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It was the 54th annual filmfare awards function the other day. The house was charged with affection and love for the best music director of the year - A.R. Rahman for Jodha Akbar. Glittering stars from the Bollywood - Amitabh Bachan, Aishwarya Rai to Abhishek Bachan, Hritik Roshan , Priyanka Chopra, Preity Zinta and many many more were all there to land a kiss on their favorite mascot these days. For his part, Rahman was cute and humble when he received the award. And the anchor host Ranbir Kapoor was seen falling at Rahman’s feet! So much for their adulation.

They couldn’t believe their eyes that their son from Madras had won not one but 2 Oscars this year. The Cine Musicians association comprising of thousands of members from Madras had gathered on March 1st to celebrate their hero. And they did it in style. A. R. Rahman had achieved what no musician in Madras or India had ever done before. There were garlands and bouquets from all over the city. The poor fellow got so embarassed that he just did not know how to react to their violent love. In his reply to the praises that went on for more than 3 hours, Rahman revealed that Slumdog was just an accident when Danny Boyle asked him if he could do the sound and songs for the film. As he was busy hechucked what he was doing and worked and finished Slumdog in just 17 days. When it was over he then thought of submitting the music score for the oscars through an agent as the movie was made by a foreigner. He still remembers how the Americans made fun of him at first. An Indian winning the oscar for music? What happened later is something which all of us are still talking about. We thank God for A. R. Rahman.

Pakistan is now the most dangerous place on the earth. Imagine being shot by terrorists from the same country while travelling in a bus. It only goes to show all along what I have said ” Pakistan is the epicenter of terrorism anywhere in the world.” Why were the terrorists not shot at by any policeman? How and why could they escape. They were seen walking into a hostel after committing the crime. You can get away with anything in Pakistan. want to know who did this one? The LTTE in Lanka collided with the ISI and Lashkar in Pakistan to create a situation tat would bring the army back to rule in Pakistan. The LTTE would have a little revenge for th killings of the tail terrorists. Tank God for the players’ escape

I still haven’t recovered from the haunting experience last night. I heard the original soundtrack of all the songs from Delhi- 6, the newest Bollywood stuff to have landed these days. Every song number is a masterpiece. It captures the essence of the shot sequence with a song and sound blend that comes across alive in all its original glory. Remove the dialogue and still you can make out what is going on just by listening to the sound. Rahman is the greatest music and sound talent to have landed in recent times. Take a look at Slumdog Millionaire. Remove the songs and the sound and replace tham with some mediocre stuff. You will see the difference. The film was such a great success only because of A. R. Rahman. We thank God for him. I had the previge of knowing intimately one of his guris in carnatic music…T.V. Gopalakrishnan.

Everyone is still talking about the Oscars and “Jai Ho” from that genius opf a music composer A.R. Rahman. And it is heartening to note that his tune for Jai Ho in the film Slumdog Millionaire has been used for the American “Pussycat Owls.” This one sounds even better. I am now certain that Rahman is going to be flooded with offers from Holywood. Good for him but it will be India’s loss. He has mastered the art of sound pyrotechniques using computer technology. These days he records a single song in days and not in hours as did the former composers from India. The technique is odd but the results are great. Times are changing for the music of the world. The children who did roles in Slumdog are from India who have never even sat on a airplane, let alone visit a foreign country. And they are raving still of their luck to be sitting alongside Brad Pitt and Spielberg! One child still remembers the hug Angelina Jodie gave her when she said “Great Job.” My, things are improving for Indian Cinema.

It is alarming the number of people losing their homes because they defaulted on their mortgage payments. But there is a way you can delay at least a little, maybe 2 to even 6 months. Ask from the mortgage company the original note you signed. As a mortgage defaulter you have the right to ask specially if you are going to face court action. What you will discover is that the company will not in most cases able to produce your note…why, because it has gone for remortgage elsewhere and maybe even traded on Wall Street! One woman noticed this when she innocently asked for the note. In the meantime you seek a job or make some arrangement to pay the loan. How do you like that?

   As I said the other day, only nationalization will help from the financial crisis that America is going through now. Do not allow the banks and insurance to get away with the corruption in them. Only the govt can do this.

So it is all over. The waiting, the excitement, the breathless acceptance speeches from the winners made this year’s Oscars more memorable than ever. The world has gone gaga over that musical genius from South India - A.R. Rahman. When you really go to see the reason for his phenomenal success in 2008 - 2009, it is not difficult to unravel the mystery. Note that Slumdog Millionaire also won the best Oscar for Sound Mixing - for sound recordist Resul Pookutty. This man was on television yesterday and so graciously acknowledged that the sound techniques were actually Rahman’s work as well. Take a close hearing of any important scene in a film which has Rahman’s music. The sounds, music you will hear will be special for this prticular scene only. Rahman has mastered the art of using sound to enhance the value of any scene in a movie. He uses the latest computer technology to get that faint naunces in every song piece that he composes. The overall effect is devastating to even an expert in this technique. Take a look at Ghajini, Dostana and now Slumdog. The common denominator is the sound in the background. Lets not forget Rahman was judged by American standards. Those sitting in the Kodak theater in Los Angeles for this year’s Oscars felt something different about this film. They then gave the award for this talent. Thats all. Rahman is getting tax exemption for all the cash prizes he has won. This is going to be a hell of a windfall for him running into millions of dollars. I am sure the world of music in South India is going to benefit greatly as a result.

Finally the Oscars are over and as expected, “Slumdog Millionaire” has won so many Oscars including best picture, best director, best music director. But the most credit must go to the amazingly blessed man ” A.R. Rehman.” It is clear he is God’s chosen man of this year’s oscar. And he rightly deserves the blessing. And to think he nearly gave up on music because his family had no money left to pursue his creative career. Rehman is the son of Shekar , a musician in music director Ilayaraja’s troupe. Shekar suddenly died leaving his family stranded. They rented the old instruments in the house to make some money. In the meantime Rehman himself began on training in music. He won some kind of a scholarship but could not find work in a big way after even that. He was Ilayaraja’s assistant for a time until he had his break when Maniratnam gave him the task of music for his “Roja.” The rest is unbelievable history. Today his cds have sold more than even Elvis and Beatles! Still talent had to show first and he has in plenty. Still, the best is yet to come from this genius of a music man. We thank God for him. He has done India proud. 

They may look like criminals but they really cannot be entirely blamed. They were doing business by taking money from Tom to pay Peter all the time. As long they made profits for their customers, it was fine. But when the people who were lending them credit stopped giving them credit ( the banks and other lenders), sooner or later they had to default. It went on and on until they could not run their business anymore. This is what happens when the country’s economy depends entirely on just 300 million people doing all the spending. But I sympathize with those people who have lost money with Madoff ( Kevin Bacon, my favorite movie star for one). Many had to sell their houses to meet the loss, many committed suicide and Madoff cooly sits in a multi-million dollar penthouse on house arrest. Where has all the money gone in America? I hear 30 trillion dollars has just vanished into nowhere. So much for freedom to do any business at your terms all the time. The only way to get out of the mess as I said the other day is to NATIONALIZE ALL THE BANKS AND LENDING INSTITUTIONS! AND MAKE THEM ACCOUNTABLE. Californoia governor Arnold has put a freeze on tax refund and increased taxes. This is only postponing the problem. America is in a hell of a jam and they know it. Hope Slumdog Millionaire wins the Oscars. This is the only award it has not won. So much for a mediocre movie showing the slums of Mumbai in India

So with great fanfare and expectation, President Obama has signed the much talked about and controversial bill of the stimulus package, a package he hopes will create over 3.6 million jobs in one year. But will it work? Will it create more jobs, more investor confidence in the markets, will it put more money in the hands of people to buy more goods and services at affordable prices? The idea sounds good but I don’t personally think will do much good except for a marginal difference. Remember the money (789 Bn $ is to go the states. Thats where the problem will come. Who will enforce and oversee how and where the money was being spent? Building roads and bridges is okay for a developing country, but the United States? I think has already made many mistakes, this is one more. Restricting H1B visas to companies hiring foreign workers after availing bailout money will not prove productive. The companies will have to hire less skilled workers at phenomenal wages. Already companies like Infosys, Wipro, and many others in India are talking about laying off hundreds of thousands of jobs in India. God help the United States and the countries that do business with it.