Ever since the exciting news about Rahman winning the Oscars came out, it has been a musical week for me. My iPod and iTunes have been put to best use. Although I love to listen to music, it hasn't been such a continuous flow of beautiful songs one after the other from morning as soon as I login to my laptop until midnight when soothing melodies put me to sleep.
As every Rahman fan would say, Slumdog Millionaire isn't one of his best compositions. I was also of the same opinion until I started to listen to "Latika's theme" in repeat mode. What a magical tune that is! I can't seem to get enough of it. With just the humming and a caressing tune, this masterpiece makes me so happy. It strikes at such a deep, emotional level everytime I listen to it. The other songs of SDM are not so great.
Since 2008, Rahman has been churning out one album after another in quick succcession that one has very little time to get used to the tunes. With SDM taking the limelight, there is another beautiful album "Delhi-6" which shouldn't be ignored. The sheer variety of tunes in this album keeps me hooked onto them forever. "Rehna Tu" sung by the Mozart of Madras himself is just too good. The peppy number "Genda Phool" is so catchy and the singer's voice suits the mood perfectly. This could be the Bollywood equivalent of "Yaaro yaarodi".
A completely unpredictable album is Rahman's Connections. I'm hooked onto "Mann Chandre" for its soft beats and Sukhwinder Singh's superb renditions. The soothing instrumental to listen to just before you go to sleep would be the "Silent Invocation A". The mesmerizing flute piece cannot be explained in words.
Even the average album like "Yuvraaj" has an amazing number "Zindagi" sung by Sreenivas. I'm not sure how many people have actually heard this song but since this album didn't become so popular, it's sad that such a nice song didn't get the deserving credits.
There are a few such albums by Rahman which had brilliant music but somehow didn't become very popular. One such album is "KangaLaal kaidhu sei". I like 4 out of 5 songs in this movie. What a romantic melody "Azhagiya Cindrella" is! Hariharan's voice has made this song even more special. But the picturization was pathetic for such a brilliant song. There are many songs of Rahman which didn't get the appreciation because the movie was bad and it flopped. A few of these good songs below:
"Sevvaanam chinna penn soodum" from Pavithra (God only knows when this movie released but I know this is a Ajit movie!!)
"Sonnalum ketpadhillai" from Kaadhal Virus (Unnikrishnan and Harini at their best)
"Thoda thoda" from Indira (the least popular song in this movie)
"Kaathu kaathu" from Uzhavan (A peppy drizzle dance number)
"Orunaal oru pozhudu" from Andhimandhaarai (don't know if this movie was ever released)
If you get a chance, listen to them and you will become a Rahmaniac like me!