The Social Capitalist

I did watch Guru, the movie (2007) and I did love it too! Here is a 10-point summary of my reaction:

1. Mani Ratnam yet again proves his prowess of mixing a couple of romantic interludes to the main thread of the movie.
2. Stellar performances by Abhishek (end-to-end protagonist), Vidya (a short role, mostly immobile) and the evergreen Mithunda (a role befitting his age). In the concluding moments, AB Junior seems to emulate his dad to the 'T'. This cannot be taken as a blemish on his acting talent, he being a son who grew up watching the most popular actor of his time, as did most other youngsters.
3. Good scriptwork and screenplay. The portrayal of the relationships b/w Abhi-Ash, Abhi-Vidya, Madhavan-Vidya, Abhi-Mithun, Madhavan-Abhi, Ash-Mithun were terrific. Which speaks very well about the casting capability of the director too.
4. Aishwarya can act, and convincingly too! Kudos to Mani again! Worth remembering is the fact that Ash started her career with Mani's Iruvar, which won critical acclaim for many aspects including her acting. I saw a few songs from Iruvar in youtube, and found them to be interesting.
5. Crappy cinematography (Rajiv Menon), maybe due to an attempted 'reality', by wierdly shaking the camera initially (almost like a handycam video), and stabilizing it towards the end, and also, by zooming too much and destroying the frame.
6. Can't blame the patchy editing (Sreekar Prasad) much, because depicting a person's life without losing the tempo, and also giving the deserved time for each decisive moment in the person's life, is a tough job. I got a different version of the movie from my brother back in Kerala, suggesting different edits of the movie in different regions. Mani takes care not to go overboard by crossing the usual 3 hour limit, though longer is trendier in today's Bollywood.
7. Some songs aren't picturised well, and lip-movements are not in tandem with the song. With all the extra zoom and the shakiness, the general opinion I could perceive was that the songs were badly shot. The dances are not proper, yet again attributable to the quest for 'reality'. For instance, in 'Barso Re' they wanted to show Ash as a village girl who obviously hadn't been a Bharatanatyam student!
8. 'Raat ka shauk hai', a new background score added by Rahman after watching a special preview of the movie, seems superb, but its audio not available anywhere yet. The Background music by Rahman is classy.


(video courtesies due)
9. There was a Maddy-Vidya smooch (with this song in the background) which got hyped-up beyond the limits of sensibility by the public reactions - the scene did not seem vulgar at all, but was apt for the situation. It seems Mani has tried to stay out of the controversy in India by axing the scene.
10. After watching the movie, I felt that Ambani was a social capitalist, if ever there was anything like that! (But, yeah, I don't know whether we truly understand the meaning of these two words.) Your viewpoint just after the first half may change 360 degrees by the end of the movie.

The Rahmanesque Touch!

This was something I've been waiting for. Since yesterday, with my stereo headset on, I've been listening to the music of 'Guru' over and over for hours, and haven't yet been able to turn myself off it. I glanced over the early reviews on the net, and found most of them to be negative. The others were quite impartial, just providing information. While critics maintain that ARR did not rise up to his potential, for me, Guru is essential Rahman. If you take a wholesome view of his albums, you uncover his emancipated spirit of innovation that makes him return to every deficient attempt, complete his effort and create masterpieces and trends.

Aye Hairathe Aaashiqui was the first track that struck a chord in me, and made me sit up and listen again, this time with the headset on. It’s a really slow number, and getting to hear Hariharan in an ARR song, with Gulzar’s lyrics, is joy unbound. This has a ‘totally different’ label to it, with the Rahmanesque touch of perfection. When you hear the ‘dumdara’ refrain by Rahman, you return to the Tere Bina number, which starts with the same lines, but is faster. Rahman sings this time, and yes, this is in absolute continuity, though I went in an awkward order than what the album suggested. The old-ish feel that his compositions for Rang de Basanti gave me (of course, until I saw the movie) is here too. Precision, once again! Rahman really is one musician who knows to make the most of his voice. These two songs are enough for a Rahman aficionado like me.

And, as if two were not enough, there’s a monsoon song by Shreya Ghoshal, Barso re Megha, which again has a melodious beauty and an ability to make it rain within you. Just imagine dark clouds and swaying trees, and there you are, inside the song, dancing in the rain! A flute tune in the beginning, drums, a folk-feel, Shreya taking artistic liberties with her voice – this is what makes this song all the more dissimilar from other rain songs, counting Rahman’s own. The ‘na na re’ hum characterizes the flow of this song, but it is so refined that it mixes well into the song.

Another special is Mayya…(Tu neele samandar). Though it starts weirdly, it turns out to be an Arabic number. Rahman has brought-in Maryam Tollar’s magnificient voice to this song. (Note:If you came here just because Google led you here when you typed in Maryam Toller, I have something special for you at the bottom of this post, with the date 5-Mar-08) Maryam is an Egyptian by birth, brought up in Canada and Egypt, and trained in Arabic singing. Her voice would make up for Rahman’s amateurish attempt at Arabic music in Rang de Basanti (Khalbali). This song is at a higher level musically as well that any Egyptian will agree that it’s ‘authentic’ Arabic this time over! There is definitely a Satrangi Re (Dil Se) feel to it initially, but then it changes altogether, with varied streams of music merging together. Let’s commend Rahman for his undeterred experimentation!

There are two more songs in this film which come out as normal. But, when you compare the rest of the Hindi music in the market right now, these are good enough. One by Bappi Lahiri, is sung under intoxication (Ek lo, ek muft), and Gulzar is in a unusual mood with his writing this time! This might get mass-appeal, but did not attract me at all. Another Udit Narayan song, Baazi Laga is also disappointing as it does not have anything special from Rahman.

The ending song of the album is Jaage hain, and is a great addition to the variety of slow songs by Rahman. It has a revolution/uprising tone in the background and the voice is Rahman’s own. The lines that go “Jaage hain der tak, hamein kuch der aur sone do” are thought-provoking. This definitely is international in flavor, and has the sort of music Rahman has successfully presented previously in Lagaan, which again, is exclusive territory for Rahman. Maybe, it has been made keeping in mind the intentions of Mani Ratnam to bring out an English version of the movie.

In conclusion, this does turn out to be another dazzling collection by Rahman. No, Rahman is not becoming worse with time, he’s becoming versatile and international. He’s bringing India’s folk-soul out to the world, well-crafted and polished with his miraculous touch.

Added, 20-Nov:And, like the last time, I get that feeling again: I should not be in a hurry to review Rahman. You start liking other hitherto unnoticed aspects of his work with repeat hearings, and then you want to rewrite all that you wrote!!

See these too!

Gulzar-in-Guru

Rahman becomes predictable with guru?

Clipboard Conversations: Guru

Chinmayi's Blog

No Man's Land

(added 23-Nov) Here's a bonus video for all the Ash-Mani-ARR-Shreya fans around!

(added 12-Dec) An exclusive three-part video news-item from CNN-IBN,has all the leading people, and has clips of almost all the songs. Sights and sounds of Guru is not embedded here because its advertisement - which you'll have to bear with for the first few seconds of this video - starts even as the page is loading. And, remember, it has three parts!

(added 5-Mar-08) I find that I should be indebted to Maryam because she's bringing me such a lot of traffic! Therefore as a sign of gratitude, let me lead you to her personal/troupe website that Google rarely points to. The website is well designed and has her adorable voice greet you on its homepage. Go here for Maryem Tollar!