While buying Jodha Akbar OST - an experience
On Monday evening I went to buy the OST of Jodhaa Akbar. No wonder, I was very excited as the long wait was going to finally end. As I entered the audio section of the Planet M, I saw two NRI ladies standing there holding the cd of Jodhaa Akbar and the Planet M guy was explaining something saying '.....the songs are classical. The movie is a period drama.....' I just picked my cd and said to the ladies 'This is by A R Rahman. You can always have it, I'm sure you will never regret later'. Then one of the ladies said 'Oh! This is by A R Rahman? Yes, I know, he is a great musician!' Then I proceeded to see other collection in the store. While coming out, I met them again in the elevator. I asked whether they got it. And the lady said 'Yes of course. Thank you for saing that it's by A R Rahman'. At that time I noticed the cover of the cd for the first time. For me or any other regular Indian cd buyer, locating the name of music director is not difficult. Our eyes are trained. But it may be difficult for a person who is not acquainted with the type of cover design used here. For example, those two ladies had very little idea about Indian movies. They were actually exploring Indian movies as I heard them asking for the OST of Pakeezah, Shree 420, Guide, Satyam Shivam Sundaram, etc. It's but obvious for them to skip the name of 'A R Rahman' written in the third row at font size 10. Once they came to know that it's by ARR, they did not hesiatate to grab it at once. I'm sure many such people, who otherwise would like to buy any composition of A R Rahman without a second thought, will fail to even know that the cd they are holding is by none other than A R Rahman. It's pity! More than the actors, director or theme of a movie, shouldn't the OST of a movie be credited to its music director? Shouldn't his name come in a more visble way? And if the music director is such a big personality like ARR, doesn't his name need some extra weight? http://chirpingdoel.blogspot.com/2008/01/while-buying-jodha-akbar-ost-experience.html
