My Sexy Kadavul
Posted by Unknown
Karan Thapar, the devil from Devil’s Advocate (CNN-IBN) once
said in an interview that this person was a nightmare to interview. He said and
I quote “In those days he was exceedingly shy; his long answer was ‘umm’ and
his short answer was ‘um’. Most of his answers were ‘umm’.” He is a man of few
words. To judge him based on that would be utterly foolish; for he is talent
personified. Calling him a genius would be an understatement. I call him ‘sexy
kadavul.’ The world calls him ‘Mozart of Madras.’ He calls himself AR Rahman.
I was recently watching his
concert on TV and I realised that I was not alone, like always. My parents had
long given up on refining my taste when it came to TV programs. I simply
refused to watch Carnatic music concerts with my mother, football matches with
my Brother, NDTV Profit with my Father or Sankara Channel with my Gran. I was
more of a Star-World-Tom-and-Jerry-MTV person. So you can imagine my surprise
when I found my entire family in the living room with me, listening to Rahman’s
concert. I was faced with the hard fact that Rahman had united my highly
dysfunctional family - it was equal parts amazing and creepy!
Rahman vastly influenced my
childhood. I am told that I was three years old when I was first introduced to
the music of Roja. Apparently I used to be a pain in the ass (you don’t say!)
demanding to accompany my mother wherever she went. So my mother devised a ploy
and played this cassette on the recorder. I sat there listening to it on
repeat, while my mother made her secret trips to the market/grocery store and I
didn’t even notice her absence. To this day, I keep thinking, proudly, that I
belong to the generation that was alive when Rahman introduced himself to this
world.
Right from writing an imaginary
interview with Rahman for my English essay assignment to running to Music World
every time his album released to cutting photos of him from every magazine and
newspaper that was bought at home (much to my Father’s exasperation), he
occupied a huge chunk of my childhood. It’s by far the most a celebrity has
influenced me. Humility, simplicity and originality. That’s all it took for him
to attract me. That’s all it took for him to be where he is now – on a plethora
of success.
I have all his songs categorised
as a separate genre in my iTunes. I can listen to his 4 hour concerts on
re-runs. Rahman’s music is what is described as “kekka kekka dhaan pidikum”
(repeated listening only stimulates liking). I am someone who has his lesser
known tracks on repeat so that I will eventually start liking them. I cannot
stand someone talking about him in terms of plagiarism or being repetitive – I
jump to argue in his defence. I wait for his rare interviews to hear his
beautiful mind (Check out this website BTW: http://whenrahmanspeaks.com/).
China has declared that music has healing powers; for me, Rahman’s music heals
everything. To summarise, Kollywood style, I walk Rahman, I talk Rahman, I eat
Rahman. That’s how big a fan I am.
How big a fan are you?
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