Wednesday, August 22, 2007

The O word and Goosebumps

Song - Jalsa (Remix).

Movie - Chennai 600028.

At least in two places, once in the second minute and once in the third minute, you can distinctly hear a voice chastely uttering the O word.

Postmodernism - 1, Censor Board - 0.

***
Saturday and I finally got around to watching this earache of a movie. But no this isn't about the movie.
A few of us were at Santham, settled in, when a slide comes on saying "Please stand for the national anthem". The audience stands up; the Bharat Bala video comes on (I hadn't seen this before). I start mouthing the words, more out of an attempt to see if I remember them than anything. Bhimsen Joshi, Balamuralikrishna, the Mangeshkar sisters ... one by one, a line each, all clad in pristine white.
And then, just when I was wondering when Rahman would come on, he appears to conclude, singing 'Jaya he' in that boyish voice of his.
The way he lets that first 'Jaya he' hang, the earnestness of his patriotism ... goosebumps. Totally*. Especially if you're standing in the dark with all your senses tuned to the screen.
* - Found the link while I was bloghopping; forgot from where.

3 comments:

~SuCh~ said...

Awsome link.. dude.. :)

And ever wonder how the boyish voice sounded so mature in vellai pookal and santhoosha kannere and the swades song.. ? sound mixing?

musafir said...

Thank you, thank you ... was too hilarious to pass on without linking to it.

I guess in vellai pookal, yeh jo desh hai mera (if that's the one you're talking about) and in most parts of santhosha kannere, he's singing at a pretty low pitch. But when he hits those high notes, that boyish voice does come out. So much so that even with a new song you can clearly recognize that it's Rahman singing within the first few words. Besides, he does have that nasal aspect to his singing which probably makes his voice more boyish.

Unknown said...

agreer .. about the nasal twang in his voice.. and his initial songs had poor pronounciation and some of his live performances slightly off-key..