Rahman wins the oscars

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 23 Feb 2009, 15:34

Sorry to open a "closed" thread but just got the news that ARR has won both Oscar nominations. Congratulations - a proud moment for him, I am sure!

knandago2001 · Post by **knandago2001** » 23 Feb 2009, 15:42

I'm absolutely thrilled! A great honor for him..

mahesh_narayan · Post by **mahesh_narayan** » 23 Feb 2009, 16:31

I don't wanna have fatwas issued to have me hacked to death:), but I did not find anything in the superlative, either about the movie or the music. Rehman has produced much better music, and brilliant ones at that, as compared to this. The music for this movie seems to have been composed keeping some western audiences in mind; fairly simplistic, and at some points, insipid. The movie had an element of creativity, with the concept of the game show and all, but I fail to understand in what light exactly does it showcase the plight of the slum dwellers of Mumbai. People are talking about the music, Rehman, and Danny Boyle, but what about the several underdogs that actually live in those slums. Nobody's talking about them.

<I-Just-Don't-Get-It-Rant>
It was a good watch for one time, but when Lagaan failed at the Oscars, I don't get how this movie could create these kind of ripples. Lagaan was so much better storywise and music-wise !!!
</I-Just-Don't-Get-It-Rant>

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 23 Feb 2009, 16:38

A truly deserving award for ARR

It cant get better than the Oscar, can it ?

Well Mahesh , Lagaan and SDM cannot be compared as they didnt compete in the same year. Competition is as good as it gets and Rahman deserves this most ungrudgingly

sureshjm · Post by **sureshjm** » 23 Feb 2009, 16:46

oscar is certainly not the reputed award for music. there are many others for music.

Svaapana · Post by **Svaapana** » 23 Feb 2009, 17:11

Berlin, Karlovyvary, Venice and Cannes film festivals are the most prestigious ones for avant-garde movies.

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 23 Feb 2009, 19:55

When Rahman intoned in Tamil:
ellA pugazhuM iRaivanukkE
my heart skipped a beat. And as he was singing 'Jay hO' I was hearing
'jaya hE, jaya hE, jaya jaya jaya hE'
In fact he succinctly summarized that SDM was a message of hope for the SDM (Suffering Downtrodden Millions) of India! I was touched!
Paradoxically I was not thrilled at the oscar sweep by this low budget film since there is no artistry but just reality!

Perhaps now the West will make another movie on the 'Massacre in Mumbai' which will certainly sweep the Oscar!
As we say in Tamil:
narikku viLayaaTTu naNDukku prANa vEdanai!

( O mErE pyArE vatan.. )....

I'll kill myself

srinivasrgvn · Post by **srinivasrgvn** » 23 Feb 2009, 20:11

VK RAMAN · Post by **VK RAMAN** » 23 Feb 2009, 20:35

One point every one would have noticed is his love towards his culture and mother tonque. Congratulations!

kartik · Post by **kartik** » 23 Feb 2009, 21:04

cienu wrote:A truly deserving award for ARR It cant get better than the Oscar, can it ?

It can get better, Sangeetha Kalanidhi Raghuman

kartik · Post by **kartik** » 23 Feb 2009, 21:06

mahesh_narayan wrote:I don't wanna have fatwas issued to have me hacked to death:), but I did not find anything in the superlative, either about the movie or the music. >

By what stretch of imagination is it music? Not all sound (read noise) is music!

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 23 Feb 2009, 21:54

Congrats to ARR, even though neither song he presented last evening struck a chord with me. But ARR well deserves to be labelled "Academy Award Winning..."

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 23 Feb 2009, 22:07

I have not seen the film, nor even heard any of the music. I liked early songs from A R Rahman, and then went off what I heard after that.

Whatever --- I still feel delighted for his success! Well Done!

S.NAGESWARAN · Post by **S.NAGESWARAN** » 23 Feb 2009, 22:07

Rahman is one of the best music composers of this generation and very much deserves this award. Hearty congratulations on behalf of many rasikas like me.

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 23 Feb 2009, 23:12

I may be in the minority, and I think I am not tone deaf, but I am fairly certain what ARR produced and continues to produce is indeed music

It brings joy and happy step to millions of people and I also think that is testament enough. Of course same can be said to rap, death metal etc. - a certain form may not be my cup of tea (although ARR certain is!), but who am I to pass judgment on what others perceive and enjoy as music, and what they ought to be enjoying? We got the taleban for that

Arun

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 23 Feb 2009, 23:34

Those who feel that this is not Rahman's best work ( or why does this deserve all these oscars ) need to keep in mind a sort of universal truth that one has to be at the right place and at the right time for the vidwat to be recognized. Vidwat is a necessary condition but not sufficient. Luck does indeed favor the talented and hardworker since such people give a lot of opportunities for luck to find them. Here luck is not to be interpreted as 'chance' but the 'right time, right place' thing.

Congratulations to ARR.

Is this the first time that someone spoke in Tamil at a major award ceremony outside of India?

rajaglan · Post by **rajaglan** » 24 Feb 2009, 00:09

mahesh_narayan wrote:I don't wanna have fatwas issued to have me hacked to death:), but I did not find anything in the superlative, either about the movie or the music. Rehman has produced much better music, and brilliant ones at that, as compared to this. The music for this movie seems to have been composed keeping some western audiences in mind; fairly simplistic, and at some points, insipid. The movie had an element of creativity, with the concept of the game show and all, but I fail to understand in what light exactly does it showcase the plight of the slum dwellers of Mumbai. People are talking about the music, Rehman, and Danny Boyle, but what about the several underdogs that actually live in those slums. Nobody's talking about them.

<I-Just-Don't-Get-It-Rant>
It was a good watch for one time, but when Lagaan failed at the Oscars, I don't get how this movie could create these kind of ripples. Lagaan was so much better storywise and music-wise !!!
</I-Just-Don't-Get-It-Rant>

This is a simple logic that most people donot understand and simply failed to understand.

Oscar awards are for technicians and crew and actors of an english movie. So to go Oscar you should have worked in an english movie.
So none of our film go to the mainstream oscar. This is my understanding. So many movies over the years , have not been awarded oscar just
because they are not eligible for oscars. what a pity right! More than that we feel bad for not having got the oscar.

Lagaan and again every year we send a movie which can make it only for the foreign language category in Oscar. In this category , there is NO music or tchnical or director or supporting actor or those 50-60 awards . It is a one single award for foreign language category for all the movies nominated by each country.

The only Indian to have won an Oscar for lifetime achievement in films, Satyajit Ray. It is a special award. Bhanu Athaiya shared an Oscar with John Mollo for the movie "Gandhi" (1982) in Costume Design category, again an english movie.

Rehman has made better music and he was awarded for all that in India. ARR went global and got the Oscar.

What is great about SDM music :
I think SDM background score is made of limited instruments as you cannot have a rich music for such a theme. So the sucess of the background score is the score of the backdrop which is a real time and complex scene changes and you have to have a feel , ie mumbai and its slum and make a music using few instruments , real time sound etc, once told by ARR. Who else can have a real time feel of mumbai backdrop other than our own people. I guess that is why the director choose ARR. The song is a good song. In the live telecast, ARR sang it with chineese drumming it, and American girls dancing with indian costumes and finally the Wall-E contender coming with his song (the same usual american song sung over so many years, a poor contender) and a fusion of both the competing songs, that scene was spellbinding to watch.

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 24 Feb 2009, 01:29

While we are on the SDM topic:

---------

While watching Slumdog Millionaire, there was one thing a lot of people did not understand, in the movie the kids who were from the slums became tour guides and took foreign tourist around on tours. Everyone had the same question, how did these kids know English. If they are from the slums how can they pick up difficult languages in the world? Well here is a video of a kid from the slum who also happens to be selling peacock feathers and check out how many languages he knows. This video was a big hit a few years ago and they just found this kid again in his teenage year and he is still doing the same thing. Check out these clips.

http://www.currybear.com/wordpress/?p=2316#comments
----------

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 24 Feb 2009, 01:33

I was once approached by a rag picker who wanted to talk English to me --- and could.

I have learnt not to be surprised by amazing and unexpected linguistic skills in India.

Music · Post by **Music** » 24 Feb 2009, 01:39

Hearty Congratulations to ARR! He made us proud. Very well deserved.
I don't care whether SDM showed his best music or not. He is a genius and it is high time he got a major international award. I am so thrilled.

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 24 Feb 2009, 02:07

While in the West I am never surprised to see and hear a Tamil speaking chaste English. I am only surprised when a Tamil is able to Read and Speak chaste Tamil

When I write plays in Tamil for locals many do require me to write in transliterated Roman script

I am sure ARR is the first one to speak in Tamil at the Oscar...

ragam-talam · Post by **ragam-talam** » 24 Feb 2009, 02:31

Rahman's Oscar acceptance speech:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Adm50X9ctF0

He says a line in Hindi (mEre pAs mAn hei) and in Tamil (ellA pugazhum iraivanukkE).

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 24 Feb 2009, 06:15

Some info about the singer who chanted 'Jai Ho', whose parents are Carnatic vocalists from Mysore http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Bang ... 179479.cms

tkb · Post by **tkb** » 24 Feb 2009, 09:09

Great acheivement and sincere congrats to ARR and the SDM team for having won the Oscars.

blackadder · Post by **blackadder** » 24 Feb 2009, 09:51

Congrats to the winners!

Here is another Indian who has won an Oscar:

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/New ... 680578.cms

karthikbala · Post by **karthikbala** » 24 Feb 2009, 16:46

vasanthakokilam wrote:While we are on the SDM topic:
While watching Slumdog Millionaire, there was one thing a lot of people did not understand, in the movie the kids who were from the slums became tour guides and took foreign tourist around on tours. Everyone had the same question, how did these kids know English. ----------

From the point of view of the target audience being non-Indian it may have been reasonable to gloss over that point. Fantasy rather than verismo seeming to be the theme, use of subtitles during extended exchanges in hindi might not have gelled. The whole movie itself works on a suspension of disbelief principle. From realism aspect, Naan Kadavul for instance depicts the unseemly side of India more realistically, but might be too much for a Western audience to digest! (even after the mutilation by the censors)

rajaglan · Post by **rajaglan** » 24 Feb 2009, 18:50

karthikbala wrote:
vasanthakokilam wrote:While we are on the SDM topic:
While watching Slumdog Millionaire, there was one thing a lot of people did not understand, in the movie the kids who were from the slums became tour guides and took foreign tourist around on tours. Everyone had the same question, how did these kids know English. ----------
From the point of view of the target audience being non-Indian it may have been reasonable to gloss over that point. Fantasy rather than verismo seeming to be the theme, use of subtitles during extended exchanges in hindi might not have gelled. The whole movie itself works on a suspension of disbelief principle. From realism aspect, Naan Kadavul for instance depicts the unseemly side of India more realistically, but might be too much for a Western audience to digest! (even after the mutilation by the censors)

Karthikbala,
Even I felt the same. Naan Kadavul is a heavy dose of a bad part in the society. I guess this exists remotely somewhere but not very
abundant. SDM , begger trade scenes made me get used to this kind of things. Otherwise I would have come out of
Naan Kadavul in the begining itself. NK is a very sincere treatment and everyone should see it in spite of the cruel scenes in the
begining.

VK RAMAN · Post by **VK RAMAN** » 24 Feb 2009, 22:01

Those who have read Charles Dickens "Oliver Twist", Slumdog Millionaire will resonate with them too and I am sure many in U.S and Western Europe will see that way too.

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 24 Feb 2009, 22:09

VKR
That is the rub! Oliver Twist refers to 19th Century England; SDM refers to 21st Century India!

sureshvv · Post by **sureshvv** » 25 Feb 2009, 00:37

From realism aspect, Naan Kadavul for instance depicts the unseemly side of India more realistically...

I don't think so at all. Not more realistic - only more gory and sensationalist! In fact one thing that SDM got right was that the beggar mafia picks it leaders from the same group; the more enterpreneurial ones end up at the top of the heap. NK was just too hung up on the good and evil dichotomy.

suma · Post by **suma** » 25 Feb 2009, 03:49

For those of you who would like to see this movie but cant get it in the Indian stores, go to www.videomasti.net and click on Hindi Movies. Then click on Alphabet "S" and scroll down till you see Slumdog Millioniare.

The movie is good and nice to watch.

suma · Post by **suma** » 25 Feb 2009, 03:51

By the way, Congrats Rahman and all others involved with the Movie. I specially think "jamal" Dev Patel did a great job.

VK RAMAN · Post by **VK RAMAN** » 25 Feb 2009, 06:34

Quote from CNN "¢ The first movie Obama viewed in the White House theater was "Slumdog Millionaire." He loved it, and parts of the movie reminded him of his childhood days in Jakarta, Indonesia.

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 25 Feb 2009, 18:46

Yes indeed! Obama is the Slumdog Millionaire He had the right answers all along the Presidential campaign !

ragam-talam · Post by **ragam-talam** » 27 Feb 2009, 20:13

See this amazing story about the real-life Slumdog Billionaire!
Truly inspiring.
http://www.sindhtoday.net/south-asia/67445.htm

gobilalitha · Post by **gobilalitha** » 28 Feb 2009, 08:31

Heartiest congrats to ARR. I am very curious to know how the best original music is chosen ? do the committee go thro ' all the musical scores from thosands of films throughout the world what is the basis for selecting the best . In india itself , thousands of films which contain songs with wonderful background music are made in various languages. Even ARR'S MUSIC IN SOME OF HIS OWN CREATIONS MIGHT BE BETTER . THE METHOD OF CHOOSING THE BEST IS BAFFLING. Have I once again stirred the hornet's nest?

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 28 Feb 2009, 13:57

GBL: From what I understand, the various studios send in their entries for consideration. Members of the Association of Motion Pictures then vote to determine the nominations. Other than the feature film category, others are voted by members who wok in specific categories during the nomination phase. For the selection of the winner, all members of the association get to cast their ballot.

krishnaprasad · Post by **krishnaprasad** » 02 Mar 2009, 12:47

a.r.rahman has proved his mettle again and again ..this time the nation is proud of him for his two OSCARS.Hats Off To you A.R.R