Not A R Rahman the Oscar Winner but Maestro Illaiyaraja in Global Top 25

 

 Sad News for A R Rahman fans and good news for Isaignani Fanatics- The Taste of Cinema web site has positioned Ilayaraja no. 9 in the global ranking of top 25 Film Composers ever. Rahman does not figure in it.  Now put this news in perspective and  to ARR fans rolling with laughter about a website they have not heard about - I too never heard about it. This is what the website About us says - Taste of Cinema is not just another movie list website, our focus on World Cinema and Classics make us different. We make essential film lists introducing the best films from different filmmakers, countries, genres and eras, these in-depth lists not only serve as guides to good movies, but also give you a bigger picture and thorough understanding of the film culture about a certain country, genre or cinema movement. If you dig all the lists on the site, you will find yourself unable to finish watching all the TOC film recommendations in your lifetime.

Now cut back to the news - ” Following is the global ranking of musicians in ‘The 25 Greatest Film Composers in Cinema History’:

 Ennio Morricone ITALY

2 Max Steiner USA

3 John Williams USA

4 Bernard Herrmann USA

5 Nino Rota ITALY

6 Tōru Takemitsu JAPAN

7 Michel Legrand FRANCE

8 Alan Menken USA

9 Ilayaraja INDIA

10 Jerry Goldsmith USA

11 Maurice Jarre FRANCE

12 John Barry USA

13 Hans Zimmer GERMANY

14 Joe Hisaishi JAPAN

15 James Horner USA

16 Georges Delerue USA

17 Dimitri Tiomkin UK

18 Elmer Bernstein USA

19 Howard Shore CANADA

20 Thomas Newman USA

21 Danny Elfman USA

22 Philip Glass USA

23 James Newton-Howard USA

24 Vangelis GREECE

25 Alan Silvestri USA

Now this is how Taste of Cinema says about Illaiyaraja - “Ilaiyaraaja is an Indian film composer who works in the Indian film Industry. His body of work has spanned across Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi and English language films.

Regarded as one of the finest music composers in India, Ilaiyaraaja is also an instrumentalist, conductor, singer, and a songwriter. To date, he has composed over 4500 songs and provided film scores for more than 950 Indian films in various languages, particularly being acclaimed for his background scoring. His songs and background score played a very crucial role in the success of many films.

For readers ; For any kind of questions and inquiries, you can get in touch with David at davidattoc@hotmail.com.

Thalapathy Vijay not ok with intro song by Rahman

The producer went with the CD to Thalapathy Vijay. He heard the CD  in his imported car audio system. After the song was over, Thalapathy told the producer that the song was not fit for an intro song. Producer is in a fix. How to get A R Rahman to give another song?.

Producer goes back to Rahman studio and tells Swamy ( manager of Rahman), hero is not happy with the intro song. Swamy says - I will inform Anna. He comes back and says Anna wants to see you. He goes in. ARR asks - Hero is not happy about the song ? Are you happy ?. Producer sheepishly says - No.

ARR thinks for a moment and says put a call to Vaali ( lyricist). He says - I composed an intro song for Vijay but he does not like it. You write the lyrics and I will compose it. If I compose and ask for lyrics, it will not work.

Next dat Producer goes and gives Rs 1 lakh to Valee. The few days later the CD is ready. Thalapathy Vijay hears it and in his characteristic way smiles and nods  his head meaning - Yes adhu thaan da. 

On the 60 th film of Vijay, he tells press that his fav song is this intro song. The intro song was of En Azhagiya Thamizh Magan produced by Swargachitra Appachan. Producer says that Rahman had at that time worked only for Hindi films and for Mani- Shankar in Tamil. Vijay put a condition. Get Rahman for the film.

Appachan who saw him ages ago at Kondandapani Studio as a guitar player decided to approach him, Rahman to his surprise said okay I will do the film. Will you give Rs 25 lakh cash tomorrow ?. My salary for Hindi is Rs 2 cr. You decide for Tamil. Producer says Rs 1.75 cr. Ok says Rahman and it was the second film that Rahman scored for Thalapathy Vijay. First was Udhaya directed by Azhagam Perumal.

( Told to YouTube channel Master Bin )