'The Musical Storm'
Tuesday, 25 August 2009
Onto Mian
'THE Musical Storm' is a 250-page exhaustive book on the celebrated Indian maestro AR Rahman. In this regard, one can comfortably state that the author Kamini Mathai had to work hard for writing the book, which in no can be described as an official biography of Rahman. Kamini, it is obvious, had to interact with Rahman's friends, family members, industry insiders and of course the maestro himself.
In the book, the author more or less follows a chronological order in narrating Rahman's far from smooth journey that brought him great fame. But hardship is what he saw in his childhood and early youth. Born to a father, also associated with the music industry, who found success elusive. The book takes the reader into Rahman's household that saw a kid losing his childhood having worry about family affairs when he should have spent time playing with his friends.
Initially a reader feels a little depressed and anxiously waits for the point when the book focuses on a different AR Rahman. Kamini takes very long to reach this point, so much so that it endangers the interest level of a reader.
A lot of space is spent on describing Rahman's father and his illness. One has to wait anxiously for long to get to when Rahman would start creating jingles. Of course one waits for a lot more to follow in this 250-page book. One waits for the story to move on.
Kamini interacts with quite a few friends and acquaintances of Rahman, both known and unknown, and gets them to speak about his years of growing up.
One gets to know how a shy boy leaps with confidence. And of course his journey to worldwide fame after Slumdog Millionaire.
One is curious to know how Dileep became Rahman. But Kamini keeps on leasing her readers. She throws a few hints but does not tell the full story until the reader reaches an entire chapter, devoted to his transition, later in the book. She tells why Dileep embraced Islam to become AR Rahman, or why he has nothing to do with the Hindu religion any more. It was his embracing Islam that made him a successful professional and a better human being that he is today. It tells how religion and music became his two loves.
Kamini tells how Rahman gets his music in place. Yes, there have been dozens of stories around how he creates a tune in a jiffy, but can take as long as six months to compose a tune. Rahman makes no compromise in his principles and always disapproved vulgarity in songs. When it occurred in a few songs in the initial years of his career, he felt extremely disappointed.
Rahman came to the musical scene at a time when Illaiyaraja ruled. The arrival of the kid created a few controversies particularly because there was a time when Rahman used to work for Illaiyaraja. Since Rahman decided to change the way music was composed for Tamil cinema those days, the purists had a lot to complain against his style. Though Roja became a hit, daggers were drawn against him. The book gives a fascinating account of his career. The book shows how a non-conformist Rahman changed music India since Roja.
Among interesting anecdotes, shared in the book are how Rahman's mother insisted that the audio jacket of Roja should read Rahman instead of Dileep. This was the time when Rahman was known as Dileep.
Not many know that Rahman's charity goes unannounced or that he got as low as Rs. 25000 to get the entire soundtrack of Roja in place. The Musical Storm provides good reading.
The writer, who lives in New York, USA, thanks various online
contributors from whom he borrowed for the write-up
'THE Musical Storm' is a 250-page exhaustive book on the celebrated Indian maestro AR Rahman. In this regard, one can comfortably state that the author Kamini Mathai had to work hard for writing the book, which in no can be described as an official biography of Rahman. Kamini, it is obvious, had to interact with Rahman's friends, family members, industry insiders and of course the maestro himself.
In the book, the author more or less follows a chronological order in narrating Rahman's far from smooth journey that brought him great fame. But hardship is what he saw in his childhood and early youth. Born to a father, also associated with the music industry, who found success elusive. The book takes the reader into Rahman's household that saw a kid losing his childhood having worry about family affairs when he should have spent time playing with his friends.
Initially a reader feels a little depressed and anxiously waits for the point when the book focuses on a different AR Rahman. Kamini takes very long to reach this point, so much so that it endangers the interest level of a reader.
A lot of space is spent on describing Rahman's father and his illness. One has to wait anxiously for long to get to when Rahman would start creating jingles. Of course one waits for a lot more to follow in this 250-page book. One waits for the story to move on.
Kamini interacts with quite a few friends and acquaintances of Rahman, both known and unknown, and gets them to speak about his years of growing up.
One gets to know how a shy boy leaps with confidence. And of course his journey to worldwide fame after Slumdog Millionaire.
One is curious to know how Dileep became Rahman. But Kamini keeps on leasing her readers. She throws a few hints but does not tell the full story until the reader reaches an entire chapter, devoted to his transition, later in the book. She tells why Dileep embraced Islam to become AR Rahman, or why he has nothing to do with the Hindu religion any more. It was his embracing Islam that made him a successful professional and a better human being that he is today. It tells how religion and music became his two loves.
Kamini tells how Rahman gets his music in place. Yes, there have been dozens of stories around how he creates a tune in a jiffy, but can take as long as six months to compose a tune. Rahman makes no compromise in his principles and always disapproved vulgarity in songs. When it occurred in a few songs in the initial years of his career, he felt extremely disappointed.
Rahman came to the musical scene at a time when Illaiyaraja ruled. The arrival of the kid created a few controversies particularly because there was a time when Rahman used to work for Illaiyaraja. Since Rahman decided to change the way music was composed for Tamil cinema those days, the purists had a lot to complain against his style. Though Roja became a hit, daggers were drawn against him. The book gives a fascinating account of his career. The book shows how a non-conformist Rahman changed music India since Roja.
Among interesting anecdotes, shared in the book are how Rahman's mother insisted that the audio jacket of Roja should read Rahman instead of Dileep. This was the time when Rahman was known as Dileep.
Not many know that Rahman's charity goes unannounced or that he got as low as Rs. 25000 to get the entire soundtrack of Roja in place. The Musical Storm provides good reading.
The writer, who lives in New York, USA, thanks various online
contributors from whom he borrowed for the write-up