A.R. Rahman - Music From the Composer of "Slumdog Millionaire" Review

This best-of can only scratch the surface of Rahman's megaselling catalog, which dabbles in Indian classical music, Qawwali, rock and even Finnish folk song. His symphonic fare can sound unnervingly like Enya with tablas. But all of his pieces have a sweeping grandeur — and tunes like "Rang De Basanti" boast beats that rappers will be jacking for years to come....full text A. R. Rahman is a celebrated composer in the Eastern world with over 100 awards and recognitions, however, in the Western world he is relatively unknown. For the first time in the composer's history, he was nominated and awarded both the Golden Globe and the Academy Award for Best Film Score for his work in Slumdog Millionaire. The soundtrack is a marvelous coupling of traditional Bollywood music and cutting edge hip-hop. Rahman's intriguing musical combination gives way to a fast paced, high energy soundtrack that has garnered critical acclaim and many new fans....full text A movie that starts off with a multiple choice question for the audience has to be something special. Right? With the exception of some jittery 16 mm film shown in one of my high school classes, I can't remember that ever being done before. Danny Boyle's SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE does just that...and it only get's better from there. Let me say upfront that, while I love the movie's title and believe this is a pretty special flick, I don't believe it is the best movie of the year...as many others apparently do. It's funny. Whenever there is mass or critical praise for something, there seems to be an inevitable backlash to follow. SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE seems to be facing what THE DARK KNIGHT did earlier in the year. Sometimes there is so much talk and hype about a film that people simply get tired of hearing about how good it is and so slide into a group of counter-fans. SLUMDOG is, indeed, a very charming movie that I was fully engrossed in while viewing it, save the "outhouse" scene. Fortunately, I wasn't into that as much as our little hero was. This film making it to the big-screen is a story unto itself, but it doesn't compare to the tale it tells of a poor, Indian boy incredibly winning a few boatloads of Indian rupees on the localized Who Wants to be a Millionaire? television show. It's rags to riches story with an international twist. SLUMDOG is, at once, familiar and yet exotic and that description goes right down to it's music....full text