good list though missing Taal there. also Rangeela.
--- In [email protected], Vithur <vith...@...> wrote: > > The top 10 greatest AR Rahman film soundtracks Sidin > Vadukut<http://blogs.livemint.com/members/Sidin-Vadukut.aspx> > - Wednesday, February 25, 2009 10:34 AM > > Don't take our word for it. > > It's what you, the readers of this blog, told us after enthusiastically > participating in the poll mentioned in the last > post<http://blogs.livemint.com/blogs/lounge/archive/2009/02/23/what- is-ar-rahman-s-greatest-ever-film-soundtrack.aspx>. > Many of you left comments and dozens of you polled. At the final count, we > had exactly 200 votes when we decided to analyze results at around 10:30 AM > this morning. We had asked you to choose from five films of our choosing > (Rang De Basanti, Roja, Pudhiya Mugam, Delhi 6 and Lagaan) plus Slumdog > Millionaire and let you add films of your own choosing. And you committed > music fans added plenty: we had atleast one vote for a total of 25 films. > (Opinions made in the comments section have not been taken into account. Not > because we don't like your comments, we crave comments, but because we could > be double counting people who commented *and *polled.) > > Here in reverse order of votes won are the top 10 most popular ARR film > soundtracks according to PlayThings readers: > > *Number 10: Thiruda Thiruda* > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > A ARR-Mani Ratnam project from 1993 that did not do too well at the box > office but won plenty of fans for its music. Every track was a hit including > Veerapandi Kottayile, Konjam Nilavu and Rasathi. Little known fact about > Thiruda Thiruda: the writing credits for this movie goes to a then little > known writer and film maker Ram Gopal Varma. He went on to later make Ram > Gopal Varma ki Aag and make me want to bludgeon myself to death with a > remote control. > > *Number 9: Iruvar* > > > Again a ARR-MR project, Iruvar was a controversial lightly veiled biopic of > Tamil politician, film star and god-on-earth MG Ramachandran. No one will > forget the Hello Mister song in the movie not just for the music itself but > for the unveiling of a young, sexy Aishwarya Rai in her debut film. Cue > goosebumps. And then some. (Also Mohanlal! Yay!) > > *Number 8: Alaipayuthe* > > > Yes, this ARR-MR collaboration business is beginning to bore no? But whatay > soundtrack this is. And the rare movie that matches Rahman's music with > stunning visuals. One of my fave tracks from the album, Endendrum Punnagai, > was originally not part of the album. (And if I remember right, was missing > from the first batch of CDs and tapes.) But it was very popular and they > brought it back into the official OST. > > *Number 7: Pudhiya Mugam* > > > Collective high five everyone. I won't repeat everything I said before, but > if you haven't had a chance to listen to music you really must. And try to > ignore the damp squib Vishwavidaata remix. > > *Number 6: Delhi-6* > > > > For a while I was worried about Delhi-6. After the first 100 votes or so, > there wasn't even one vote for this recent masterpiece. Thankfully it picked > up steam later. A wonderfully varied and nuanced track if you ask me. That > and Dev D will take time to be replaced in our iPods. > > *Number 5: Bombay* > > > > No surprises here. A critical and popular success in every language. > Wikipedia adds these bits of trivia: > > *The track "Bombay Theme" from the soundtrack is an instrumental orchestral > piece composed, arranged and conducted by A. R. Rahman. It was recently > featured in the soundtrack and score of the Nicolas Cage film Lord of War, > released in 2005. It has appeared on several compillation CDs since the > film's release including on Volume 5 of the chill-out compilation Café del > Mar, released in 1998. It also appeared on a French TV commercial for Volvic > starring Zinedine Zidane in 2000. The soundtrack also found success in its > dubbed versions. * > > *Number 4: Lagaan* > > > > What did you say? A three hour musical about a cricket match? HELL YEAH! The > L.A. Times spokes for us > all<http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/reviews/cl- movie000033006may10,0,6839824.story>when > they said: > > *Ashutosh Gowariker's glorious "Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India" is to the > Bollywood musical epic what Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was > to the period martial arts action adventure: an affectionate homage to a > popular genre that raises it to the level of an art film with fully drawn > characters, a serious underlying theme and a sophisticated style and point > of view. > > Most crucially, its songs and dances are not mere interludes inserted in the > action, bringing it to a halt--a Bollywood trademark--but are fully > integrated into the plot and marked by expressive, dynamic singing and > dancing that infuse a historical drama with energy and immediacy.* > > *Number 3: Rang De Basanti* > > > Did you know that Nelly Furtado was, at one point, lined up to perform on > the album<http://www.radiosargam.com/films/archives/1586/nelly- furtado-was-to-feature-in-rang-de-basanti.html>? > And while the movie didn't repeat the Oscar nomination success of RDB, it > did get a couple of tracks on to the long > list<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/City_Supplements/Ahmedabad_Tim es/I_was_in_tears_when_Lataji_was_singing_the_song/articleshow/824712. cms>. > Super super album. > > *Number 2: Dil Se...* > > > > Notice how accurately we put three dots at the end of the title. This one > was not on our list and was added on by enthusiasts. Weonderfully shot, > beautifully supported music but a slightly underwhelming film. The opening > song, that one on the train with Malaika Arora and SRK, ranked ninth on a > BBC World Top Ten<http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/us/features/topten/profiles/inde x.shtml> > . > > Which nicely brings us to the most highly rated AR Rahman motion picture > soundtrack of all time... (drum roll... okay now a little flute... > trumpets...) > > *Number 1: Roja* > > > ARR's first ever movie soundtrack remains his most popular. Roja was easily > the most favoured in our poll, picking up almost half of all votes polled. > Which is remarkable for a movie album now going on 17 years. (My, haven't we > all grown old.) Richard Corliss of Time magazine puts it > nicely<http://www.time.com/time/2005/100movies/0,23220,soundtracks,00. html>in > his listing of the Top 100 soundtracks of all time: > > *Through this grim political parable, Rahman laced some spectacular melodies > that not only serve the drama, they create their own[EM]as in the duet > ballads "Yeh Haseen Vadiyan" and "Roja Jaaneman," which first are grounded > in recitative, then suddenly ascend into celestial melody. This astonishing > debut work parades Rahman's gift for alchemizing outside influences until > they are totally Tamil, totally Rahman. He plays with reggae and jungle > rhythms, fiddles with Broadway-style orchestrations, runs cool variations on > Morricone's scores for Italian westerns.* > > Many thanks for everyone who read the post, commented and voted. Do tell us > what you think of the results. And a colleague also asks me to hark out to > all the Illayaraja fans out there. So what do you guys have to say about all > this attention going out to your arch-nemesis? Vent fury I say! > > P.s. The poll remains open indefinitely. Who knows? Maybe time will change > those ratings. > > - > http://blogs.livemint.com/blogs/lounge/archive/2009/02/25/the-top- 10-greatest-ar-rahman-film-soundtracks.aspx- > regards, > Vithur >
