Excellent write up!!! I loved every single line of it...
--- In [email protected], "A.R.Rajib" <a.r.ra...@...> wrote:
>
> THE BIRTH OF A WHITE FLOWER*By Behindwoods Visitor Ram Anand (Malaysia)**The
> views expressed in this column are that of the visitor. Behindwoods.com
> doesn't hold responsible for its content.*
> Some 18 years ago, singer Unni Menon was given a call way past midnight,
> awoken in his slumber, and was told that accomplished director Mani Ratnam
> is recording songs for his new film and Menon's voice was required for one
> of those numbers. Who works at this hour, Menon asked himself. But due to
> the fact that the name involved was called Mani Ratnam, Menon freshened
> himself up and rushed up to the mentioned recording studio, where he saw a
> young composer calling the shots.
>
> Mani Ratnam, who so often works with Maestro Ilayaraja, has discovered a new
> talent to associate with in the music department. Menon wondered
> continuously if this young guy- whose name is AR Rahman, could really live
> up to the humongous expectations of having to compose for a Mani Ratnam
> film. He was given the song lyrics, the tunes were discussed, and on the wee
> hours of that one day back in 1992, Menon recorded a song called `Pudhu
> Vellai Mazhai' (A new white rain), and went back home, back to his slumber.
> The doubts that he had before recording the song existed even after that- he
> didn't think he had sung the catchiest of tunes. Little did he know, that
> when he went to sleep that day, just like lyrics of the song proclaims, he
> has witnessed a new white rain, that will reign the Indian music arena over
> the following two decades. All the uncertainties over the song that he had
> sung vanished into thin air as he listened to the final version of the song
> one day- and as he listened, he realized that this song is not catchy, but
> instead it makes the hair on the back of one's neck stand up and applaud.
>
> That AR Rahman back then was 26 years old. Today, as
> [image: AR Rahman]
> he turns 44, that white rain has poured down not only in Tamil Nadu, but up
> until on Hollywood's most famous stage- the Oscar stage. Rahman was the very
> first composer in Indian cinema history to win a National Award for his very
> first film, an award that he would go on to claim two more times. An
> honorary doctorate and a Padmashri, India's fourth highest civilian honor,
> are just a little peek into a mass collection of awards and applauds that
> this modest, humble, soft-spoken name with an ever present smile on his face
> has achieved in his career. That innocent smile never waned even as he stood
> next and around the best luminaries of Hollywood while collecting his piece
> of the biggest cinema cherry in the world, nor did it wane as he stood
> flanked by beautiful girls in Akon's Beautiful Girls music video.
>
> What is so special about his music, some may ask. Who introduced Hariharan
> and Shankar Mahadevan, two of the most famous, most accomplished male
> singers in the industry today? Who made Hariharan sing `Thamizha Thamizha'
> with such sensitivity? Who is it that managed to evoke the atmosphere of an
> unborn child who is going to be born into a world of chaos and uncertainty
> through Vellai Pookal? Who is it that managed to re-create a 50s and 60s
> atmosphere without sounding like direct throwback in Iruvar? Who is it that
> re-composed India's national anthem with such passion and ferocity? Who is
> it that made the whole nation re-kindle a long-buried Vande Matharam? AR
> Rahman is not only a good composer, he is a symbol- a symbol of a nation
> struggling to unleash itself from the strangling, rusting ropes of past
> differences and attempting to move forward as one, as one whole country. He
> is a symbol of passion, of the ultimate craftsmanship an artist could ever
> express with his own work. Above all, he is the perfect symbol of an artist,
> a celebrity. A man who has the talent to put the world at his awe, but has
> the humility to not take all the credit for his achievements. A man who has
> the calmness to rise above petty differences and embrace goodwill as his
> nature, and has that smile that shows, without having to tell, that he loves
> what he is doing, that we love what he is doing, and God loves what he is
> doing.
>
> Ever lost hope? Ever lost faith in goodness? Ever lost faith in the beauty
> of life? Ever lost faith in the impact of talent and artistry? Look up to AR
> Rahman.
>
> Today as this man turns forty-four, there is no gift that we could possibly
> give him that would override 18 years of him showering us with gifts of
> music. But what we could do is to forget that he is forty-four, and make him
> immortal along with his music.
>
> Many more happy returns of the day.
>
> For,
>
> AR Rahman- You are the rare white flower (Vellai Poo) that tomorrow needs.
> May there be more white flowers like you to come in this world.
>
> By,
> Ram Anand (Malaysia)
> ram.observe...@...
>
>
>
> http://www.behindwoods.com/features/visitors-1/ar-rahman-mani-ratnam-ilayaraja-07-01-10.html
> --
> - Regards
>
> ~ ~ A.R.Rajib ~ ~
>
