A.R.Rahman (Fan Club)-Part2 - Page 56

Monday, November 06, 2006 10:47:51 am

The year 2006 has been a year with a variety of subjects making an impression at the box office. And, the year promises to end on a bright note as well with Mani Ratnam's 'Guru' set for a December 22 release.

Guru, the next Hindi film from Mani Ratnam's stable is all set to hit the charts as the music of the film was released on Sunday (November 5) night in Mumbai. The occasion was not only graced by Abhishek Bachchan and rest of the film's star cast, but also by the Big B has he played compere for the night.

The music for this Mani Ratnam film is composed by AR Rahman and penned by Gulzar. Its been after nearly eight years since this trio last worked together.

"I'm excited that the music is done and we're ready to play it for the people. I'm very happy with what AR Rahman and Gulzarsaab have done for us," said director Mani ratnam.

'Guru', they say, can be summed up in three words summing up the essence of 'Guru' - villager, visionary and winner. The film is inspired by the life of Dhirubhai Ambani and has Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai sharing the screen space together once again.

"It's inspired by many great Indians and many great lives; people who have set about fulfilling their dreams. Dhirubhai is one such person and I'm sure he serves as a great inspiration to Mani (Ratnam) as well," said Abhishek Bachchan.

One thing to certainly look forward to in this film is Mallika Sherawat, who will be seen playing a cameo. One can only hope that there is no culture shock for the audience to see Abhishek and Ashwarya playing three completely different roles in three films back to back. Now that the music of 'Guru' is out, the expectations for the film continue to rise.

By Gayatri Kerkar

Source : http://www.timesnow.tv

By IndiaFM News Bureau, November 6, 2006 - 02:26 IST

Mani Ratnam's Guru is the current talk of town. AR Rahman who started off with Mani Ratman's Roja has given some of his best tunes to the director's film. No doubt the music of Guru that released yesterday is also keenly awaited. By now we are aware that Bappi Lahiri will be singing a song in the film. That is a unique combination.

Apart from that another interesting fact about the music of Guru is that a Toronto based singer Mariam Taller has sung a number. The track is called Mayya Mayya . Mariam Taller has an Arabic feel to her voice. She had earlier done background vocals for Rang De Basanti .

Source : http://www.indiafm.com

July 06, 2006 15:27 IST

One of India's greatest music composers, A R Rahman has now become brand ambassador for Worldspace in India. He has begun his new role by composing a signature tune for the radio service.

The tune draws inspiration from the sounds of nature and our everyday lives. Rahman has woven in lyrical sounds of the sea, a bird's call, the chant of fishermen and more. At the launch, he said, "I wanted to bring alive the true sounds of India as a showcase of the depth of musical traditions in the country."

Worldspace is a world leader in satellite-based digital radio services, with over 40 stations providing entertainment and information.

2006 Rediff.com India Limited. All Rights Reserved.

Source : http://in.rediff.com/movies/2006/jul/06rahman.htm

Related News: Worldspace Satellite Radio signature tune by Rahman ... MSN.CO.IN

By MIO Team
Jul 17, 2006, 11:34

A R Rehman and Mani Ratnam are inseparable pairs. They have a long-standing association and have worked in many films together. So it doesn't come as a surprise when Rehman becomes the chosen one for Mani Ratnam's forthcoming film 'Guru'. Rehman is working on the scores and is looking forward to come out with something lilting; following the success of 'Rang De Basanti' that is still a rage. He composed a track recently, a 'bhang number' featuring Abhishek Bachchan. Bappi Lahiri has sung the song. Bappida sings for Rehman for the first time here and we're surely looking forward to hear this unusual combination. Rehman stressed that he wanted Bappida especially for the song, as his voice was most ideal for the number. He is almost certain that Bappida's voice will tune well with Abhishek's. But why didn't he do the number himself when he has sung many songs for varied films and has been appreciated as well. "I guess I'm just lucky that people liked my singing so much. Personally I feel I've a long way to go as a singer. Also I avoid singing for lead actors," he says. Copyright 2006 by MusicIndiaOnLine.com

Source :

First we had interesting teasers which aroused our curiosity about the service. Then came a series of ads in the print media. Now we have the news that ARR would be the brand ambassador for Worldspace satellite radio service. The highlight of Worldspace is that it is dedicated to music and carries stuff of all genres in as many languages round the clock. From Classical to gana, Beethoven to Madonna, old Hindi movie songs to jazz – it has got it all. Slowly but steadily there has been a growing popularity for the service and the bosses therein have done a good job in roping in ARR at the right time.

Talking about the arrangement he said, "I am already associated with a mobile telephone service, but this one is closer to me and lets me be myself. It also helps me in doing what I like the most – enjoy and create music. It gives me the opportunity to delve deep into all the forms of world music".

On his criterion for choosing projects he said, "There has been some criticism of late that I do not make the kind of musical scores I am noted for. But I would like to assure everyone that I am experimenting basically as an attempt for improvement. My creative journey is inward and I want the audience to savor the joy which I get by innovating. Good music matures with time. For example, Bombay Dreams was made four years ago and this year it is traveling to Broadway, other parts of North America, Middle East and Far East. I hate to be stereotyped."

Behindwoods.com 2004-06

Source : http://www.behindwoods.com/

July 06, 2006
A R Rahman was waiting backstage and appeared sweet, modest and patient as he chatted with the stagehands around him. He was to be honoured shortly and both of us had been told by the organisers to wait behind the screen as they got things ready.I looked around at the frenzied preparations. A group of wildly enthusiastic students were getting ready in the wings in various costumes to do their version of Chaiyya Chaiyya. Many were Indian looking, but some were obviously American, others we were told were Pakistani or Sri Lankan, and some were Chinese or Korean. They couldn't hide their nervous anticipation even as they got ready tugging at their salwars and stealing glances at Rahman standing serenely on one side.Rahman being honoured or eulogised is frequent, I suppose. But this was at Stanford University, one of the most prestigious and affluent universities in the world, with only a small sprinkling of Indian-American students, not with a preponderance of them. It is just too expensive, I gather.Stanford is known for excellence in engineering, sciences and design, but it was the humanities and the music department that had come together on this occasion to organise a South Asia music festival. In a stroke of genius they had made honouring A R Rahman a part of their programme. This had ensured an overflowing auditorium, oodles of excitement and an electric atmosphere in the auditorium.As the official Indian representative in these parts I had been invited and thus had the privilege and the opportunity of interacting with the maestro and being a part of the excitement. And to top it all, I had also been asked to share a few thoughts with the audience.As I thought of what to say -- and I had been told to speak very briefly about India's culture and identity -- what I was witnessing around me stirred me. I looked at Rahman once again with curiosity. Here was someone so much at ease with his Tamil identity -- he conversed in Tamil with his friend Ganesh and earlier I had heard him hum a Tamil song. I knew that he had not only been brought up and inspired within the Tamil milieu but had his early musical successes there. It was the association with Mani Ratnam that had brought him to the Hindi movies, and what an entry that was! Soon he had become an all India sensation and a toast of all of Bollywood.Not limiting himself to films, he had gone on to compose new music to old patriotic songs including Vande Mataram, capturing the national imagination in an altogether new way. From local to regional to national.

Showcasing Bombay Dreams

A few years more and Andrew Lloyd Webber was inviting him for the international debut with Bombay Dreams on the London stage. Just another year or two and here was Rahman composing music for parts of the Lord of the Rings, for Chinese and Japanese films, as well as getting other offers from Hollywood. From national to global, another leap, and all in an easy transition while not losing any of the original roots. I thought of all this as we waited and chatted a little.My thoughts then turned to another aspect of this Indian celebrity and his identity. To the aspect of his faith, sometimes a contentious subject, which he never talks about. His biography reads, however, that he was born in one faith and a family crisis made him turn to another, making a Dileep Kumar, an Alla Rakha Rahman.His music is inspired by folk tunes, melodies from Carnatic ragas, the Sufi traditions, and many other strands. How remarkable, I reflected. Musicians, Bollywood stars and cricketers are the three categories who truly blur all the conventional dividing lines in India. The Khans constantly become Kumars in the film world even as the Amars become Akbars. Here was a living example of an Indian transcending the linguistic, regional and religious divide -- I made a mental note.As I looked around, I was struck by another amazing facet of Indian identity in an age of globalisation. These were young students, often wrapped up in pop or rap as delivered through their I-pods. Here at Stanford, many of them were second or even third generation Indian Americans, but not just them, others from Pakistan, some Chinese as I said, and quite a few Americans. And yet, all of them had embraced Humma-Humma, were dressed in lungis or sarees and were as enamoured with Rahman as our college kids would be with Tom Cruise. 'India everywhere,' I thought remembering the slogan used at the Davos by our corporate crorepatis. Just as the Richard Geres and Will Smiths are lionised in Mumbai, Shah Rukh Khans and Aishwarya Rais get drooled over in America, and not only exclusively by Indian audiences.It was particularly fitting though that Rahman was illustrating this facet of Indian presence on a global platform that day. For, he is a truly global spirit who embraces influences from everywhere while making them his own. He is also the pioneer in adopting technology for his music, someone who took Tamil music to the digital age very fast. A fusion of classical and the contemporary. How fitting then for him to be recognised by Stanford, in the heart of the Silicon Valley, I thought.We had a typically American academic introduction to Rahman's music. A brilliant young American researcher Natalie Sarrazin, whose deconstruction of the elements of Bollywood was revelatory, launched into a dissection of the elements of Rahman's music and how he had changed the standard idiom of the Hindi film music.She showed with video clips, how prior to AR of the 1990s, the predominant sound in Bollywood was that of film orchestra, treated by the listener as a background sound that was easily dismissed. The listener's focus was on the flowing melody and text. Rahman changed the sound, utilising new musical idioms that can be understood by Westerners and Indians alike, she said. The changes included disregarding old musical codes, layering instruments one at a time and using an almost minimalist approach to placing each sound thoughtfully and deliberately on a blank canvas.Example: Before the advent of Rahman it took a hundred violin plaintive strings to show the impending romance; a whole huge orchestra swept up emotions. Rahman had changed that. He had made street sounds respectable, made you listen to a single beat say the rice husk being pounded, to natural sounds of daily implements and so on. Natalie illustrated all this with bits and pieces from movies old and new and it was like a university class with a difference: familiar images from Raj Kapoor to Anil Kapoor and tunes from Taal Se Taal Mila were the subject of the discourse. This too was India taking its rightful place in the discussions on pop culture, I thought. If there are PhDs on popular culture, on Woody Allen and Madonna and there are many, it was only right that there were now serious students of Raj Kapoor and Rahman.By now I had plenty of interesting things to say on Indian culture in a globalising world. The time came for me to step up on stage. What did I actually say? Nothing. As I looked at all the expectant faces, sensed the excitement, almost physically felt the impatience, I luckily had an epiphany. I realised that I was an obstacle, a distraction. Sense dawned on me that when an auditorium full of students have come to listen to A R Rahman, Wisdom lies in not trying to sound wise. My brevity bordering on virtual silence with only a sincere salutation to the magician/musician was much applauded.B S Prakash is India's Consul General in San Francisco and can be reached at cg@cgisf.org

B S Prakash

2006 Rediff.com India Limited.

Source : http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/jul/06bsp.htm

IndiaGlitz [Wednesday, July 12, 2006]

A R Rehman is the happening music director today with a busy schedule ahead of him.

Strumming out tunes for Sivaji, Rehman's forthcoming projects include sequel of Shekhar Kapur's Elizabeth and a musical London Dreams. He is also assigned to score music for Mani Ratnam's Guru, Shyam Benegal's Chamki Chameli and the periodical Akbar Jodha. However the young music-composer has managed to squeeze time to attempt something new. He is coming out with a offbeat new music album, which will be out by the end of the year For the album, Rehman is teaming up with a guitarist of international repute. Rehman says nature is his muse and this comes through in the new signature tune that he's created for Worldspace, who have also signed him on as their brand ambassador. 'I started out with jingles and I am now composing music for advertisements. Life has come a full circle,' Rehman says philosophically.

Copyright 2006 IndiaGlitz. All rights reserved.

Source :http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/tamil/article/23666.html

Riding high on the success of Fanaa, Aamir Khan, has pulled another by bagging a Mani Ratnam movie now.

The perfectionist star has signed Ratnam's Lajjo, which will be produced by Bobby Bedi and is expected to go on the floors by December end, after the release of his film Guru on December 22.

Though the pruducer is extremly tight-lipped about the film's details, we hear that it is a musical love story based in Rajasthan. The shooting for the film will start in December and A R Rahman is giving the music.

Will there be a clash of egos between the star filmmaker and the thinking actor? Or will it be smooth sailing on the sets? Come December, we'll know more.

Source :http://www.santabanta.com

Related News:

Aamir signs Mani Ratnam film- bollyvista.com Mani & Aamir at last! - Timesofindia.indiatimes.com
• Aamir signs film with Abhishek and Kareena - radiosargam.com

Tamil titles are suddenly topping the charts among the producers to-do list, thanks to the Tamil Nadu Government's announcement. You may well remember the announcement made by the recently induced DMK Government that the movies with Tamil titles would be relieved of the entertainment tax.

No wonder, the producers are brimming with newly found Tamil patriotism, with no ulterior motives of course other than saving some penny, and naming their flicks in Tamil.

Surya's 'Jillunnu oru Kadhal' is changed to 'Sillunnu Oru Kadhal', not wanting to take any unnecessary risks of bearing the entertainment tax for the sake of a few alphabets ('Ji' to 'Si').

Though we reported that 'Something Something' will witness a name change, looks like the producers have to forego some bucks in the name of tax since they found it too late for a name change. The movie is released today and the promos and songs have already caught the public attention.

Director Simbu Devan of the recent comedy 'Imsai Arasan' has appealed to the government for a tax rebate stating that the movie is a complete family entertainer and over and above the movie is set in a historical backdrop after a long time in Tamil cinema.

Source : http://kollywoodtoday.com/cinenews/