The Emperor's new compositions – a la new clothes

Remember the child who pointed out that the emperor did not have any clothes on, even as his most trusted aides lied in fear of appearing incompetent or unfit, a fear inculcated by a bunch of frauds who tailored the so called invisible suit at a hefty price and fled. If Mani Ratnam can draw parallels with epics so can I from a fairy tale.

So who is the emperor you ask none other than our acclaimed music director A R Rahman, the frauds - the Oscar for making the world and Mr. Rahman believe “jai ho” was his best and he had found international appeal (by annoying and excessive use of drums, and beats in the background), the trusted aides - our critics, his best friends in the industry, his own discoveries, the cast and crew of Raavan and last but not the least - the child, the lot like me and you who feel let down ever since Oscars, for there was Blue and now Raavan that truly made us wonder if Mr. Rahman had lost it. Yes, there was respite in the form of Vinaithandi Varuvaya and a masterpiece like Delhi 6. But what hurts is when people in the industry praise this cacaphony of a music in Raavan just to appease Rahman or perhaps to comfort Mani sir (based on the movie reviews I think the man needs to listen to some white lies, loads of it).

Rahman's Raavan is as bad as the Big B hamming in Aladdin. Music sells purely by itself not because of how one is reminded about the movie, or how it’s purely situational. Music from super flops such as "what's your rashee", "delhi 6" etc are case in point. Criticism at any level should be constructive, unfortunately today the industry uses it for all the wrong reasons, to hype, to flatter, to insult, to bring people down. It’s sad because artists just stop giving their best, they get lost in a web of lies, all because someone wants to be in his or her good books or they don't want it to hurt the success of their movie in any way.

Irony - the day the child stops listening, all the emperor will have is his past glory to remember, and the very trusted aides will walk away, whispering a few consolations and faked disbeliefs, while muttering to themselves "well it was about time, remember Blue and Raavan, man!", oh yes there will be the occasional life time achievement awards when the most boring and impassioned speeches are given by the aides, and the emperor can place the trophy next to the Oscar, something that would have ironically defined the downfall of a legend. Some picture I can paint huh? But that's an “ if ”....situation. Let’s hope the emperor does not give more reasons for the child to give up henceforth. Chinna chinna aasai….