"A.R.Rahman isn't a good judge of scripts"

I was in the midst of a discussion between two friends talking about Rahman and Yuvan, and this made me to think of one contrasting difference between these composers. When you look at A R Rahman’s career graph, you can’t help noticing that most of his flop movies (not flop songs) are with new directors that he makes music for

-recent example, Kala Prabhu’s Sakkarakatti. A sample list of other moderate to flop movies would be: Pudiya Mugam, May Madham, Enakku 20 Unakku 18, Sillunu Oru Kadhal, Udhaya, Parasuram, ATM, and Ratchagan. You will notice that 90 percent of his hit movies are with well established directors or are backed up by strong personalities, such as Aamir Khan for his nephew in Jaane Tu. This is a sharp contrast to someone like Yuvan who is more successful with new comers. And his father, Ilayaraja, has an unprecedented record of hit movies with new comers. The irony is that Rahman's judgment in scripts is not that great; he can connect with his music but I don’t think he has the ability to judge what scripts will work and what will not. If Mani Ratnam, Aamir Khan, and Shankar move on at this point to new music directors, it will at least give Rahman a new bandwidth of newcomers to experiment with. I am not disputing that Rahman has set a benchmark in the industry. However, I would prefer that Rahman try and experiment with more new comers and hone his instinct to connect with new scripts instead of circling back to those five top directors all the time.

Courtesy: behindwoods.com

'Jodha Akbar' in Tamil, Telugu

While on UTV, their next venture JODHA AKBAR, directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, will be dubbed in Tamil and Telugu languages. That’s not all, UTV has plans of releasing the two versions extensively in these two markets.

UTV’s current plans are to release the magnum opus in 1,000 + screens in the domestic market in the three languages [Hindi, Tamil, Telugu]. “Don’t be surprised if the number of screens touch 1,200,” Suniel Wadhwa, Associate Vice President - India Distribution, UTV informs me. The breakdown [as on this date] is as follows:- Hindi version 750, Telugu version 150 and Tamil version 100 screens. Incidentally, Hrithik Roshan’s previous movies, DHOOM 2 and KRRISH, were also dubbed in Telugu and Tamil languages.

The Telugu trailers of JODHA AKBAR were unleashed during Dassera week [18th October] with ATHIDHI, with 248 trailers [352 screens] across Andhra Pradesh, while the Tamil trailers were released during the Diwali week [9th November] with AZHAGIYA TAMIL MAGAN and VEL.

Courtesy: Indiafm.com

A.R.Rahman’s next

After finishing his second Tamil movie in a row – for the less informed, they are Sivaji and the recently released ATM – Rahman is now busy finishing off Ashutosh Gowaikar directed epic tale Jodhaa Akbar starring Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai in the lead. The results of Ashutosh’s previous outings with Rahman for Lagaan and Swades need no elucidation.


Produced by UTV pictures, Jodhaa Akbar’s music rights were earlier sold to BIG Music. However, quoting lack of time for the promotion of the music and blaming producers UTV for the same, BIG Music recently withdrew from their contract. Music of Jodhaa Akbar will now be promoted by UTV, who for this sole purpose is launching a music label on their own. Higher officials at UTV swear that there is no better launchpad for their music label than releasing Rahman’s music.

Rahman’s music for Jodhaa Akbar has already raised the bar among critics and music lovers alike with its trailer, which had some great music by the maestro. Sources close to Rahman say that the music is very contemporary and one of his best.

Courtesy: Behindwoods.com