And picking up the various threads.... Rawat, I really don't care to go back to SdM to tell you why I did not like the album. I know that would disappoint you that I am just writing it off. But I did invest a lot of time listening to the album and it somehow never stuck with me. I felt it was disappointing because it seemed like Rahman on an off day. I'm stepping on another landmine here, but it seemed more like the work of Rahman who made Tenali rather than the one who made Delhi 6. It happens to fans, especially to me. I worship Rahman, but I do not like all his work. SdM is, for me, along with Tenali, his weakest album. It is, bad! Vimaljk and especially Indmov Buff, yes, I think it was a little high handed to make such a blanket statement. But consider this... all Mani's masterpieces are in Tamil. Watch Aayutha Ezhuthu and Yuva back to back and see which has the Mani Ratnam touch.... it's AE. Yuva is a disappointment compared with AE. And think about it, AE is itself considered to be Mani's weaker efforts (though it is one of my favorites). Then you have Guru, which, as I already said, felt weak for me. Before this, you had Dil Se.., which underwhelmed me the first time I saw it, but as I thought more and more about it, it really stuck with me. But still, Dil Se.., after Iruvar? I just have a theory that Mani does not have that ingrained knowledge and instinct of Hindi that he has of Tamil. That ingrained knowledge and instinct is the "Mani Ratnam" touch for me. Remember Pyramid Natarajan in Alai Paayuthey? Remember Bharathiraja in AE? There aren't such characters in his Hindi movies. So, when Mani ends up making another Hindi movie, for me, I have low expectations, since I feel the Mani Ratnam touch is missing. To overcome that, he needs a powerful script with an entertaining story. That is what I want in Raavan. Will it be better in Tamil? I don't know, but I do think it would be better. (On a side note, Is it still called "Asokavanam", or is it now "Raavan" even in Tamil? Last I remember was that there was some problem with calling it "Asokavanam".)
As for the Mani-ARR combo, I am not saying that other directors are better with ARR. All I'm saying is that we got Jodha Akbar and Delhi 6 with other directors but the last taste of the Mani-ARR combo was Guru, which was, I feel, not as good as the other 2 albums I mentioned. There was a lot of expectation, hype and hoopla that ARR was working with Gautham Menon, and that album turned out to be amazing. I want that magic back with ARR and Mani. I want a great movie with a great background score and a classic soundtrack. And finally, I love Aayutha Ezhuthu. I love the soundtrack and the movie. I revisit the movie at least once in 6 months. For me, that was a hat-rick of great Mani movies, following AP and KM. With three movies that I loved so much, it's no wonder that Guru pissed me off so much that I am wary of the next Mani Ratnam movie!! Another minor grouse I have is, after Mani worked with Suriya in AE (and I think he also dubbed for Abhishiek for the Tamil version), how can he cast anyone else?? For me, even an actor like Vikram, who is of such high caliber, is just miles behind the phenomenon that is Suriya! Feel free to disagree! Currently listening to: "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" Soundtrack. --- On Thu, 4/22/10, kishore parayath <[email protected]> wrote: From: kishore parayath <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [arr] Re: Hope no songs like "baazi lagaa" and "Ek lo Ek muft" will be in Raavan To: [email protected] Date: Thursday, April 22, 2010, 9:25 PM THIRUDA THIRUDA and IRUVAR are the STRONGEST ones.. With ROJA and DILSE being special ones! YUVA was not at all BAD.....
