Allah Rakha Rahman wins the Oscar..

A R Rahman has won 2 oscars and the whole of India is absolutely thrilled with this accolade.

In 1992, the film ‘Roja’ released without any announcement or fanfare. There was this very small last page advertisement in ‘The Hindu’ on the day of the release which caught my eye. And then I thought there is some error in the advertisement. There was no name of Illayaraja in the credits. Some ‘A R Rahman’ was mentioned and I promptly thought it was some other technician. But then, the film had all the known names at right roles, except the music director credit.

The ‘Maniratnam – Illayaraja’ combination is an extraordinary partnership to put it mildly. The sheer quality of output is staggering. Along with Maniratnam’s visualization, their songs are benchmark for film song picturization.

Here is the list of films that Maniratnam has done leading up to Roja:

1991 – Thalapathi - Illayaraja (in his 600th film - ?)
1990 – Anjali - ,, (in his 500th film - ?)
1989 – Gitanjali / Idayathai Thirudadhey - ,,
1988 – Agni Natchatram - ,, (in his 300/400th film or so)
1987 – Nayagan - ,,
1986 – Mauna Ragam - ,,
1985 – Idhayakovil - ,,
1986 – Pagal Nilavu - ,,

Now, just thinking about any of the songs in each one of the above films will make you smile. Listening to them, any day and any time of the day, makes the moment special. The quality of compositions, the variety, the breadth, the depth given by Illayaraja, is of one from a sheer genius. And to think this partnership can be changed or challenged is unthinkable.

But then consider the list below:

1992 – Roja - AR Rahman
1993 – Thiruda Thiruda - ,,
1995 – Bombay - ,,
1997 – Iruvar - ,,
1998 – Dil Se - ,,
2000 – Alaipayuthae - ,,
2002 – Kannathil Muthamittal - ,,
2004 – Ayidha Ezhuthu / Yuva - ,,
2007 – Guru - ,,

No less exceptional. No less staggering. In my list, Raja is ahead of Rahman, only because of the volume of his work and the consistent background magic that he has created in each of the films in the list.

Now getting back to the Oscar and other awards….

In my opinion, any one who even remotely challenges the first list is worthy of any award on the block.

If it happens to be the Oscar, I’ll settle for that as well.

;-)

Congratulations, A R Rahman…!