Happy new year to all here and hope 2010 is a great one. As we turn a new page on the annual and decadal calender, it behooved me to reflect a bit on the past decade in terms of AR's music, where it has been, and where I think it is going. Here are some of my thoughts:
>From 2000-2009, AR's music has continuously evolved, never remaining stagnant >or stale. Every year, every soundtrack, like a true progressive artist, AR's >music offered something new, something innovative, but yet, keeping true to >his core signature strengths FOR THE MOST PART. Yes, there have been >deviations here and there in terms of what I consider to be his core >strengths, but overall, he has stayed pretty much close to home. Some notable overall trends: - Much greater global recognition - Being able to further break the East/West barrier - Finding support, appreciation, accolades from the West - Improved PR skills - more visible, media accessable, socially confident Some notable musical trends: - Greater emphasis on hip hop, synth rhythms - Greater emphasis on complex Western Classical structures and symphonic arrangements in his compositions - Less emphasis over time on ethnic Indian instrumentation and percussion (largely due to type of film and less period scores) - Less emphasis on musical adventurism within compositions (less musical interludes, reduced complex musical structures overall within songs) - Improved melodic contours - If comparing to the late 1990s and early 2000s, I feel that his Tamil compostions from mid 2000s to now have RELATIVELY diminished in quality, although still worthy of ownership and appreciation. I predict that VTV will revive a lot of this and will be regarded eventually as one of his best works in Tamil. - If comparing to the late 1990s and early 2000s, I feel that his Hindi compositions took a RELATIVE dip in terms of quality in the mid 2000s overall, but recently revived from 2008-2009 with a huge exclamation point on the soundtrack of Delhi 6 - one of his best ever. 2010-2019 WHAT I MOST WANT ARR TO DO: - Resume Indian period film scores - a lot of his best work is from these type of scores (Iruvar, Zubeidaa, Lagaan, LOBS, Jodha Akbar) - Emphasize more Hindustani and Carnatic semi classical forms in his compositions with greater Indian ethnic scores (in line with period film score wishes) 2010-2019 WHERE I THINK ARR WILL GO - He will continue to make his mark in the West with some big name, high budget films that will catapult him to even greater heights. Expect him to eventually score for a film as big as Gladiator, Life is Beautiful, Forrest Gump, Titanic. The West will eventually further recognize him as one of the premier film composers of the world. With ARR's talent and creative boundlessness, the sky is the limit for him. - In India, he will continue to rake in awards, etc., but with reduced overall quantitative output in Hindi and Tamil, being more selective with his projects (right fit with directors, script, etc). There may be very long periods (a year or more) where we will not hear a a new ARR soundtrack from India, but when we do, we will be blown away.
