Rahman gives India a shot at Oscar glory

India woke up on Friday to news of “Slumdog Millionaire” bagging 10 Academy Award nominations as the media toasted the success of a critically acclaimed film the country claims as its own.

The rags-to-riches story about a boy from one of the Mumbai’s teeming slums competing on a TV game show has been nominated for best director, best adapted screenplay and best picture at the Academy Awards, and in seven other categories.

“Rah Rah Rahman” screamed a front-page headline in the Times of India newspaper, a leading English-language daily, referring to the three Oscar nominations for the film’s Indian music composer, A.R. Rahman.

Hindustan Times, another English daily, dubbed it the “Perfect 10.”

The cast and crew of “Slumdog,” in Mumbai for the film’s Indian premiere on Thursday, seemed overwhelmed by the attention.

“It’s incredible isn’t it? For us to be here, premiering the film on the night of the Oscar nominations is just incredible,” producer Christian Colson told Reuters, shouting to be heard above the sound of traditional Indian drums and members of the cast dancing on the red carpet.

Golden boy goes global, scripts history

Bollywood music director A.R. Rahman became the first Indian to win the Golden Globe Award, for best original musical score in Danny Boyle’s movie “Slumdog Millionaire”.

The honour bestowed on the maestro has brought much cheer to the Indian film industry.”The Golden Globe is a coveted award and it is a rare honour for an Indian music director. By winning it, competing with composers from around the world, Rahman has not only proved his worth, but has also conveyed to the world that, given a chance, an Indian music director can deservedly vie with any composer in the world,” fellow composer Anu Malik told.

Rahman won the prestigious award for his musical score in the song “Jai Ho”, for which Gulzar penned the lyrics. The song is a typical Rahman number and the composer stuck to his signature style while composing it.

Sukhwinder Singh, who has sung the song, told “Rahman has churned out treat songs even in the past but he did not get an award so I feel that he truly deserves this one. I am very happy for him and when he comes back to India, I will meet him.

A R Rahman swept the Critics’ Choice Awards

A.R. Rahman won the Best Composer award as Mumbai-set hit film “Slumdog Millionaire” swept the 14th Annual Critics’ Choice Awards winning five top prizes including Best Picture of 2008.The film also won Best Director for British Director Danny Boyle, Best Writer for Simon Beaufoy, and Best Young Actor/Actress for British Indian actor Dev Patel.

Patel plays the protagonist in the film telling the heart warming story of an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who goes on to win a staggering 20 million rupees on India’s “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” game show.

The awards were given out in Los Angeles Thursday night by the Broadcast Film Critics Association, which represents 200 of the top film critics across the United States.

The Critics’ Choice Awards have been a strong indicator of the Oscar front-runners with 70 percent of its award winners also going on to win at the Academy Awards. Last year, “No Country for Old Men” from Joel and Ethan Coen won Best Picture and Best Director from the BFCA and went on to win those same awards at the Oscars.

Starring Anil Kapoor, Irrfan Khan, Dev Patel, and Freida Pinto, the film is also nominated for four Golden Globe Awards which will be given out Sunday including Best Picture – Drama, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Score.

Delhi 6 ~ Music in stores on January 14

After director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra wowed us with Rang De Basanti two years ago, he’s back with Delhi-6, starring Abhishek Bachchan and Sonam Kapoor .

The title is inspired from the pin code of an area in Delhi , where the story is based. This area houses the historical Juma Masjid and Red Fort.

The story sees Roshan traveling from the USA to India with his ailing grandmother. Little does he know that this quick trip will turn into the longest journey of his life. Delhi-6 is told against the backdrop of the ancient walled city of Delhi.

“Maine Pyar Kiya” had a pigeon song that became popular and 20 years later Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra has a dove song in his forthcoming film “Delhi-6″. He says it was not part of the original plan.”The song was not really meant to be part of the narrative. I mean, who would think of putting in a song about a dove in a film like ‘Delhi-6′? It just happened. When I came to the pre-climax portion of my script, I was stuck. I needed a continuity link taking the narrative to its finale,”

Mehra’s much talked-about “Delhi-6″ has a large cast including Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek, Sonam Kapoor and Gulshan Grover as well as a dove named Masakali who serves as the romantic leitmotif in the plot.

‘Slumdog Millionaire’ OST Revealed

It’s one of the most buzzed-about films of the season, and a surefire Oscar contender. She’s an accomplished musician who made a commercial breakthrough with “Paper Planes,” one of the year’s biggest sleeper hits. Now, MTV has the exclusive scoop on the soundtrack that will bring M.I.A. and “Slumdog Millionaire” together for your listening enjoyment.

Renowned composer A.R. Rahman will release his critically beloved “Slumdog Millionaire” soundtrack online next week – and in stores next month – giving moviegoers the chance to take home his unique musical pastiche of what it feels like to grow up on the mean streets of Mumbai, India. In many early reviews of the recently opened Danny Boyle flick, critics (such as our own Kurt Loder) have praised the groundbreaking efforts of the music, which mixes the disparate worlds of Bollywood and hip-hop.

M.I.A.’s love for the Bollywood style had her recording inside A.R. Rahman’s studio in India, and she has referred to him as “the Indian Timbaland.” This new “Slumdog” soundtrack will make their collaboration “O…Saya” available for the first time, as well as a remix of her worldwide hit “Paper Planes.”

Rahman proposes, Himesh disposes !

Himesh Reshammiya had once said that if he had to sing for any music director other than himself, it would have to be for A R Rahman. Now, Rahman has come up with a composition, which he thinks is apt for Himesh to sing.

Rahman said, “Yes, I have come up with a composition that Himesh can do justice to. It is an important song for a big actor, in a huge project and for a big banner. But since the shooting of this song will happen only next year, it will be wrong on my part to disclose too many details about it at this time.”

I don’t sing for any outside banner (where I don’t act). I would instead request Rahman saab to give music for one of my films where I am the actor and singer – Himesh Reshammiya

So what made Rahman choose Himesh for the song? Rahman said, “Himesh’s voice and the attitude with which Himesh sings is just apt for this composition. I haven’t spoken to Himesh as yet but I will be talking to him very soon.”

When we told Himesh about Rahman’s plans, he said, “I am a great fan of AR Rahman and his music. It’s a great honor for me to sing his composition, but as a policy decision, I only sing for myself onscreen. I don’t sing for any outside banner (where I don’t act).

Rahman for theme of Champions League T20

ESPN Star Sports, the official broadcaster of Champions League Twenty20, has roped in A R Rahman to compose the official anthem of the league.

The Champions League Twenty20 is scheduled to take place from 3 -10 December and the inaugural match will be played in Mumbai.

ESS Asia MD Manu Sawhney said, “Champions League Twenty20 is a platform where the best of the world come and play. It is premium, aspirational and the highest honor the game has to offer. In our mind, it is to cricket what AR Rahman is to music.

The official anthem will reverberate not just in India but will transcend all language barriers across the global cricket fraternity.”

Meanwhile, IPL chairman Lalit Modi said the five-year deal with Pepsi as the ‘pouring rights partner’ had been mutually terminated. “It would be wrong to say that PepsiCo broke the deal because the Rs 500 million sponsorship deal was called off mutually by both the parties. In the first season of IPL, we had faced some problems during the matches. For example, there was a shortage on soft drinks and people were not allowed to carry water bottles inside the stadium,” Modi added while addressing the press.

Ghajini ~ Rahman is back with Aamir Khan

Aamir Khan’s Ghajini was slated for a Diwali release this year, but it had to be postponed because Aamir suffered a ligament injury. Not satisfied by this decision, Aamir wanted to create some kind of buzz for the film. Now he is releasing the promos of the film today.

Some source close to Aamir Khan said, “Originally, even when Aamir was making Taare Zameen Par, he had planned a Diwali release for Ghajini. But because of his ligament injury he had to take a break for two months as he couldn’t shoot for the stunts.

So the release had to be postponed. But Aamir was hell-bent on having a Diwali release, even if it was only the promos. He decided to release at least the first moving visuals on Diwali.”

Since the past fifteen days, Aamir has been slogging to complete the promos on time. The source continued, “Aamir has been working non-stop in order to meet the deadline. He requested A R Rahman to put aside his other commitments and come to Mumbai to work on the background score of the promos.

Rahman, who generally doesn’t work outside Chennai, gave in to this last minute request and came to Mumbai. He has been working in a Mumbai lab for the past four days, only on Aamir’s insistence. Being such a perfectionist, he didn’t want to compromise on anything at all.”

Yuvvraaj Music Review ~ Boss Back at Work

So after much anticipation and hype, the music of Yuvvraaj is out. Music Maestro Rahman and Show Man Subhash Ghai ties up again in Yuvvraaj after eight long years, in short they are back after Taal. Taal was indeed a musical success and it is said that a cassette of Taal was sold every minute in Indian Streets at that time.

So is anyone expecting another Taal ? Indeed don’t, because this musical score is extremely a different try from Rahman. Because Yuvvraaj is inspired in soul and element from European and Indian classical as well as Rahman’s exclusive library of imagination. After hearing the score, one can strongly say that all songs are strictly based on it script. If Ghai could give imaginative identity to the picturization of the songs, then a sure chart buster album is in the charts.

Main hoon Yuvvraaj

The soundtrack opens with Main hoon Yuvvraaj, designed as a dialog monologue in Salman Khan’s weird accent. The instrumentation of the song is based on 5th Beethoven Symphony performed by The Chennai String Orchestra. The track is nothing but to show Salman’s bad boy role in the movie.

My Wife is my Biggest Critic ~ A R Rahman

In the city of much joy, music maestro A R Rahman is once again on a high after the music launch for Yuvraaj, his comeback venture with Subhash Ghai after eight years. The music launch of Yuvvraaj last week in Mumbai marked a number of firsts for its star players.

A R Rahman's mother launches Yuvvraaj music

Here’s why ; The film, which stars Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif,Anil Kapoor and Zayed Khan, saw the collaboration between Rahman and Subhash Ghai after nine long years. The last time the two worked together was in Taal.

The film also marked the first time Salman Khan is working with showman Subhash Ghai. And lastly, got a glimpse of A R Rahman’s mother, Kareema Begum who happened to be the guest of honor at the launch. Yuvvraaj is likely to release in the last week of November.

Music maestro AR Rahman is once again on a high after the music launch for ‘Yuvraaj’, his comeback venture with Subhash Ghai after eight years. MSN India hit the right chord with him in this free flowing chat.