| Music lovers in South India had to make a hard choice in the early 90s - they could either choose to be patrons of top English bands that slowly seeped into the bedroom of Indian families or choose to be loyal fans of their own music maestro - Ilayaraja. In 1992, when Mani Ratnam made Roja, a generation of confused music lovers got a wonderful option - in the name of Allah Rakha Rahman.
Today, almost 17 years later, none of them will ever regret the decision they made after hearing the beautiful tunes of Chinna Chinna Aasai and Kadhal Rojave. From Roja to Jodha Akbar, the music director's journey has been a delight to lap up.
The right mix of melody and fast music has always been Rahman's forte. If Shankar's Kaadhalan boasted of a local fast number (Urvashi Urvashi), it also had a soulful Ennavale to showcase. If the song Rang De Basanti featured energetic beats and typical bhangra notes, the film also had a mellifluous Tu Bin Bataye. With Rahman, there's a little bit of everything for everybody. His musical albums of Vande Mataram and Jana Gana Mana instilled a sense of patriotism in all listeners. The recent initiative to start a music school to teach young musicians to play within an orchestra will surely fill a big void in Indian music. "If Ilayaraja wants to record an epic score, he goes to Budapest. Why can't we do it in our country itself ?" Rahman remarked recently, when asked about the need for a music school.
Very recently, a person was heard humming the tune of Dheem Thana (Rhythm). If a lyric of such immense meaning (Kadhal Nadhiye… Neeyum Pen Dhane?) can get buried in the sheer brilliance of the tune, it speaks volumes of Rahman's musical genius.
When we read about Rahman going global and composing for highprofile English films, it's not fair to crib that he has left Tamil music and resorted to greener pastures. As he said recently, "The respect for all things Indian has gone up in recent times. We need to take an initiative to propagate our culture."
It's just the same way that a Ramanarayan Subramaniam from Nungambakkam or a Julian Moses from Nanganallur would be creating new trends at hotshot software offices in the USA.
Rahman is not just a music director who made a grand introduction into the Indian music scene. He is a person who's made a sweeping and everlasting impact on a whole generation of music lovers. About Roja, Time magazine's noted critic Richard Corliss stated that the “astonishing debut work parades Rahman's gift for alchemising outside influences until they are totally Tamil, totally Rahman”. This is true of all his albums, right till the latest Jodha Akbar…
A R Rahman has rightly matured without letting go of his 'Madras boy' roots.
God Bless...
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