Dear all,
I am an engineer by profession.I used to be very active here,
especially around the years 2002-2005, where I was in my varsity
days.....Im working nowadays, hence there's hardly time for me to
pen anything here....Have been silently observing many things posted
here, and felt like wanted to give my view: Mind you, Im a die-hard
fan of ARR but unbiased. This write-up is intended purely for
working class people , because they will be in a better position to
understand my views, but I do welcome responses from others.I'll put
it in essay point form for easier-reading:
1) CURRENT MUSIC of ARR
- Lots of people complain that he doesn't sound the same like the
90's.
- When ARR was fresh in the industry, he does it all by himself:
composing, arrangement, mixing, editing,etc...only ASSISTED by
his engineers to fine tune or whatsoever. This is similar to a
junior engineer, who is loaded with all kind of tasks on his
head for the next five years at least. So, quality is there,
since only the individual is there, and if he is good, he will
churn out the results. ARR single handedly did everything, and
the result was mindblowing.
- As ARR grew bigger in popularity, he had major distractions.
That little man who used to be media shy,reclusive, and cooped
up in Panchathan had to attend functions, awards, TV
interviews, overseas programmes, charity dinners, events,be
ambassador, etc. The junior engineer now would have become a
manager, and although he is very skilled, will not be in the
position to do all the hard work he used to do to build his
career and spend many nights in the office. Instead he
will have many junior engineers coming through the ranks and he
will delegate the job to them. Same applies to ARR. In current
terms, He definitely wouldn't have the time to do all by
himself..So, too many cook, spoil the soup, to a certain
extent.
- I matured
in my thinking towards the couple of final years in my
university. He grounded in Tamil Nadu, and spread to
Maharashtra, and flew to UK, then rocketed to US. He is, truly,
now an International figure. Hence, people all
over the world will be eager to listen to his works. So,he
should not compose a Tamil song with only Tamil audience in
mind. He has to experiment as much as possible to come up
with a song which appeals to Tamilians as well as pleasing his
international fans.Similarly, working for a local company and a
multinational comapny requires so much adjustment in an
individual. Not to compare here, but Harris Jayaraj and
Yuvan is what ARR 10 years ago, catering the Tamil Film
Industry only. If they venture into bollywood and hollywood,
they'll need to change the way they make music too. We need to
understand this and accept the fact.
- I love melodies predominantly,but that doesn't mean that I
don't like rhythm. Just an example: Kummi Adi (Sillunu Oru
Kaadhal) is a folk song. Sangamam is also folk + carnatic. If
you ask me, personally I would say, the beats in Sangamam were
lively and thunderous. Kummi Adi's beats sounds programmed all
the way. But then we need to understand one thing: As time
goes, lots of changes happening in this world. How to reach the
current younger generation (the teens) to respond to our folk
song?....It has to have their taste. When I played Sangamam to
my brother (he is 19), he says...Oh, boring la...But he enjoys
kummi adi....I understood one thing: I have gotten older, and
music of today is aimed atthe teens and they like more of hip
hop, rap, genres. They are not into "soul"...not for time
being, at least....
- One last point is that "Nothing is Permanent"....As we grow
older, we can never recapture our old stuffs. I used to run
8kms effortlessly, but now gasping for breath even in my 2nd
km. When ARR
did "Kalluri Salai", he was in his late 20's, so his mind is of
a young man.....Now he is 40, so if you notice, he has reduced
a lot of rhythm (there are still rhythm, of course, just
reduced in racy numbers) and moving towards western classical,
electronica(Vangelis kind of sound, heard too often in his
works nowadays).
So to expect someone to do the same until the end is very
wishful thinking. Even Rajnikanth cannot be a hero until the
end. One day, he either retires or becoming supporting
actor.
My humble opinion is that as long as ARR can give at least 2 soul-
stirrer like New York Nagaram & Munbe Vaa in each film, it is
sufficient until i breathe my last. We as a fan, should accept the
fact that he has grown too big and hardly have the time to be the
90's ARR. If we can accept this fact, there won't be much
disappointments. After all, ARR is also a human being like us. God
bless.
