Dear Taimur, Kindly bear in mind that my previous mail is not about which lyricist doing a better job than the other. I only mentioned that both of them has created amazing lyrics from their own perspective. Thus, your comment on Gulzar doing a better job than Vairamuthu is totally uncalled for in this sense.
And just out of curiousity Taimur. I know for a fact that you don't understand Tamil at all. So, how can you tell for certain that Gulzar has done a better job than Vairamuthu? Again, I'm not making any comparison between the both but just curious how you can do so when you don't even know Tamil. On the other hand, if you've come to the above-said conclusion based on the translations given by Srini, then it shows that you've still not done your homework well. There's no doubt that Srini has done a tremendous job in translating the tamil lyrics and I'm ever so grateful for his great effort. Nevertheless, certain lyrics cannot be taken or read only in its literal sense. In the case of Raavanan, you need to understand Tamil in order to see how Vairamuthu has used the language beautifully to bring out the essence of the songs. Quote: "My definition of lyrics is very simple, the words should carry the weight to glorify the tune, i never care for meanings..." That's the difference between great poets like Gulzar & Vairamuthu and laypersons like you and me. Any lay person can put words into a song and think that they've done a good job, as long as the words rhymes. Nevertheless, poets don't believe that their words should be used to only suit the tunes...instead they crave to bring out the spirit and the soul of the song with their magical writings. And that's what make Gulzar and Vairamuthu stand tall amongst all the other writers. And Taimur, if you still believe that you don't care for meanings and that lyrics should be used only to "glorify the tunes" (i still don't know how you can do that?), then kindly refrain from talking about Vairamuthu or Gulzar's work in future. I strongly believe that their work deserves a higher level of appreciation than to be treated in the range of nursery rhymes. Kindly accept my apologies if I've used harsh words here. My intention is not to hurt your feelings, nevertheless I feel that you've been looking from a highly negative perspective as far as Raavan/Raavanan are concerned and that probably has been preventing you from accepting the albums the way they are meant to be. Regards, Gayathri --- On Mon, 5/10/10, Taimur Nadeem <[email protected]> wrote: From: Taimur Nadeem <[email protected]> Subject: RE: [arr] I like Raavanan Music but I agree with those who don't like it as much To: [email protected] Date: Monday, May 10, 2010, 4:10 AM My definition of lyrics is very simple , the words should carry the weight to glorify the tune, i never care for meanings and in this case GULZAR saheb has done far better job than VAIRMUTHU JI.Although RAAVAN and RAVANNAN both dont seem to give any scintillating feel to me , songs seems to be pretty ordinary not a single can be said a masterpiece, but while comparing use words for the tunes i find Ravan songs much better , the singers choice lot better as well. regards, taimur --- On Mon, 5/10/10, Gayathri Chandrakasan <gayathri_ck17@ yahoo.com> wrote: From: Gayathri Chandrakasan <gayathri_ck17@ yahoo.com> Subject: RE: [arr] I like Raavanan Music but I agree with those who don't like it as much To: arrahmanfans@ yahoogroups. com Date: Monday, May 10, 2010, 4:39 AM It's my humble opinion that most people couldn't see the beauty in Raavanan after listening to Raavan....but then, this has always been the case, at least for me. I've always found it tough to accept the new version after listening to the original numbers. I didn't like Thaalam, Uyire or Saathiya the first time I heard them. And Kehna hi kya & Tu hi re (Bombay) sound really awkward in comparison to Kannalane and Uyire Uyire. Well, yeah, that was all in the past. Today, the same songs make me think how dumb I was back then to dismiss these beautiful gems.. And that's the same case with Raavanan too. When I heard them for the first time, I thought the lyrics were odd, the choice of singers were bad, etc. In fact, when I listened to Usure Pogathe the first time around, I thought Vairamuthu must have wrote the lyrics in his sleep. Somehow the words didn't seem to gel with the tune...or so I thought. But after listening to the Tamil version a number of times, I found that I love them equally the same. Well, it did take me some time and effort to forget Behne De whenever Usure Pogathe comes into the picture, but I must say that the effort paid off. And even if Vairamuthu has actually written this in his sleep (which I strongly object and I promise that I would punch myself everyday for thinking the same) the lyrics that flow out of him is just so powerful in comparison to what one would be able to write even in his most "alert" days. And by this, please don't think that I'm making a comparison between Vairamuthu and Gulzar. Since my knowledge of hindi is confined to comprehending only the basic meaning of the words, I'm certainly in no position to comment on Gulzar's work in the same. (Though I do believe he has done an amazing job at that!) Nevertheless, with Raavanan, I found that Vairamuthu has transported me to a whole new world via his potent words. What makes me feel so? When I heard Behne De the first few times around, I found that the protagonist was associating the forbidden love as his only means of survival. With lines like "sagar mein jaake girna hai, behene de nadiyan ki tara" wasn't he asking himself to be flown as that would enable himself to emerge with the sea? (With "sea" being his ladylove) A more powerful punch came in the later stanza... Doob gaye jo suna hai saare tere dere aate hain Dil ke chulu mein bechaare dubkiyan aate khaate hain Beh ja, beh ja, chal tod kinare ko Beh ja, beh ja, dhar le majdhare ko Chingari uda ke raakh se ik boondh gira ke aankh se While others have drown in the lady's "love", this guy seems to be fighting to take control in order not to suffer the same fate. (Ok, my understanding of hindi might not be as good as I thought, so if I'm wrong here, please do correct me on it.) But yeah, with Behne De, I felt that the protagonist was making an effort to survive... On the other hand, with Usure Pogathey, the same forbidden love is associated with his destruction, and what's more, this was a "destruction" which he most welcomed. Notice these lines... "Adi Thaeku Mara Kaadu Perusuthaan Chinna Theekuchi Osaram Sirusuthaan Oru Theekuchi Vizhunthu Pudikuthadi Karunthaekumara Kaadu Vedikuthadi" In the above lines, he tells on how a small match stick is able to destroy a whole forest and on a later stage... "paamba? vizhutha? oru pagupaadu theriyalaye, paamba irunthum nenjam bayappada nenaikkalaye" In the beginning he was unsure if he's playing with a snake or a log. Nevertheless, though he later found that it was in fact a "snake" he never once fear for it. The lines seem to depict that though the protagonist knew he would be "destroyed", he seems to be welcoming the destruction instead of fighting it. And that’s what makes Usure pogathey a world’s apart from Behne De. Though both were written for the same situation, notice how these great poets describe the forbidden love in their own way? While one was surviving because of it, the other wants to die for it. I guess that’s the brilliance of Gulzar and Vairamuthu. They needn’t have to translate each other’s work. They just took the essence of the song and made a world of their own. Last but not least, who ever said that Vairamuthu has grown old, or lack imagination, or write awful lyrics? Do name me another person who could have written about forbidden love with such effectiveness as he did and that too in mere two lines.... "akkarai cheemaiyil nee irunthum aiviral theendida ninaikkuthadi agni pazhamne therinjirunthum adikkadi naaku thudikkuthadi" And I haven’t even started to talk about the other songs yet… --- On Sat, 5/8/10, MURALI RAMAKRISHNAN GANAPATHY <dippythejammy@ hotmail.com> wrote: From: MURALI RAMAKRISHNAN GANAPATHY <dippythejammy@ hotmail.com> Subject: RE: [arr] I like Raavanan Music but I agree with those who don't like it as much To: "arrahmanfans" <arrahmanfans@ yahoogroups. com> Date: Saturday, May 8, 2010, 10:59 PM hindi version is better than tamil and to my expectation it is not upto the mark so far,hope i will like the songs after some more hearings. personally i feel that media is creating a hype that mani-arr combination always rocks,but i think arr with ashutosh and ramprakash is good these days due to their song selection and how they extract the best from arr. mani should stop doing bilingual or he should get tune from arr which sets the mood for tamil audience. raavan songs are all based for hindi audiences murali, coimbatore To: arrahmanfans@ yahoogroups. com From: chandersai_2k@ yahoo.com Date: Sat, 8 May 2010 16:22:44 -0700 Subject: Re: [arr] I like Raavanan Music but I agree with those who don't like it as much Heard the Tamil version,I found the lyrics just awful! On 08/05/2010, at 11:02 AM, "AJ" <purev...@yahoo. com> wrote: Good thoughts, man. It's always healthy to see others' perspectives and to try and understand different tastes. Good message. --- In arrahmanfans@ yahoogroups. com, Indmov Buff <indmovbuff@ ...> wrote: > > > > Nice one Suresh. > > I guess Raavanan will always be considered a dubbed version because it came > after. I think if it was a soundtrack on it's own, people would have > appreciated the lyrics much much more than they are now. > > > ____________ _________ _________ __ > From: sureshmechnit <sureshmechnit@ ...> > To: arrahmanfans@ yahoogroups. com > Sent: Fri, 7 May, 2010 15:33:16 > Subject: [arr] I like Raavanan Music but I agree with those who don't like it > as much > > > My thoughts > > http://ursmusically .blogspot. com/2010/ 05/raavanan- soundtrack. html > > Smile > Sureshkumar > Invest your money wisely post Budget Sign up now.
