7.17.2008

Sakkarakatti and not cho chweet review

I can easily understand why some of them are angry about my views on ‘Sakkarakatti’ music, because I have found myself in their position so many times before when I read a review, highlighting only the negatives and understating the positives on a movie or a music which I love. Though there are positives to talk, some people get upset more by the negatives, because according to them what they feel lacking in, is the most important aspects they look for and so they find that overshadowing other good things that can be talked about.

There are definitely good things to say about 'Sakkarakatti'. I never said anywhere in my post that I didn’t like the soundtrack. I like it. But when my overall feeling about a soundtrack is disappointing, I chose to highlight what didn’t work for me than what little that works. And naturally, one doesn’t spend much time talking about what they don’t like. But I also think that I have become lazier these days, as one see can that even on those soundtracks which I liked very much, I have written comparatively lesser words.

I am not against Rahman or his music, I don’t deliberately criticize any composer or his compositions, and I only register what I sincerely feel. Talking about length, my thoughts on 'Ada' and 'Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na' were detailed enough I believe. I criticize Rahman, because I care. I sincerely care and carve for his music. I am sure that I won’t remember this soundtrack for a long time; it will not stand the test of time. If one is a true fan of a composer and his music, he/she will not understate the composer by declaring his lesser works as his greatest. And that is what I did.

Ameer has his own arrogant way to put his view points. But if you take all those arrogance away, there is a truth hidden in his statement. That is that Rahman is doing only movies with commercial interests. It is little too selfish to ask Rahman to come down a little bit to become approachable by new wave Tamil directors but these guys can give him greater challenges and help him in pushing the envelope of movie soundtracks further.

At the end, I have only one question. Is ‘Sakkarakatti’ music, the greatest ever that Rahman could have given for the movie? If your answer is yes, I wonder if you really remember or know what Rahman is really capable of and definitely I respect Rahman and his music more than you do.

24 comments:

Emjay said...

The director of the movie (Sakkarakatti) is heard to have waited for an year to get this album in hand and Bharathiraaja praised saying that "You can get cows milk anywhere, but you have to wait for tiger's milk".

"One year for this song, a crore rupee worth?" - I will reserve the comments to myself.

My only diplomatic answer is "Market Value" - Varthagam.

As long as you have the "sellability" tag attached to it, you are the king and people will wait for you, do salaams and even prostrate.

Having said that, there are only few options for Rahman to keep himself out of many crap movies that are coming. If and only he had fallen in that trap in 1995, he would have been in gutters now.

Dinesh Scaran said...

Brother, its fine with ur views on Sakarakatti album, becoz there r more positive reviews on it rather than the other way round. If we r not satisfied with ur view on it, its only gonna takes us seconds to just close down the browser of ur blog. no use fussing around about ur views on it...

But what this that Tamil dirs like Ameer can give greater challenge to A.R.Rahman?? LOL!... a big LOL in fact!! can Ameer direct a movie like Lagaan, The Legend of Bhagat Sing, Meenaxi, Tehzeeb, Zubeida, Netaji, Swades, Mangal Pandey and such ??? And guess what? These excellent movies had A.R.Rahman as the music directors. Didnt Rahman passed it with flying colours??? Can Ameer ever dream about directing these kinda movies??? Paruthiveeran is something like a rehash of an 80s Bharathiraja's film and yet he speaks like as if he is 1 great dir. Please man, A.R.Rahman has worked with young directors too... And yea, though their movies r not as successful as Ameers, but that doesnt meant they r not good.

Ameer needs to learn to come out of this TAMIL SHELL he is inside in. Open his eyes and watch the Hindi movies by A.R.Rahman and compare it with his films, then he will know it is technically better and BGM wise A.R.Rahman has done better job then what he has done for the comercial films.

Ameer has no standard nor rights to comment on A.R.Rahman. He should be aware of tat!!!

Anonymous said...

Mr. dnesh!
So ARR should work in the likes of New, Ah Aah, ATM, Sivaji over movies like Mozhi, Paruthi or Autograph? Hmm..
In my opinion, he should not attach his name in substandard albums such as ATM or GodFather.. It clearly looks like he hasnt put enough effort into those albums, then why bother?? His Bollywood movies are unconditionally awesome, but I think he has to get a healthy mix in Tamil as well.. Otherwise, the elite Tamil fans will shrink.. (Of course, unless they listen to his bwood soundtracks)..

-- Vidhya

Saraks said...

Oh! we judge ATM soundtrack by the movie. ATM is a kick-ass album from ARR and I think its his most fun album in the recent times and no contest with Jane Tu.. and Jodha Akbhar which I see being praised from all quarters. I have no problem with ARR working with lesser movies as long as the movie is important to him(as ATM was and Godfather wasn't).

Anonymous said...

//...If one is a true fan of a composer and his music, he/she will not understate the composer by declaring his lesser works as his greatest....//

Bang on!

Anonymous said...

Suppose ilaiyarajangra manidhar avadharikkamal irundhirundhaal, rahmanai pidithirukkum....ilaiyaraajavai keetapiragu....kaathugalukku mattrathai yettrukkolla mudiyavillai....isaiyai kaetkanumnuketkravangaludaiya nokkam ullavargalin karuthu, review panna nokkam ullavargalum solvathai muzhumaiyaaga yetrukkaolla mudiayvillai ....ilaiyaraaja avaraaakavey poi sernthividugiraar...ketkanumnu kaetkavendiaythillai...review thevaiillai...athu nadhi.....avar vaazhumbothu avardou vazhvatahrkku baagyam kidaithathu....solla varthaiillai.............IR the inspiration, talent........

Dhanasekhar

Vinith said...

Let me give my opinion on ARR and his current stature!!!

I completely agree with Vidhya's saying that ARR hasn't put much effort in his recent films! He composes six songs in a movie out of which only 1 or 2 stand out! Let me give examples too! SOK – Munbe va and New York, God father – I was ok with kaatril, Sivaji – 3 songs were good, In ATM - no song had ARR's touch (Funniest part is he was nominated for best md award for ATM), only in Sakkarakatti he came up with 3-4 good nos (one is inspired)! To make no bones about his efforts in tamil movies, none of his BGM works in the above said movies stood out. Few were below average!!!
But his works in Hindi movies stands out including BGM score are extraordinary!

Regarding Ameer’s comment – he’s gone mad I think! He shouldn’t have told those words that too when yuvan is on the same stage. It’s undeniable that Yuvan has given life to all his movies!
Here, I’m also ready to make a challenge that If ARR composes music for Ameer’s movie, (Mark my words) the album and the BGM score wouldn’t stand out! True music lovers will all feel that Yuvan would have done a better job. (I’m certainly not against ARR neither am I fanatic about Yuvan)

PS: At first I was happy with Sakkarakatti music, not even a week after its release, the songs are boring except Marudhani! I still the freshness in Taxi music, but ever since I heard that its not a genuine composition, I lost my craze on it! I regret for rating it as the best album (till July) of the year! It’s certainly not!

Vinith

Unknown said...

Suresh,

Read this post sometime back and couldnt comment because I hadnt heard the songs. As always, you are spot on. But just one difference with this movie is that somehow I liked the songs instantly. May be the recent songs are not his best because he is trying to prove wrong the general opinion that his songs are not instantly likeable?

Smiles,
Vinayak

Anonymous said...

‘Sakkarakatti’ is crap. I'm very disappointed but then - i don't care. Whatever. The songs are like "lemme compete with YSR" kind of. And he really infuriates when he does transfers. Like Baba to Swades and Meenaxi to Sakkarakatti. It's like him saying - "that's the greatest tune, you better hear it..!" and shove it down our throat. Well, Mr. ARR nobody's or no tune's so great. It's like completely tampering and taking advantage of your fuckin popularity.

Vinith said...

Suresh,

Heard satyam? ha ha ha... a worst attempt... Harris' composition is now in deep sh*t. Dham dhum songs were atleast passable, but only one song in Satyam is good rest all crap.
A better album Dham dhum itself was not reviewed by you, i'm sure you'll not waste your time in writing review for this album. Check out my review!

P.S. Suresh Kumar said...

Heard Satyam, I am not going to review Satyam either but thought of posting a special post on Harris Jeyaraj's music in general.. let me see if i get the time

Vinith said...

Suresh,

Why have you become too lazy nowadays (:-)). Planning to write a review on Saroja. Have been waiting for this review...

Please do post it soon... Waiting for that!!!

P.S. Suresh Kumar said...

Vinith - I am quite busy with office work for past few days and I get no time to listen to new soundtracks or write about it. Yet to buy Saroja CD...

Vinith said...

yes. i ustand. was jus kiddin... :-)

Anonymous said...

When you say "Taxi Taxi" song was inspired..what do you mean exactly? The beat is a standard beat in pop music called reggaeton.

Rahman is no longer a one-man operation. Did you hear his music programmer Ketan's interview on Raihana's FM show? It gives you info on how Rahman works these days.

The first 7 years of Rahman's work (until 2000) enabled him to craft unique rhythms to his melodies. Post 2000 with the playing field becoming international and the demand and pressures for his music shooting up...his team has expanded. Rahman can't spend time on every song like he used to do before...he has to focus on the most challenging and bigger ones....the normal ones (ones that are a repeat of the same old filmy situations for which he has to compose), he lets his programmers craft the percussion and accompaniment sections. That's why post 2000, many old fans would have found very standard beats in most of Rahman's songs, except for some flashes of brilliance here and there.

Movies like A-ha, Godfather, ATM, Sakkarakatti etc., the directors were ready to wait for his music and wouldn't go to anyone else other than Rahman, and didnt want the best from him (like what Mani or Shankar would demand). So can you blame Rahman if he's got no choice but to cater to the mediocre demands of some tamil directors?

Also we have to keep in mind that Rahman has invested heavily in the latest technologies and has employed talented people...he has to do commercial ventures to keep this setup afloat. In spite of this, he does a lot of free work also. Directors like Ameer shouldn't be so short-sighted as to accuse him for this. If Paruthiveeran hadn't done well commercially, today Ameer won't be here. So the commercial aspect is very important.

Anonymous said...

nicely put swarlok.

Vinith. How can a album from being album of 2008 become a bore in 7 days? You need to brush your knowledge in music before you jump to reveiw!

Vinith said...

Anon,

go thru my comment clearly b4 you jump on me. i never mentioned that the whole album is boring. I'm still listening to Marudhani song.

You need not comment on my knowledge. i have enough knowledge to write an unbiased review.

Anonymous said...

Actually...one more reason, I feel why most of Rahman's songs nowadays have a standard beat is because he has now matured and is more into melodies...I think he's tired of his rhythm based song composing days :)

Unknown said...

Mr Ramesh how can you say that Sakkarakattis songs are a crap I think u personally hate arr as if everybody likes you and u r a great musician

Anonymous said...

The simple point is, AR Rahman is out of stuff. His creativity had exhausted long back. People like Swarlok Ohms are trying to give long winded explanations of why ARR's not able to concentrate on smaller projects. What bigger project could he have got other than Sivaji recently? And why is it's music so crappy?

In his earlier days he had the talent to merge western and indian music skillfully and the resulting music was a breath of fresh air to our people. For instance, Pettai Rap in Kadhalan was a good attempt at remoulding Rap music into indian form. But nowadays he just replays the western rap or reggaeton sparsely interspersed with tamil words (which actually started with the still wet behind the ears Yuvan Shankar Raja).

I repeat, ARR's creative had exhausted long long back.

Anonymous said...

I leave your opinions and views to you Sekar. Instead of viewing it negatively as...ARR's creativity has exhausted (it's like seeing the glass half empty or half full)...do take into consideration all the factors that shape a music director's output...not only Rahman.

Anonymous said...

Swarlok, A creator's creativity/originality is the foremost thing that defines his work. Everything else is trivial. We should not take into account, maintaining a large band or having many commitments, etc. Everything is under his control. If a creation is not upto his mark he should abandon that work altogether. That is the mark of a true creator.

Everybody has a limit for creativity. We should not expect somebody to be creatively fresh forever. Everybody is bound to fade in that aspect. Having crossed this point long back in his creative life, ARR is just trying remain in the field by plagiarizing western music. Don't think I'm against ARR or an Ilayaraja fan. I'm just talking about creativity as a creator myself (not music).

Anonymous said...

Sekar....i come from the "creative" industry...being a creative professional myself..i know how our creativity is curtailed and killed by the people who pay us..by giving "market" factors, "audience" as excuses....I can totally understand why Rahman is not his old self. Sadly, this won't be understood by all.

V said...

Thanks for your detailed post Swarlok. That explains the way music is made by the film composers in today's world, including the very much talented ARR.

Have any of you read an article on "Making Music-the Ilaiyaraaja way" ? Read, and you will enjoy.