If things can go wrong, it will - Murphy’s Law
Real excellence and humility are not incompatible one with the other, on the contrary they are twin sisters.-Jean Baptiste Lacordaire
INTRODUCTION
Continuing from where I left off in my previous review, I thought it would be a very easy task for me to come up with the ten worst of ARR. The odd thing is that I was having a tough time choosing the top 10 of the worst from the best music director in the country, AR Rahman. What does it tell me? Well, if he is bad, he is excessively bad. It tells you something, to be at the top of something. Be it bad or good. This thing happens only when you have a very bad day with low energy level, a lot of stress and pressure. Like no body is perfect in the world, like no reviewer is perfect in this site,
ARR had his share of bad days. Boy oh Boy! he came up with gems of cacophony as well. What is quite surprising to see is that the percentage of bad music from his composition is comparatively higher, as he composes very little, compared to the likes of Ilayaraja or RD Burman. While I do not have numbers to substantiate the fact, you have to accept the fact that Panchamda or Maestro were focusing more on the acceptable piece of music than experimentation. ARR failed miserably in few of his experimental works. In my opinion, it was the experimentation that made him a super star and it was the sole reason for majority of his cacophonies. He never tries to use the same loops he composes, repeatedly, unlike other composers. He uses them very rarely and he converts his Hindi to Tamil and vice versa for his compositions.
His experimentations yield him very bad results, especially when he tries to mix and match singers. While the composition and instruments clearly standout in his music, it is the singers who let him down most of the time and he himself is to be blamed. He also mixes trendy music with conventional music and it creates furore in the hearts of genuine music lovers.
BEST OF THE WORST
Following is a list of songs that I felt were the best of his worst for many reasons. I absolutely agree that there are other gems of cacophony as well. These songs standout in my opinion, for many reasons. In no particular order they are
Φ Mercury Pookal - Ratchagan
This movie was one of the crappiest I have ever seen. ARR experimented a quicker delivery mechanism for the songs and tried husky, English-tongued Tamil Singer with a US-Indian accent for the song with a traditional voice as well. Anupama and Swarnalatha did an equivalent job in killing the song, just like his instruments did. While the song had its moments of brilliance, it failed to register in my mind for various reasons
Φ Neekattum Selai - Puthiya Mannargal
This is from one of the earliest films of ARR. This movie was a week/3 day show and ARR tried folk music for the first time in a trendy manner. Both the singers were at their cacophonic best and you wonder sometimes if it was a dialogue delivery, at times. Easily the worst
Φ Coimbatore Maanu - Pavithra
This is from the movie that won Unni Krishnan a national award for singing(For Uyirum Neeye and Ennavale in Kaadhalan).Late. Shahul Hameed(a regular in his stable) and Chitra were not used effectively and the song itself makes you wonder if it was an ARR song. This too was very early in his career and the crappiness is mainly due to the delivery deadlines set forth for him. This clearly shows. Easily forgotten song
Φ Love Check - Paarthale Paravasam
The worst backlash K.Balachander faced in his 100th film was not how bad the film was or how bad the film performed in the box office. It was how bad the music was. ARR gave the worst possible gift to KB and this song takes the cream of being the worst. I guess ARR was going through an extraordinary bad patch while he composed songs for this film
Φ Dippu Dippu - Baba
Now comes the best part. Shankar Mahadevan killing Dippu Dippu for Superstar Rajni Kanth. This movie was a clear failure and this song is a cacophonic worst. The remote composition and recording(ARR was in London and the recording was done in Madras, he composed the music and sent it to the studio). You can dip your sins in holy water of your own preference after listening to this one.
Φ Maya Maya - Baba
This song is another masterpiece crap from the same movie. The movie had many things to offer, including Kich-Kich. When you listen to this song, you will see how badly ARR chooses his singers sometimes. Sujatha and Karthik were very bad. When you hear
Maya Maya. Maya Ellam Maya
Chaya Chaya. Chaya Ellam Chaaya
You will feel that you were better off with a chaya(Chai in Tamil/Mallu dialects). A Tea would have made you very refreshing indeed
Φ Osaka Muraiya - 1 2 Ka 4
Easily the crappiest one in Hindi by ARR. Though it was peppy, this song was one of the worst by ARR in my mind. Raageshwari and Sonu Nigam failed to register and the song was very disorderly and was at odd ends, in my opinion
Φ Main Samajh Gayee - Taal
Main Nahin Samjhee. What was this song all about? It was supposed to be a folk song from the Himachal and it was only high-pitched sukhwindra singh with no pathos to support his high-pitched voice. Wrong choice and a pretty bad piece of music by ARR. Many of the other songs were excellent in this album
Φ Hai Jaana Hai Jaana - Pukar
This song is remembered for being the last item number did by Madhuri(albeit shortly). This song has a wrong singer(in my opinion) with a very bad modulation rendered with a so-so composition. Easily one of the worst by ARR and compares with many other bad ones in other Hindi films as well.
Φ Vidai Kodu Vidai Kodu Thaaye – Kannathil Muththamittal
I wonder what made ARR ask MS Vishwanathan sing this song? It he wanted an old voice; he could have gone to TM Soundararajan who is the master in high-pitched rendering. MSV totally killed this song in the movie. This song comes at a critical moment in the film and ARR/MSV totally spoiled the song. Vairumuthu’s lyrics went down in a drain.
CONCLUSION
No body is perfect. ARR is a human. Every one of us has bad days. ARR too had his share of bad days. Hence, you have bad piece of music composed by ARR. ARR has given a great amount of exceptional music and it has cherished many. The number of awards he has won is a simple example of his excellence. He is a genius in my opinion and he is the supreme one. He has made the day for many of us, by coming to our living rooms through his exceptional piece of music. We need to ignore the bad ones coming from this great maestro. We know that not everyone can be 100% all the time with extraordinary consistency and accuracy. If one does that, it would purely be mechanical and we become a precision instrument.
As a genius, ARR’s music has graced us all and we just need to skim through and skip the bad compositions. One thing to acknowledge is that his bad ones too has flashes of intelligence embedded in it.
Yeh Dil Maange More.(Not the bad ones: -)
I hope you liked the review. DO comment as time permits by letting me know of your choices.
KALIL
