Ideas & Views

What's with these carnatic folks!! Movie: Modhi Vilaiyadu Song: Paadhi Kaadhal Singer: Bombay Jayashri Movie: Achamundu Achamundu Song: Kannil Dhagam Singer: Sowmya Honestly , these songs are as wonderful as Vaseegara .

So far, all my friends from India here have disagreed that Slum Dog Millionaire deserved the Oscar. Everyone on this shore has expressed that A.R. Rehman has other music in score which could have been internationally recognized; plenty of other movies from Indian Directors that could be recognized for the direction, camera, cinematography. Jai Ho is definitely not THAT impressive a song, nor is the background score as brilliant as that of Satyajit Ray's Aparajito. Remember the scene where Appo's dad dies. There was only one pluck of the string that would make even a rock cry. Pandit Ravi Shankar's sitar had literally spoken the emotions beyond words in that great stunt of music and direction. I sat through the movie, not totally able to appreciate everything. Cinematography was excellent, still not to world standards. There are other genuinely more creative movies for this year that cud grab the award. Then why Slum Dog? I am oriented to think in these lines. Others might d

They are a new phenonmenon called Ranjani Gayatri. Unprecendented sisterly act in carnatic music, to rock all ages with the best of styles ( padantharam ). It is surprising how they even take the same pause for breathes. Perfectly aligned sangathis and sancharas. It wud be hard to pick a particular instance of a 'start after a pause' (eduppu) where there is a time lag in their pronunciation. There have been duet performances by siblings before - Radha Jayalakshmi, Hyderabad Brothers, Bombay Sisters, Mambalam Sisters . There is also Haripriya Shanmukapriya. But the Ranjani Gayatri duo stands out exceptionally. Reason? The combination of their voice - one husky base and the other shrilled and high toned; this puts less strain on the same person in the concert to cover all octaves for all raga elaborations. Another reason - either of the sibling is not dominating; both of them share the center stage equally. And either is not less talented or uncomfortable to explore the other re