Selvaraghavan teams up with Rehman?

Director Selvaraghavan says there is nothing wrong in his relationship with music director Yuvan Shankar Raja. On the other hand, Yuvan says that they have 'developed' some misunderstandings and that they are no more together. Yuvan has already opted out of 'Aayirathil Oruvan', which has been in the making by Selvaraghavan for more than the past couple of years.

Yuvan also said recently that reconciliation between appeared a far-away reality. Meanwhile, it is reliably learnt that Selvaraghavan has decided to join hands with A.R. Rehman to compose music in his films from now onwards. Selvaraghavan has been booked by U TV to direct their debut film, for which Rehman has also been signed reportedly for a hitherto unheard of fee.

In their happy days, Yuvan and Selvaa used to go to Bangkok to compose the songs for their films. With A.R. Rehman, Selva has to learn other ways of getting the tunes. He has reportedly narrated the story to the music wizard and has to get back to him only when he is informed by Rehman after the songs are composed and kept ready. 

Courtesy: chennaionline.com

"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

Film music sales rising

Until a few days ago, the Tamil film audio market was dull and all fingers pointed to piracy as the reason for dipping sales. Most audio companies started cribbing but their fortune has taken a new turn.

The audio shops are back to making brisk business and audio CDs are sold like hot cakes now.

Due thanks should be given to corporate who entered the field and also the catchy albums which were released in the past few days.

Rajinikanth's 'Kuselan' set to tunes by G V Prakash, Harris Jayaraj's 'Dhaam Dhoom' and 'Sathyam', A R Rahman's 'Sakkarakatti' and Yuvan Shankar Raja's brisk tunes in 'Saroja' are sold like hot cakes.

The songs in these five albums are already topping the charts. Music-lovers are keen to buy them as they feel the songs are worth listening to.

The audio shop owners say there are very good turnouts in their shops. Hopefully the trend would continue.

Courtesy: indiaglitz.com

Rahman releases Yuvan's 'Saroja' music

In a rare gesture, ace music composer A R Rahman turned up at the audio launch of 'Saroja', which has musical score by Yuvan Shankar Raja, and heaped laurels on his contemporary.

The much awaited audio of 'Saroja' was released in a glittering function in Chennai in which the whole gamut of Tamil Cinema took part.


A grand stage resembling an awards nite was put up. The cast and crew of 'Saroja' and top honchos of Tamil film industry turned up for the mega event.

The whole of Chennai Trade Centre in Nandambakkam wore a festive look as festoons and banners of ‘Saroja’ were put up all through the locality.

The show began with tremendous cheers from the audience. An exclusive soundtrack from Yuvan Shankar Raja in English was screened to rapturous applause. It was followed by a couple of songs which were also well appreciated by the huge gathering.

The 'Making of Saroja' and the 'Behind The Scenes', were aired on huge screens erected at the venue and it was applauded all the way.

The clock struck 8.30 pm and it was the turn of Rahman, Yuvan Shankar, veteran director Bharathirajaa, directors Ameer, Dharani, actors Jayaram, Sundar C, Vishal, Jayam Ravi, Prasanna, actresses Sneha, Trisha, Kushboo, Sona, Nikitha, veteran singer S P Balasubramaniam among others to throng the stage. The audio was released amidst thunderous cheers from the audience.

Speaking on the occasion, Rahman said, ' I am a great fan of Yuvan Shankar Raja. I know him for the past two decades from the time I worked with Ilayaraja. Coming from the family of legends, he has established a place for himself with his unique style'.

Bharathirajaa, on his part, expressed his awe at seeing the trailer. ‘Saroja’ is on par with any Hollywood project. 'Director Venkat Prabhu has made an attempt to take our country to greater heights. The youngsters deserve a pat'.

Jayaram, Sundar C, Ameer, Dharani among others spoke on the occasion.

Venkat Prabhu spoke in detail about the hard work the crew had put in and the efforts taken to recreate the magic of 'Chennai 600028' in 'Saroja'. Producer T Siva of Amma creations also spoke on the occasion.

In conclusion, the 'Saroja' audio launch function was unique and refreshing and would surely go down as a memorable occasion in the history of Indian cinema.

Courtesy: indiaglitz.com

A.R. Rahman on Yuvan Shankar Raja's music

All of Kollywood was taken by surprise when A.R. Rahman made himself available to release an audio composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja. The event was the audio release function of Saroja that was held in the Chennai Trade Centre. The entire area in which the venue was located wore a festive look. Sharing the dais with Rahman and Yuvan Shankar

Raja were directors Bharathiraja, Ameer and Dharani; actors Jayaram, Sundar C, Vishal, Jayam Ravi, Prasanna; actresses Trisha, Kushboo, Sneha, Sona, Nikitha, veteran singer S P Balasubramaniam. The audience was taken aback when Rahman, during his speech, disclosed that he was a great fan of Yuvan Shankar Raja. It may be noted that Rahman, before venturing out on his own, worked with Illayaraja. Saroja was directed by Venkat Prabhu and produced by T Siva of Amma Creations.

Courtesy: behindwoods.com

Clash of the Titans

The audio release for the movies 'Sakkarakatti', 'Sathyam' and 'Saroja' are expected to happen at about the same time and music lovers are in for a treat with accomplished composers A. R. Rahman, Harris Jayaraj and Yuvan Shankar Raja fighting for 'hearing rights' amongst film music lovers very shortly.

All three movies are expected to do very well. 'Sakarakatti' has Baghyaraj's son Santhanu in the lead and numerous Computer Generated Imagery based sequences have been made for the song sequences.

The songs are expected to have the grandeur element and the right person has been roped in for the effect – A. R. Rahman.

'Sathyam' has Vishal and Nayantara starring in it and the story is about a cop and a daring television journalist.

It also features a number of children in it. Harris Jeyaraj has weaved his magic for this film that is expected to be a thriller.

'Saroja' has the same 'Chennai 600028' team and loads of fun and frolic is bound to be part of the plot. Kajal Agarwal joins the team as the heroine.

Yuvan Shankar Raja would ideally like to assert his presence with this film big time, especially with competition coming in the form of many young music directors like G. V. Prakash.

Courtesy: behindwoods.com