Musings on the Human Condition

Facebook and AR Rahman both seem to appeal to all demographics. Facebook launched around 2004 and has steadily been gaining popularity among young and old ever since. Personally, I love Facebook -- it has allowed expatriates like me to reconnect with friends and other nomads. And Facebook offers not just a reconnection but a rich, nuanced canvas on which to rekindle a relationship, albeit virtually. Rahman has been around a bit longer, but many folks seem to have jumped onto his bandwagon just recently after Slumdog 's sweep at the Oscars . I consider myself an original mega-fan and have been following his work ever since my wife, Samita , introduced me to his very first score for the movie Roja (1992). I've created an MP3 DVD with every single one of Rahman's compositions -- almost 500 songs. It's a prized possession. Rahman's grasp of music is exceptional -- each soundtrack seems to contain a few songs with popular appeal and others (with classical leanings) fo...

Slumdog Millionaire won eight Oscars last night including best picture, best director, best cinematography, best adapted screenplay and best soundtrack. It is ranked #35 (with 68,758 votes) on IMDB 's list of Top 250 (of all time). And yet, Indians, especially those living in India, remain largely unimpressed. The elite in India don't like the movie's emphasis on India's underbelly. The masses don't like the film because it is essentially in English and has little star power (the lead roles are performed by rookies). Furthermore, even though the great Rahman won two Oscars for it, the music will remain under-appreciated in India because the heavy influences from foreign genres have rendered it somewhat intangible to the masses.

Folks, I recommend this piece as a brief introduction, especially for Westerners, to A R RAHMAN -- a truly ingenious music composer who deserves a wide and varied audience. Perhaps what is most impressive about Rahman is his comprehensiveness and reach -- the way he combines classical music sophistication with an extraordinary sense for percussion, rhythm, and the various genres of music. Although everything he puts out is good and he has numerous gems hidden in obscure movie soundtracks (e.g. Chor Chor , Zubeidaa ), my favorite movie soundtracks by Rahman include Bombay , Earth , and Water (note: they might take a few listens to grow on you). And I just discovered that the movie Slumdog Millionaire (Rahman's latest score) has climbed to #46 on IMDB's list of Top 250 movies (all-time).