Thursday, 12 January 2012
Thursday, 5 January 2012
Hrithik loves challenges: 'Agneepath' director
Debutant director Karan Malhotra says actor Hrithik Roshan, who is taking on the role of Amitabh Bachchan in 'Agneepath' remake, constantly looked for new challenges during the making of the movie.
When Hrithik stepped into 'Agneepath', he made it clear that he will not emulate Bachchan's portrayal of Vijay Deenanath Chauhan and instead approach the character in his own way. Malhotra, who has taken the task of recreating the popular movie with a new star cast, says he shared a collaborative relationship with Hrithik during filming.
"He (Hrithik) is a treat for every director. He loves to discuss, debate and most importantly be shocked. He thrives on such challenges. Once he is on, he gives full support to a film without any interference. He doesn't work just for his own character, he works for the whole film," Malhotra told PTI.
Sanjay Dutt is playing the nemesis in the movie and going by the reaction to his first look, it seems that the antagonist may overshadow the hero this time but Malhotra says it was not intentional.
"He is not Dutt in the film, he is the character Kaancha. I don't think it was intentional that villain would look big and the hero would be small," Malhotra said. "Both Sanjay and Hrithik are big and powerful in their own way. I have this belief that bigger the villain, more powerful the fight because at the end of it all, he has to succumb to the hero. Dutt is just the perfect villain for any hero to conquer and in 'Agneepath' it would be no different."
Also starring Priyanka Chopra and Rishi Kapoor, the film is slated to hit the screens on January 26.
Monday, 2 January 2012
Sydney awaits Sachin's historic 100th ton
Having once again come up short in his attempt to notch up his milestone 100th hundred in the first Test against Australia in Melbourne, the legendary Sachin Tendulkar will be now setting his sights on the Sydney Cricket Ground, where he has plundered runs on his previous four tours starting from the 1991-92 visit.
However, Tendulkar looked in sublime touch in the first of four Tests with scores of 73 and 32 before falling to pacer, Peter Siddle on both occasions.
Statistically, Tendulkar averages more in Australia (58.53) than at home (53.30) against the same opponents. Six of Tendulkar's 11 hundreds against Australia have come away from home. He is followed by Laxman, who has scored four centuries in Australia.
But the significance of his record cannot be measured in numbers alone. If Tendulkar's first century (148 in Sydney) on his maiden Australian tour in 1991 showed a glimpse of what the world could expect from that 18-year-old wonder kid, his last one at the same venue (241 not out) was a testament to his longevity in the game.
In fact, Tendulkar's love affair with the SCG, which is also called Sachin Cricket Ground by many of his followers, is well known. He has only been dismissed three times in seven innings at the ground and has a staggering average of 221.33
Tendulkar has termed the SCG as his "favourite ground" outside India and hoped to continue his love affair with the stadium in the second cricket Test against the home side.
"The SCG has obviously been my favourite ground away from India," Tendulkar said. "It's a terrific ground, a special place. I love the atmosphere. It's wonderful. There are these certain grounds where you walk out there feeling you're going to do well and the SCG is one of those grounds where I feel comfortable," he was quoted as saying recently.
Of the 59 venues where Tendulkar has played Test cricket in his illustrious 22-year-old career, the batting ace has only averaged better at Dhaka and Mirpur in Bangladesh.
SCG has always had a special place in Tendulkar's career but it remains to be seen whether he can achieve the elusive 100th international century at his favourite overseas ground, which probably would be his last Test in Sydney.
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly is also confident that his ex-teammate will come back strongly against the Aussies in the second Test.
"Tendulkar has always been very highly rated in this part of the world - one can say everywhere - but I just get a feeling that when one comes to this country, the excitement with him has been just that more every time and, to be honest, his batting just goes one notch higher on the hard, bouncy pitches," he said.
Ganguly said as Tendulkar gets ready to play on his favourite ground, the SCG, next week all fans will have their fingers crossed when he walks out to bat.
Google doodles a fresh beginning on New Year's Day
After having a party on December 31 2011, the New Year's Day doodle on the Google home page signals a fresh beginning in the year 2012.
The letters on the Google logo celebrated the passing of 2011 and welcomed 2012 with music, dance, baloons and a lot of colour on Saturday. After a feverish night of partying, they seem to have already embarked upon fulfilling their resolutions for the New Year on Sunday.
The 'G' is listening to music and saying "hello" to the world in different languages, the '0s' are getting set for a fitter year with aerobics and yoga, 'G' has taken to the guitar, 'L' is now into literature and 'E' is the one who is cleaning up after the merrymaking.
Google posted 260 doodles in 2011. This figure is only nominally higher than the 258 doodles that Google put up on its home page in 2010. Some of the doodles were limited to Google's country specific home pages while others appeared globally.
Google recently announced the revamp of its Doodle site (www.google.com/doodles) which houses all Google doodles since the very first back in 1998.
Saturday, 31 December 2011
Friday, 30 December 2011
Wednesday, 28 December 2011
Monday, 26 December 2011
A. R. Rahman
Allah Rakha Rahman (Tamil: அல்லா ரக்கா ரஹ்மான்; born 6 January 1966 as A. S. Dileep Kumar) is an Indian composer, singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, multi-instrumentalist and philanthropist.[3] Described as the world's most prominent and prolific film composer by Time,[4] his works are notable for integrating eastern classical music with electronic music sounds, world music genres and traditional orchestral arrangements. He has won two Academy Awards, two Grammy Awards, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe, fourNational Film Awards, fourteen Filmfare Awards, thirteen Filmfare Awards South in addition tonumerous other awards and nominations. His extensive body of work for film and the stage earned him the nickname “the Mozart of Madras” and several Tamil commentators and fans have coined him the nickname Isai Puyal (Tamil: இசைப் புயல்; English: Music Storm).[5] In 2009,Time placed Rahman in its list of World's Most Influential People.[6] The UK based World Music magazine Songlines named him one of 'Tomorrow's World Music Icons' in August 2011.[7]
Having set up his own in-house studio called Panchathan Record Inn at Chennai, arguably one of Asia’s most sophisticated and high-tech studios, Rahman's film scoring career began in the early 1990s with the Tamil film Roja. Working in India's various film industries, international cinema and theatre, Rahman has sold more than 300 million records worldwide of his film scoresand soundtracks as of 2009 for over 100 film scores worldwide, making him one of the world's all-time top selling recording artists.[8][9][10] In a notable career spanning two decades, Rahman has garnered particular acclaim for redefining contemporary Indian film music and thus contributing to the success of several films. Rahman is currently one of the highest paid composers of the motion picture industry. He has also become a notable humanitarian and philanthropist, donating and raising money for beneficial causes and supporting charities.
When he was nine, Rahman accidentally played a tune on piano during his father's recording for a film, which R. K. Shekhar later developed into a complete song, "Vellithen Kinnam Pol", for the Malayalam film Penpada. This track credited to his father, was sung by Jayachandran and penned by Bharanikkavu Sivakumar.[20] His film career began in 1992, when he started Panchathan Record Inn, a music recording and mixing studio attached to the backyard of his house. Over time it would become the most advanced recording studio in India,[21] and arguably one of Asia’s most sophisticated and high-tech studios.[22] He initially composed scores for documentaries, jingles for advertisements and Indian Televisionchannels and other projects. In 1987 Rahman, then still known as Dileep got his first opportunity to compose jingles for new range of watches being launched by Allwyn.[23] In 1992, he was approached by film director Mani Ratnam to compose the score and soundtrack for Ratnam's Tamil film Roja.[21][24] The debut led Rahman to receive the Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus) award for Best Music Director at the National Film Awards, an unprecedented win for a first-time film composer. Rahman has since been awarded the Silver Lotus three more times for Minsara Kanavu (Electric Dreams, Tamil) in 1997, Lagaan (Tax, Hindi) in 2002, Kannathil Muthamittal (A Peck on the Cheek, Tamil) in 2003, the most ever by any composer.[25]
Roja's score met with high sales and acclaim in both its original and dubbed versions, led by the theme song "Chinna Chinna Aasai" bringing about a marked change in film music at the time. Rahman followed this with successful scores for Tamil–language films of the Chennai film industry including Ratnam's politically charged Bombay, the urbanite Kadhalan, Thiruda Thiruda and S. Shankar's debut film Gentleman, spurred by the popular dance song "Chikku Bukku Rayile".[26][27][28][29] Rahman worked with director Bharathiraaja's Kizhakku Cheemayileand Karuththamma, producing successful Tamil rural folk inspired scores and delivered the grand saxophonic score for K. Balachander'sDuet.[30][31] The 1995 film Indira and the romantic comedies Mr. Romeo and Love Birds all gained him considerable notice.[32][33][34] His fanbase in Japan increased with Muthu 's success there.[35] His soundtracks gained him recognition in the Tamil Nadu film industry and around the world for his stylistic versatility incorporating Western classical, Carnatic and Tamil traditional/folk music traditions, jazz, reggaeand rock music.[36][37][38][39] The soundtrack of Bombay sold 12 million copies worldwide.[40] The "Bombay Theme"—from Ratnam'sBombay—would later reappear in his score of Deepa Mehta's Fire and various compilations and media around the world. Rangeela, directed by Ram Gopal Varma, marked Rahman's debut for Hindi-language films made in the Mumbai film industry.[41] Many successful scores for films including Dil Se and the percussive Taal followed.[42][43] Sufi mysticism would inspire the track "Chaiyya Chaiyya" from the former, as well as the composition "Zikr" from his score for the film Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero for which he created large symphonic orchestral and choral arrangements.[19] His score for the Chennai production Minsaara Kanavu garnered Rahman his second National Film Award for Best Music Direction in 1997, and a South FilmFare Award for Best Music Direction in a Tamil film, breaking a record with six consecutive wins in the latter category. Rahman would go onto win the award a further three consecutive times. Musical cues in scores for Sangamam and Iruvar employed Carnatic vocals and instruments such as the veena with leads of rock guitar and jazz.[44] In the 2000s Rahman created hit scores for Rajiv Menon's Kandukondain Kandukondain, Alaipayuthey, Ashutosh Gowariker's Swades and Rang De Basanti.[45] He composed songs with Hindustani motifs for Water (2005). By the end of 2003, Rahman had sold more than 150 million records of his film scores and soundtracks for over 50 film scores worldwide.[10][40][46]
Rahman has worked with Indian poets and lyricists such as Javed Akhtar, Gulzar, Vairamuthu and Vaali. He has consistently produced commercially successful soundtracks when collaborating with particular film directors such as Mani Ratnam who he has worked with sinceRoja, and the director S. Shankar in the films Gentleman, Kadhalan, Indian, Jeans, Mudhalvan, Nayak, Boys, Sivaji and Enthiran.[47]
In 2005, Rahman extended his Panchathan Record Inn studio by establishing AM Studios in Kodambakkam, Chennai, thereby creating the most cutting-edge studio in Asia.[48][49] In 2006, Rahman launched his own music label, KM Music.[50] Its first release was his score to the film Sillunu Oru Kaadhal.[51] Rahman scored the Mandarin language picture Warriors of Heaven and Earth in 2003 after researching and utilizing Chinese and Japanese classical music,[52] and won the Just Plain Folks Music Award For Best Music Album for his score of the 2006 film Varalaru (God Father).[53] He co-scored the Shekhar Kapur project and his first British film, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, in 2007.[54]He garnered an Asian Film Award nomination for Best Composer at the Hong Kong International Film Festival for his Jodhaa Akbar score.[55]His compositions have been sampled for other scores within India,[56] and appeared in such films as Inside Man, Lord of War, Divine Intervention and The Accidental Husband. In 2008, Rahman scored his first Hollywood picture, the comedy Couples Retreat released the next year, which won him the BMI London Award for Best Score.[57] Rahman scored the film Slumdog Millionaire in 2008, for which he won a Golden Globe and two Academy Awards, becoming the first Asian to do so. The songs "Jai Ho" and "O…Saya" from the soundtrack of this film met with commercial success internationally. In 2010, Rahman composed scores for the romance film Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa, blockbuster sci-fi romance film Enthiran and Danny Boyle's 127 Hours. Rahman started off the year 2011 by scoring Imtiaz Ali's musical filmRockstar. The soundtrack became a phenomenal success and earned Rahman immense critical praise.[58]
Skilled in Carnatic music, Western classical, Hindustani music and the Qawwali style of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Rahman has been noted to write film songs that amalgamate elements of these music systems and other genres, layering instruments from differing music idioms in an improvisatory manner.[19][84] Symphonic orchestral themes have accompanied his scores, occasionally employing leitmotif. In the 1980s, Rahman recorded and played arrangements on monophonic sound, synonymous with the era of his musical predecessors K. V. Mahadevanand Vishwanathan–Ramamoorthy. In later years his methodology changed as he experimented with the fusion of traditional instruments with new electronic sounds and technology.[19][85]
Rahman's musical interests and outlook stem from his love of experimentation. Rahman's compositions, in the vein of past and contemporaryChennai film composers, bring out auteuristic uses of counterpoint, orchestration and the human voice, melding Indian pop music with uniquetimbre, forms and instrumentation. By virtue of these qualities, broad ranging lyrics and his syncretic style, the appeal of his music cuts across the spectrum of classes and cultures within Indian society.[86]
His first soundtrack for Roja was listed in Time's "10 Best Soundtracks" of all time in 2005. Film critic Richard Corliss felt the "astonishing debut work parades Rahman's gift for alchemizing outside influences until they are totally Tamil, totally Rahman."[87] Rahman's initial global reach is attributed to the South Asian diaspora. Described as one of the most innovative composers to ever work in the industry, his unique style and immense success transformed film music in the 1990s prompting several film producers to take film music more seriously.[88] The music producer Ron Fair considers Rahman to be "one of the world's great living composers in any medium".[89]
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