AR Rehman is killing the lyrics.

[suraju06]

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Girish Karnad a contemporary writer, playwright, screenwriter, actor and director recently criticized the Mozart of Madras A R Rahman's music is beautiful but so overpowering that listeners miss the beauty of the lyrics.
--Times of India
I agree fully with Girish Karnad. Many a time I have wondered whether A.R.Rehman dominates every aspect of a song with his use of various instuments and his excellent orchestration of them. Rehman no doubt is a prodigy as far as cine music is concerned. But when you think about it you also realise that the lyric and its beauty is compromised in many songs. In tamil we have one or two songs among the many where the lyric has also stood out like in வராஹ நதிக்கரையோரம் they are very few compared to the number of songs for which ARR has composed music. I miss the wholesome experience of a ஒரு நாள் போதுமா, or a மாலைப்பொழுதின் மயக்கத்திலே or a நினைக்கத்தெரிந்த மனமே or a வசந்தத்தில் ஒர் நாள் and I can go on adding to this list. These songs had along with the sweet music in them also a beautiful lyric which made the experience every time a very pleasant one. I miss that kind of an experience in the சைய சைய சையா or உயிரே உயிரே. Similarly in Hindi too I miss the lyrical beauty of a kabhie kabhie mere dil mein or a baharon phool barsao mera mehboob aayaa hai in the latest hit songs of ARR. Am I looking for the beauty of lyrics in the wrong place? When I found Girish voicing a similar opinion I feel emboldened to express my views here.
Cheers.

 

[kk4646]

It many not have many supporters as the present generation is more interested in Rytham than lyrics.. If you take few songs by the present generation composers.. you can see the same 'beat' is repeated in almost all songs.. There are some melodies by Rehman too..

TVK

 

[DR.C.NARAYANI]

Hello Sir ,Its your opinion,fine ,but its not as you think, easy on music composition .Its actually ,nowadays ,the situation is discussed with the ,story writer,song notes composer,then music part ,so it goes with the theme,impact of story back ground etc ,etc.There are a lot &lot of examples to be said for the sweetness ,melody,slow moving songs. 1.chinna chinna asaai from Roja ,( for information its a bumper hit in japan ) 2.oru theviam thandha poova ,3. Yaavano oruvan vasekiran -Aalipayuthey .4.Naarumukeya -Iruyar .so on ..Sir ,I respect the legend mr.Girish ,for his talents ,but we cannot jump to a conclusion all in a sudden .its all to the situation of story ,impact for it .IMPOV ,music its a vast ocean,one has to get completely ie-mind ,soul, every thing into it ,to compose ,sing ,perform in concerts etc .My humble point is double Oscar award winner will sure has higher level talents ,so do not jump to any comment as it comes .

 

[suraju06]

Dear Narayani,

I understand what you say. Apart from your opinion and my opinion is there not a universal truth? I am only trying to explore that truth about ARR's numbers. Always a lyric is written for a situation. That was the case in the times of SG kittappa as it is today. And the music composer also composes music keeping in mind the situation. Otherwise the music or the lyric in the song you have quoted சின்ன சின்ன ஆசை would not have become such a hit. A village girl singing and dancing with gay abandon was the situation. That carefree happiness has been brought into the song beautifully by the lyricist Vairamuthu and the music director ARR. When the singer sings மல்லிகைப் பூவாய் மாறிவிட ஆசை it is the lyricist who scores first. A language like Tamil in which it is possible with minimum number of words to project rich imageries in the mind of a listener, I think AR Rehman is not fully exploiting that potential. In Tamil you can write in a lyric கள்ளிக்கேது முள்ளில் வேலி போடி தங்கச்சி, காட்டுக்கேது தோட்டக்காரன் இது தான் என் கட்சி and leave the listener spell bound. Are we getting this kind of a pleasures in ARR's numbers these days is the question I am raising. Or take the old song ராதா காதல் வராதா, நவநீதன் கீதம் போதை தராதா, ராஸலீலை தொடராதா. There comes a line "சுகமென்ன சொல்லடி ராதா". The stress and the way intonation has been used there to the word "சுகமென்ன" is something which you can not forget. All I am saying is that I miss all that in the new numbers of ARR. I am not very old to allow nostalgia to influence my judgment. While I enjoy ARR's songs I only wish that he gives a little more attention to lyrics. Otherwise in course of time his songs would become products from an assembly line. The products will be perfectly engineered but lacking the soul. A student studying shakespeare would wonder where to keep all that music when he reads"If music be the food of love,play, give me excess of it".

Cheers.

 

[sangom]

Dear Shri Raju,

I have no specific complaint against ARR but, as a general rule, cinema or film music has changed from melodic sweetness and beauty to a kind of cacophonic assemblage; the contents or lyrics have also become more and more green (பச்சை பச்சையாய்). I cannot say about the lyrical aspects of the present day Hindi movies (I don't listen to them very carefully nor am I able to distinguish the words due to the instrumental overeach) but the scenes definitely are greener !

I tend to believe that this is the effect of passage of time and what the present generation wants — more and more of sensual inputs, perhaps. The change or, if you so feel, decline in quality affects all music directors and possibly all language films, imo.

Having said that I feel Girish Karnad's recent criticisms have to be taken with a bit of caution. He says Rabindranath Tagore, (also V.S. Naipaul, etc.) was only a mediocre poet and did not write anything marvellous though he got the Nobel Prize! May be some foible of old age !

 

[manoharkumar]

Dear Suraju Sir,

When i read the newspaper item i felt GK wants more lime light and so is crating controversies wherever he is called to speak now a days. So here also he spoke unwanted away from the topic just for creating a controversy. and i left it like that.
In every field you do have golden periods, and in every ones life also such period will come. Apart from Longing for that period or days nothing else can be done? But to say that current age maestro is nothing compared to old days is not required. ARR infused life into the music world and changed the trend with his innumerable classic compositions. Like Raja ARR is also Gem to the Tamil film nay for the entire Indian Film world. So many examples could be given for superb lyrics blended in to great compositions by ARR. Let us not belittle the genius but appreciate that he took the tamil music to another great summit.
BTW i am ardent fan to all the songs which can provide mental peace and happiness in me.

Cheers.

 

[DR.C.NARAYANI]

Hello Raju Sir,In olden days,might be early 30 s,40 s years ,the cinema field there were on the spot lyricist writteen songs ,on spot musical notes been made.those days its only people with good ,sound knowledge of carnatic music can enter cinema ,drama field,with high pitch voice so with out mike their voice being heard,enjoyed.but later ,people with good voice,texture ,breath control, & so many qualities are expected and also they had many legends with these gifited ones (even without carnatic back ground ,all know the well known person of this nature ,who still ever green in music field of cinemas.)so according to the requirements of story ,director s choice,lyricist touch ,etc ,etc.even in early 80 s Engayaum appodhum was ,still super fast moving song ,many examples to say so .Sir to your knowledge ,even I have stated before thread,Iam related ,-my maternal Grand fathers uncle is the late S.G.Kittapa ,My LATE father sri .S.S. CHANDRA MOHAN ,who was in the cinema field -cinematographer -all south indian languages .,who use to tell -do not under estimate any person work ,labour ,and my field is very tough in all means to perform & stand .My father s maternal Grand father was late Shri K.R.SHRAMA, Art director ,for gemini ,vasan group ,Ayyiayar movie ,Chandraleka drum dance,are few examples of his splendid work.So this cinema field has many branches ,each with more classic person with special talent.

 

[suraju06]

dear Manoharkumar,

Girish is not an upstart Johnny looking for cheap publicity. He has shown his talents in many fields like screen play writing, directing, story writing and acting. He has achieved quite a lot already in his life and has won many awards too. So there is no reason to suspect his motives. I think it is intellectual honesty that made him say what he said. In fact when we discussed this in Chennai in our friends circle I found many people agreed with Girish. So i would like to keep this discussion just objective without making it subjective by going into motives etc., I have friends who enjoy music in a unique way. They keep listening to a raga as it flows just like their watching a symphony of colors. When a color is out of sync with the million shades in which the raga flows they quickly notice it. Like the pixels joining together create a picture they see the picture that is the underlying bhava expressed through the lyric/sahitya. Such connoisseurs too agree that the songs of ARR of late have become rich in orchestration but poor in lyrical quality. May be ARR is spending less time with his lyricists. I repeat my vote is for beautiful lyrics like Gulzar's "Tu abse pehale sitharon mein bach gaye tho kaheen, ......" and not for "saiya saiya saiyan" though the later is titillating and make me tap my foot.

Cheers.