*A glorified Rahman and greater expectations *
CHENNAI: Even as the nation celebrates the limelight hogged by A.R.Rahman at the Oscars, a group of filmmakers in the industry are on cloud nine. For, these are the people who have signed the Oscar-winner for their impending movies. Gautam Menon, one of the handful to have roped him in, says the award is a recognition for all his works. “Oscar for him is not just for Slumdog Millionaire. The award sums up his extraordinary work in all the movies he has worked in.” Calling himself a “fan of Rahman right from his maiden album,” Gautam says signing him for the Simbu-starrer ‘Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa’ was a dream come true. “I wanted him to score music for my first film. I am glad it has worked out now.” Irrespective of the ‘Oscar’ tag, the music wizard’s albums would always record high sales. “I have an entire collection of Rahman’s albums. I think many Indians would. We are all happy about his Oscars, no doubt. But there is no question of boost in marketability of our album. If it is Rahman, cassettes will anyway sell like hot cakes.” For ‘Endhiran’, the banner is just getting bigger. Directed by Shankar, with Rajinikanth and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in the lead, the movie is set to take the masses by storm with its top-slot cast and technology crew including Stan Winston Studio for Animatronics and Yuen Woo Ping, for the stunt sequences. Rahman’s Oscar has now added a great deal to the movie’s grandeur. Actor Rajinikanth’s daughter Soundarya has a reason to cheer, too. ‘Sultan the Warrior,’ the animation movie starring her father jointly produced by her company – Ocher Studio, will now have an Oscar connection, with Rahman handling the background score. “I was ecstatic when I saw Rahman sir win the Oscar. He deserves this and much more. He is a great human being,” she says, adding: “His winning the Oscar will surely add value to all the productions he is involved in and as he said in one of his interviews, his quality will remain the same, no matter which awards come by. I am a great fan [of his] and it is an honour and a blessing for me to be working with him on my directorial debut.” http://www.hindu.com/2009/02/26/stories/2009022658110200.htm -- regards, Vithur
