Our ARRahman Wins Both Oscar awards for Original Music Score and for Original Song “Jai Ho” from music by A.R. Rahman, lyrics by Gulzar.

ARRahman Transcripts - thanks speech at Oscar:
And the Oscar goes to AR Rahman Slumdog Millionaire..

ARRahman:
Before coming I was excited and terrified..the last time I felt like that during my marriage
There is this dialogue from my hindi film called meri pass maa hein..which means
I have nothing but i have my mother..my mother is here..her blessings are there with me..I am grateful for her to come here all the way..

I want to thank the academy for being so kind, all the judy members. I want to thank all the crew of slumdog, gulzar, musicians from chennai and mumbai
and I want to say something in Tamil, which i normally say at every award Elaa Pugazhum Iraivanukey - God is great!
thank you.

a) Best Adopted Screenplay
b) Best Cinamatography
c)

Arrahman is nominated for the below:
Original Score
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” Alexandre Desplat
“Defiance,” James Newton Howard
“Milk,” Danny Elfman
“Slumdog Millionaire,” A.R. Rahman
“WALL-E,” Thomas Newman

Original song
“Down to Earth” from “WALL-E,” music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, lyrics by Peter Gabriel
“Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire,” music by A.R. Rahman, lyrics by Gulzar
“O Saya” from “Slumdog Millionaire,” music and lyrics by A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam

Good luck Rahman!!

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score):

• “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Alexandre Desplat
• “Defiance” (Paramount Vantage), James Newton Howard
• “Milk” (Focus Features), Danny Elfman
• “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), A.R. Rahman
  “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Thomas Newman

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song):

• “Down to Earth” from “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, Lyric by Peter Gabriel
• “Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Music by A.R. Rahman, Lyric by Gulzar
• “O Saya” from “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Music and Lyric by A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam

Says Rahman, “I see it as an honour for India, not just for me. More to come, hopefully. I have my fingers crossed. When a film and my music get acceptance, it`s the equivalent of an Oscar for me. For the people of India to get an Oscar is a big thing. So for their sake more than mine I hope my song Jai ho and my music score in Slumdog Millionaire win the Oscar.”

Congratulations Rahman !!!!!!!!!

Happy birthday dear AR Rahman

To wish ARR or to leave a comment, please click here

Even before he had completed watching the rough cut of the movie Slumdog Millionaire, A R Rahman knew he wanted to compose music for it.
“It was going to be a very different challenge to me,” said Rahman, who is currently in Los Angles, promoting Danny Boyle’s film. Slumdog Millionaire is playing in about 80 theatres and is steadily expanding across America and Canada. “It was gritty, serious and moving. It was also about redemption.”

He never thought whether the film would be a success. “I was totally drawn to the film and I felt it was unusual at every turn,” he said. Though Boyle wanted him to compose the songs only, including the theme number, Rahman offered to do the entire score. “I like to be immersed in a film,” he said, adding that that wasn’t an easy decision to make.

“I had to make a big sacrifice,” he said. Taking up Slumdog Millionaire would mean having to say no to Ashutosh Gowariker with whom Rahman had worked for three films — Lagaan, Sandesh and Jodha-Akbar.

“I could not compose for his What’s Your Rashee?,” he added. “But surely, we will have more opportunities to work together. But Slumdog Millionaire was something that was going to happen very soon and I was hooked by the way Danny had directed it. I wanted to be a part of the film. In my career, I have taken up many films which were out of the box. And I thought this film was one such project.”

One of the best reviewed films of the year, it has already been declared the year’s best by the National Board of Review, and received many top nominations including the best director and best screenplay writer categories for 13th Annual Satellite Awards given by the International Press Academy.
Rahman’s musical score has also been nominated, along with the rousing Jai Ho as the best song of the year. Other musical nominees include Quantum of Solace, Wall-E and Australia.

Rahman’s mandate was to compose half a dozen songs which are used in the background for about a minute. But the songs get the full treatment on the CD. You hear them in the voices of Alka Yagnik, Ila Arun, Palkkad Sriram, Madhumitha, Mahalaksmi Iyer and Sukhvinder Singh, who belts out the rousing Jai Ho number. Rahman is also heard, as well as M I A (whose given name is Maya Arulpragasam), one of the biggest names on the alternate music scene.

Tanvi Shah is featured in two numbers: Gangsta Blues with BlaaZe and the Jai Ho item. Suzzanne not only lends her voice to Latika’s Theme but also for the number of Dreams on Fire.
“Danny trusted my instincts,” Rahman said. “But I kept overloading him with one little tune after another and gave him plenty of choice.”

The composer told the trade publication, Variety, ‘The energy of the film takes you through a roller coaster, and that’s one of the main inspirations for the whole music.’

The number Latika’s Theme originally had words in it. “Danny said the words were beautiful but he was afraid they might distract the audiences from the film’s narrative,” Rahman recalled.

The score, which might get an Oscar nomination, has been singled out by major reviewers in America. ‘Danny Boyle has upped the ante by hiring the great A R Rahman, the king of Bollywood music,’ wrote Kenneth Turan in Los Angeles Times, ‘to contribute one of his unmistakable propulsive scores.’
‘The propulsive score, by Bollywood soundtrack auteur A R Rahman, is hip-hop fusion of a very up-to-date kind,’ Kurt Loder announced on MTV.Com.

In Rolling Stone, Peter Travers wrote, ‘The film is a visual wonder, propelled by A R Rahman’s hip-hopping score and Chris Dickens’ kinetic editing.’

The soundtrack also has two remix numbers by M I A from her Grammy nominated album Paper Planes, and features the London-based singer sharing a song with Rahman, O… Saya. Danny Boyle says she approached him in London to discuss the possibility of using her songs in the film. She told him she wanted to work with Rahman.

Rahman and M I A had not met before the Slumdog Millionaire project came up over a year ago, though she had done much of the recording and the mixing of her album Kala in his Chennai studio about 18 months ago.

“Her musical is unusual,” he said. He had heard her music, and wondered who this girl was. When he met her, he was surprised to know that M I A knew his work very well, and admired it.

He also remembers telling her, ‘Cut the crap, this ‘my idol’ crap. You have to teach me.’

Boyle knew how the music would sound right from the start, and how Rahman could do wonders to his film.
“There would be delicate music as well as edgy and loud numbers,” Boyle said. “In the West, we are afraid of using music that loudly announces the emotions. In India, they are not afraid of using music that is loud and melodious at the same time. Rahman’s work has elevated the film immensely.”

The crowd-pleasing number Jai Ho, Rahman added, “has on the surface the typical texture of a Hindi film song. But as you continue listening, it emerges as a tune and singing that is quite different than our usual songs.”

But why didn’t he sing it himself? “I think I was lazy,” he said, chuckling. “But hasn’t Sukhi (Sukhvinder Singh) done an excellent job?”

National Film Awards (India)
1993 - National Film Award for Best Music Direction - Roja
1997 - National Film Award for Best Music Direction - Minsaara Kanavu
2002 - National Film Award for Best Music Direction - Lagaan
2003 - National Film Award for Best Music Direction - Kannathil Muthamittal

Filmfare Awards South (India)
1993 - Filmfare Best Music Direction - Roja
1994 - Filmfare Best Music Direction - Gentleman
1995 - Filmfare Best Music Direction - Kadhalan
1996 - Filmfare Best Music Direction - Bombay
1997 - Filmfare Best Music Direction - Kadhal Desam
1998 - Filmfare Best Music Direction - Minsaara Kanavu
1999 - Filmfare Best Music Direction - Jeans
2000 - Filmfare Best Music Direction - Mudhalvan
2001 - Filmfare Best Music Direction - Alaipayuthey
2006 - Filmfare Best Music Direction - Sillunu Oru Kadhal
2007 - Filmfare Best Music Direction - Sivaji

Filmfare Awards (India)
1995 - Filmfare Best Music Director Award - Rangeela
1998 - Filmfare Best Music Director Award - Dil Se
1999 - Filmfare Best Music Director Award - Taal
2001 - Filmfare Best Music Director Award - Lagaan
2002 - Filmfare Best Music Director Award - Saathiya
2002 - Filmfare Best Background Score - The Legend of Bhagat Singh
2004 - Filmfare Best Background Score - Swades
2006 - Filmfare Best Music Director Award - Rang de Basanti
2007 - Filmfare Best Music Director Award - Guru
2007 - Filmfare Best Background Score - Guru

Tamil Nadu State Film Awards
1993 - Best Music - Roja
1994 - Best Music - Gentleman
1995 - Best Music - Kadhalan
1996 - Best Music - Bombay
1997 - Best Music - Minsaara Kanavu
2000 - Best Music - Sangamam

Zee Cine Awards (India)
2002 - Zee Cine Award Best Music Director - Lagaan
2007 - Zee Cine Award Best Music Director - Rang De Basanti
2008 - Zee Cine Award Best Music Director - Guru
2008 - Zee Cine Award Best Background Music - Guru

GIFA Awards (Malaysia)
2006 - GIFA Award for Best Music - Rang De Basanti
2006 - GIFA Award for Best Background Music - Rang De Basanti

IIFA Awards (India)
2008 - Outstanding contribution by an Indian in International Cinema
2008 - IIFA Best Music Direction - Guru
2008 - IIFA Best Background Music - Guru
2007 - IIFA Best Music Direction - Rang De Basanti
2002 - IIFA Best Music Direction - Lagaan
2003 - IIFA Best Music Direction - Saathiya
2000 - IIFA Best Music Direction - Taal

Star Screen Awards
2002 - Best Background Music
2007 - Best Background Music- Rang De Basanti
2007 - Best Music - Rang De Basanti
2008 - Best Music - Guru

Vijay TV Awards
2006 - Best Music- Sillunu Oru Kaadhal , Varalaru - The History of the Godfather
2007 - Best Music- Sivaji

Swaralaya Yesudas Award (India)
2006 - Swaralaya-Kairali-Yesudas Award for outstanding performance in music field

Below is the audio clip sent by 15 year old Rana Gurtej singing Shauk hai from the movie Guru.

Regards,
Shiva