Maestro Ilayaraja News and Tidbits 2014

[irir123]

irir123,

Request sent thru PM. Thanks.

check your PM !

[rajsekar]

IRIR - Good analysis and agree 100% with your assessment. Ghibran was receently interviewed by Hindu. It was interesting to read the time he took to compose two songs.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper...cle6603472.ece

My gut feeling is that Vairamuthu has again played the Naradar role to wean Kamal away from Raaja. It appears that the Raaja-Vairamuthu rift was very deep seated. It remains to be seen how Kamal's forthcoming three films would fare in box-office collections. Having seen "Dhrishyam", I am hesitant to give the same kudos to Kamal in "Papanasam" for copying Mohanlal's role - let's wait for the movie's release. Kamal could have joined hands with Myskin as promised two years ago and produced a great film. Myskin's "Pisasu" has received great reviews. Myskin, in my opinion is one of the bright Tamil film directors.

As far as Lingaa is concerned, distributors are after Ravikumar for directing a crappy film for Rajini. The reviews are hopeless!!!!. Rajini should retire and focus on some humanitarian work to help our country. I love the person but not his commercial misadventures. His daughter too should pack her bags and move out of Kodambakkam.

http://www.thehindu.com/features/fri...cle6704271.ece

http://www.thehindu.com/features/cin...gn=WidgetPromo

[rajsekar]

Baradwaj Rangan's new book "A Journey Through Indian Cinema" was released in Chennai this week. As you all know, Rangan's film reviews and blogs are very popular and he tries to be frank and straightforward to point the flaws and weak points in any film, besides technical aspects. I will wait to buy the book when it's released abroad. I am currently digesting his earlier book "Conversations with Mani Ratnam" which was well written. Mani's take on Raaja and Rahman is very interesting. I am trying to analyze how Directors deal with different technical artists while producing a mega release. As promised a year ago, I will certainly post my comments on how Mani compares the working style of both Raaja and Rahman.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper...cle6705854.ece

[irir123]

IRIR - Good analysis and agree 100% with your assessment. Ghibran was receently interviewed by Hindu. It was interesting to read the time he took to compose two songs.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper...cle6603472.ece

My gut feeling is that Vairamuthu has again played the Naradar role to wean Kamal away from Raaja. It appears that the Raaja-Vairamuthu rift was very deep seated. It remains to be seen how Kamal's forthcoming three films would fare in box-office collections. Having seen "Dhrishyam", I am hesitant to give the same kudos to Kamal in "Papanasam" for copying Mohanlal's role - let's wait for the movie's release. Kamal could have joined hands with Myskin as promised two years ago and produced a great film. Myskin's "Pisasu" has received great reviews. Myskin, in my opinion is one of the bright Tamil film directors.

As far as Lingaa is concerned, distributors are after Ravikumar for directing a crappy film for Rajini. The reviews are hopeless!!!!. Rajini should retire and focus on some humanitarian work to help our country. I love the person but not his commercial misadventures. His daughter too should pack her bags and move out of Kodambakkam.

http://www.thehindu.com/features/fri...cle6704271.ece

http://www.thehindu.com/features/cin...gn=WidgetPromo

Vairamuthu as Naradar ?! doubt it - Kamal is not the one to fall for such gimmickry / tactics - I still think Kamal's choice is dependent on the other factors I mentioned - industry matrum fans vattarathhula "kamal yappavume IR oda vela seyyaradhukku thaan laayakku" ngra pechhu adibadakkoodadhu.

plus Kamal working with other MDs is actually good - so far as he samples from a wide range - those newcomers are also getting a better exposure with Kamal sharing his experience working with them.

[rajsekar]

"Shamitabh" brand poster was released today. The brand new posters of Amitabh Bachchan and Dhanush starrer Shamitabh have now been revealed. While we had seen earlier Amitabh Bachchan’s unusual look before and here are the new posters of the duo wearing Lennon glasses. The film’s name interestingly combines Amitabh Bachchan and Dhanush’s name. In the posters, both look chic. The film will also star Akshara Haasan who will make her debut with this film. The film has been directed by R Balki. Music by Maestro Ilayaraaja. Cinematography by PC Sreeram. Sreeram is also working with Mani Ratnam for "Okay Kanmani" after a long period.

http://www.koimoi.com/bollywood-popu...hchan-dhanush/

[rajsekar]

Director KB passed away. One of my favorite directors who was very focused on the story and screenplay. KB's movies have dealt with many of the social issues in our South Indian society. Good music direction and song selection were always a strong point in KB's movies. Mellisai Mannar MSV composed majority of KB's movies followed by Maestro. It is worth mentioning that KB's "Ninaithale Inikkum" with blockbuster songs by MSV (13 songs penned by Kannadasan) clashed head on with Rajini's "Priya" which had super-duper songs by Maestro. Both films were released around the same time in early 1979. There are several memorable songs from KB's films. KB also worked with Raaja's violinist VS Narasimhan in "Achamillai Achamillai". KB has worked with Raja for six films – Sindhu Bhairavi, Punnagai Mannan, Manadhil Uruthi Vendum, Rudraveena, Unnal Mudiyum Thambi and Puthu Puthu Arthangal. Raaja received his first National Award for Tamil Film in 1986 for KB's "Sindhu Bhairavi" which was their first collaboration. The delay in composing the background score for "Puthu Puthu Arthangal" led to their breakup. It appears that KB had already set the release date for the film and Raaja was busy with many films at that time. After this film, KB wanted a new music director for his next home production "Roja". KB insisted that Mani Ratnam would find a new music director which led him to a small music studio (Panchathan Record Inn) in Kodambakkam in early 1990 which was the Ad Jingle musician, AS Dileep Kumar's backyard. KB and Raaja later patched up and attended many functions together. May His Soul Rest in peace ....

One of my favorite classical songs by Maestro which is still refreshing and melodious to hear after 30 years. KB and his songs rule!!!!

[krish244]

L.Subramaniam about IR:

http://m.timesofindia.com/entertainm...w/45618180.cms


thanks,

Krishnan

[K]

Swappnam Teaser.

[rajsekar]

http://www.thehindu.com/features/fri...cle6724845.ece

This is the first time Ilaiyaraaja has scored music for a dance opera although there are several full-length dance-based movies to his credit.

The dance script needed music of a kind that would be expressive and guiding, and Krithika says she could not think of anyone other than maestro Ilaiyaraaja. Wary of whether he would accept such a paradigm shift in his professional work, Krithika wanted only a few songs composed by him.

Ilaiyaraaja loves to innovate with rhythm as is evident in his songs. Bharatanatyam offers a lot of scope for this. So what was new in this production? “In the song, ‘Pradeepta Rathnajowla,’ I have set a different talakattu.” He pauses, and taking a cue, Krithika explains, “It is a mix of sankirnam (nine beats) and misram (seven beats). It is a new concept for a dancer to interpret. Choreographing for this was pretty tough as we had to set new jatis. It opened up new dimensions for us.” Ilaiyaraaja adds that they sum up to 16 beats.

Thirty tracks have been recorded for ‘Swappnam’ and of them, nine will be released as a CD by santoor wizard Pt. Shivkumar Sharma on December 28. Popular Carnatic musicians such as T.V. Gopalakrishnan, Sudha Ragunathan, Rajashree Pathak, Abhishek Raghuram, Vasudha Ravi, Poornima Sathish and Bharath Sundar have lent their voice while instrumental artists including Haridwaramangalam A.K. Palanivel, Embar Kannan, Rajhesh Vaidhya and Palghat Sriram have also contributed. Karthik Raja is also part of this project.

I hope that Krithika would release the DVD for the entire project along with the dance choreography.

[Russellhaj]

Raja, in essence !!







Amen,

Thanks Kavi !