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A couple of days before Pongal which
also incidentally is the first year
that we will be celebrating (by government
order) Tamil New Year on the first
of Thai, A.R. Rahman gave us the perfect
reason to celebrate. The Mozart of
Madras is no longer the Mozart to
Madras alone. We knew that it would
come, but were not sure when it would
happen. International recognition
in the form of a reputed award is
perhaps the only thing that has eluded
this prodigiously talented musician
from our part of the world. He has
done almost everything that a composer
might want to, Indian movies in many
languages, Broadway musicals, Hollywood
epics, live concerts and much more,
only official recognition remained.
It has come and it is just one step
below the biggest awards of all, the
Oscars.
From a field that consisted of internationally
reputed composers, two of who were
former winners of many honors and
one surprise entrant, the legendary
actor, director and now also a composer
Clint Eastwood, Rahman was picked.
The honor is indeed great and it is
also proof that music in true Indian
style can actually be accepted and
liked by an international jury. Slumdog
Millionaire (if you have heard it)
has music of an Indian sensibility,
a style of music that we all are familiar
with and can instantly fall in love
with. In fact, a piece from Slumdog
Millionaire has been compared to a
more than decade old Hindi superhit.
The ‘Jay Ho’ refrain is
instantly inspirational in an Indian
way and yet, it has managed to impress
the Golden Globe jury and get the
better of some world class competition.
Rahman’s journey has been special
and we know all about it, no point
going over it all over again. It is
what lies ahead that interests. No
one has ever doubted his abilities
on the international stage having
seen and heard his amazing body of
work and we are also sure that this
award will be a tonic for the man
to enthrall us even more. Winning
the Golden Globe was special, but
what is more special is that he is
the first Indian to do so. Few others
would have been so worthy a representative
of Indian art and music because few
others have held the whole of the
country in a thrall with their creations
like Rahman has. Rahman maybe the
first music director to break through
the Kollywood-Bollywood barrier and
become the unanimous favorite of India.
In films and music, Indians’
favorites are dictated by regional
and linguistic preferences. Only Rahman
has managed to transcend all such
preferences and that speaks a lot
about his abilities and it is the
same ability that has helped him enthrall
an international audience while remaining
true to the traditions of Indian music.
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Rahman does not get easily excited,
not even when he wins the Golden Globe.
His acceptance speech was a studied
list of thank yous to many people
who mattered a lot, but the biggest
of all was reserved to the billion
people of India.
To Rahman we say, ‘Thank you,
you have done all of us proud. This
was the perfect Pongal gift. And,
about the Oscars, well, we hope you
do and we are sure about it too.
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