If these weren't enough to fetch this for Inception, think about the huge building projections by the sea in the limbo!

Best Original Score: A.R.Rahman for 127 Hours
If there is one film among the ones in contention where the music creates the desired effect, provides an apt canopy for the canvas on screen it is 127 Hours. I am not sure if I am saying this for Rahman but I am saying this. Liberation, Acid Darbari, Touch of the Sun & Festival all express the exact feelings that the trapped man would have wanted to express. The cherry on the cake is If I Rise accompanied by the hallucinations.

Best Original Song: A.R. Rahman & Dido for If I Rise , 127 Hours
I haven't listened to songs from other nominations but 'If I Rise' deserves the Oscar as a triumph of the relatively unknown but mesmerising instrument that Harpejji is. I know it is nearly impossible but it would be great if Rahman can do the 'double whammy' for a second time!

* - I have prepared the wishlist only for categories I feel I can assess & choose the winner from.

Two Line Reviews - #158

Movie: 127 Hours (2010)

Plot: This film,based on a true life incident, sees trekker Aron Ralston get trapped in a rock during an adventurous canyoneering trip he undertakes in an isolated canyon.Measures to get himself out notwithstanding, he decides to record the last few days of his life in his cam. Inspired by the hallucinations of his family, he makes on last valiant attempt to liberate himself, sacrificing a limb in the process.

Highlights:

• Salutes to the original Aron & to Danny Boyle for making a film and glorifying the incident. This film is a celebration of human perseverance,grit and optimism.
• James Franco,the guy who plays Aron has done a tremendous job,especially in the liberation sequence.
• A.R. Rahman's arousing background music is apt fitting perfectly with the show on-screen.

My Rating: 9.5/10

Will Rahman 'Bell the Cat'?

Should Rahman be Hollywood bound? This is the question I was left with after listening to his instrumental soundtracks of Danny Boyle’s latest 127 hours. If one pretty-good (and not the best by any stretch of imagination) work of Rahman could fetch him two Academy awards, should he not be aiming at further International glory by working with Hollywood directors who have an eye or rather ear for the importance of soundtracks in films? He has won the national awards, the prestigious padma award, awards from almost all Indian film industries wherever he has worked in. He has achieved all that is available in the Indian film industry & there is not much left for him to accomplish here. That makes his case to be Hollywood bound all the more momentous.

The other option (which is what he seems to be doing right now) is to be based in India, work with a restricted, selective set of Indian films, look for options from the West,sign for & work on apt films. This might look attractive for the legion of Rahmaniacs but unfortunately is not the best option for the single reason that the people from Hollywood aren’t going to seek someone based in India for sheer logistical reasons if not any other, even if the person is a two academy award winner!

That leaves him in the dilemma of whether to shift base or to work with the best in India. If he chooses the latter, it would add to the dearth of an Indian in the international scene and he would only be following the names of Ilaiyaraja & Kamal Haasan – People with tremendous class & yet not as internationally-famous as they deserve to be , thanks to either their disinterest (Ilaiyaraja’s case) or their restricted-scope (Kamal’s case). Thanks to Slumdog Millionaire, Rahman has crossed both these hurdles with a solid exposure in the international scene & the only way for him is forward. It better be! And ironically, this statement comes from someone who is going to be utterly disappointed if & when Rahman decides to quit Indian cinema for good. Disappointed because of the angst that there wouldn’t be a lot more Indian Rahman music to look forward to. The good reasons that would balance out the disappointments are:

• His move would encourage other brilliant talents in Indian film industry to take the extra mile in seeking international exposure & Rahman’s success would only bring them confidence to try that out.

• The true worth of Rahman would be seen by those who still consider him to be no better than some relatively new, rising music directors in the background score department. If one Liberation track of 127 hours cannot convince them that they are wrong, a bombardment of such tracks in the future should and would!

• There would be no more Yuvvraajs,Delhi 6s,Jhootha Hi Sahis whose blissful tracks would get lost in the commercial failures of the films, for,in the international scene, acclaim gained by music is not correlated to the commercial success that the film gains.

So,Go on Rahman. Lead the way, like you have always done!

The cheerful voice of Chinmayi

An immensely talented singer, she has to thank Rahman for giving a dream debut ,a springboard which not many singers would get. For some reason, I didn’t want her to do well then – Can’t comprehend why! But, her sensible stint as an RJ at Aaha FM’s morning show changed my views. I was a daily patron of a part of that show through my strenuous morning journeys. Only after that did I feel like giving the credit that her singing deserves. Now, after her latest rendition, I am a self-proclaimed fan of her singing. As a tribute, let me list some of the wonderful renditions of the cheery Chinmayi.

Oru Dheivam thandha poove (Kannathil Muthamittaal)

 Like I said earlier, a dream debut . A difficult song set in the arresting  Darbari kanada raagam provided her a brilliant platform and she came up trumps – That too, the improvisations in the final portions were impressive even though Jayachandran would have done a better job in the other version.

Enna idhu enna idhu (Nala Dhamayanthi)

Here again, she scored with the fine rendition of a soft melodious number,pleasing to the ear in Ramesh Vinayagam’s composition. The effortless high pitch singing was a highlight in this particular song.

Sandhipoma (E20 U18)

My personal favorite among her songs. Complemented well by Unni Menon, the magic of Rahman & Chinmayi’s faultless singing took this song to a higher pedestal. The association that Chinmayi’s voice had with Trisha was the icing on the cake. That is probably one reason why Trisha’s role in Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya looked agreeable (Chinmayi dubbed for her there) despite the volatile & maddening character she played in it!

Tere Bina (Guru)

When we think this one is Rahman’s show all the way, he suddenly gets Chinmayi to render a humming and a stanza and a sudden low pitch Tere Bina towards the end. The ability to sing low-pitch stuff is one area where she scores over most of the other singers,except,probably Shreya Ghoshal who is as good at low-pitch stuff as Chinmayi is & that is exactly where Rahman uses her to perfection.

I Miss you miss you (Sakkarakatti)

In this experimental song of Rahman, Chinmayi too experimented with two voice modulations - A blend of soft and crude versions in the same song.Her experimentation relatively succeeded against Rahman’s in the attempt!

 

Vaarayo Vaarayo (Aadhavan)

Chinmayi & Unni krishnan’s renditions brought freshness to this otherwise mundane song which seemed to have been inspired by a lot of songs from the past. There again, Harris used her for Low-pitch and Unni Krishnan for the high-pitch stuff – Quite a contrast to the way male and female singers are used in most of the songs – Testimonial to her low pitch talent.

Anbil Avan (Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya)

One song where the composition scored over the singers! An implausible arrangement of instruments, medley of Thavil,drums,nadhaswaram,church organ and what not! This song gave Devan a much needed break and it was Chinmayi at her content best supporting him.

Maiyaa Yashodha (Jhootha Hi Sahi)

This particular song is probably the reason for the emergence of this blog. A wonderful composition this, of Rahman, which on the outside might seem quite a regular for a Hindi film song but a careful listen will make one realize why it is much much better than that. Once again Javed Ali takes care of an exuberant high pitch singing and Chinmayi brings a lot of cute & charming effect with her glad rendition. My admiration of the faultless and precise positioning of her ghamakams and the way she meanders wonderfully back and forth between low pitch & high pitch have made me pen down this blog.

– A fan of the voice of Chinmayi among others'.   

                                                                                                            

A peep into the songs of Enthiran!

I run the risk of giving out a review on an album of Rahman on the very day of its release. A few days might be all that would take for my own self to contradict with whatever I feel now. Still I am continuing with it for two reasons:
1. I have got nothing else worthwhile to do at this time of the day.
2. I somehow feel this is one album which wouldn’t grow on the listener as well as the past ones as there is not much mesmerising/creative stuff which has the tendency to grow on the listener. The first impression would stay for Enthiran.

Off to the review after a look at the spiked-wig!

Pudhiya Manidhaa (SPB,AR Rahman)
This one begins slowly , gains tempo and some beats on the way and the ritual of SPB singing for Rajni happens – Only this time in a song that isn’t to appeal to the senses of the masses. The initial part of the song has all robot / machine sounds sprinkled all over it. You almost get to hear all sounds that are part of the Science Desktop theme of Windows 98! It gets better when SPB starts his show. He shows why he is still the Boss managing high pitch & low pitch stuff with absolute ease. There are a lot of filler lines though, and the lines go astray with respect to the tune – The song just passes muster. I can’t help thinking how so much of sophistication can still not win over Ilaiyaraja’s simple Vikram..Vikram which falls in the same category.

Kadhal Anukkal (Vijay Prakash,Shreya Ghoshal)
The guitar bit & organ have unmistakable resemblance to Rang De Basanti’s Luka Chuppi & Yuvvraaj’s Zindagi respectively. This kind of repetition is something I have not observed much with Rahman and it was disappointing. Some novel interludes and lively renditions from Vijay Prakash and Shreya Ghoshal save this song to make it fall in the ‘listenable’ category.

Irumbile Or Irudhayam (AR Rahman,Kash n Krissy)
This song falls in the genre of songs you get to listen to when you do shopping in one of those posh cloth stores! It is definitely a new kind for tamil songs and Rahman has pulled it off decently. Still, that kind of music doesn’t seem to go well with Tamil lyrics and there surely is a disconnect even though Rahman gives an invigorating rendition. I wish he doesn’t repeat attempts of this type.

Arima Arima (Hariharan, Sadhana Sargam)
My pick of this album. This song has grandeur written all over it. One could imagine how huge Shankar would have picturised this song singing praises of the hero. Hariharan’s vigorous singing, ably supported by Sadhana Sargam helps the song’s cause. The chorus portions add oomph to the minutes. This probably is the ‘Mudhalvane..vane’ of Enthiran.

Boom Boom Robo Da (Pradeep Vijay,Pravin Mani, Yogi B)
This is THAT song in the album where Rahman rules with his techno stuff. A rap, interspersed with violin & piano orchestrations and if that is not enough to bowl you over, there is a good dose of Jathis sung in Slumdog Millionaire’s Liquid Planes style.Thumbs high up! Credits to Pravin Mani as he is accredited to the additional arrangements in the album cover.

Boom Boom Robo Da (Yogi B, Keerthi,Swetha,Tanvi)
This one is distinct from the the other version of Boom Boom Robo. With some stylish beats, santour , latino sounds and heavy metal for support, the crooner carries the main portion in style. The sudden change in ragam in both the stanzas is a pleasing shocker. Yogi B does the rapping. I am not a big fan of his. He brings déjà vu and I would have preferred to listen to Blazee’s crooning of the rap anyday.

Kilimanjaro (Javed Ali,Chinmayi)
This one is a run-of-the-mill Rahman duet but the fact that an ordinary Rahman duet can be as enticing as the best of others stands testimony to the heights the man has scaled. One interesting thing in this song is the smartly rhymed verses. The humming is typical Psycho stuff Rahman brings now and again – the choice of hums being enjoyable & puzzling at the same time.

Rahman started 2010 stretching the limits of the romance genre like only he can with insanely versatile songs in Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya. He followed that up with a woods-centric album in Raavanan/Raavan that suited the film’s needs to a T. He is probably signing off the year with Enthiran and I can’t help feeling that he is doing it on a low considering the quality of the other two albums. Make no mistake, the tunes are commercially viable and will definitely be a rage among the audience.
While fans of Rajnikanth can rejoice, Rahmaniacs would be left wanting more!