“A.R. Rahman Removes his Facade: The Real Picture is Hideous”, The Dharma Dispatch, January 21, 2026
“Maniratnam’s 1992 Roja was the wrecking ball that displaced Ilaiyaraaja’s musical suzerainty. More than fifty percent of the movie’s extraordinary success owes to Rahman’s music which sounded fresh to the 1970s and 80s generations, which had just stepped into college and high school. His music also coincided with the arrival of new-gen Tamil directors like S. Shankar. Rahman became unstoppable. Comparisons with Ilaiyaraaja — one of his former Gurus — became inevitable as we shall see.
Needless, Bollywood too, came calling. Ramgopal Varma roped him in for Rangeela. Subhash Ghai enlisted him for Taal. He also scored popular music for the 2006 Communist propaganda film Rang De Basanti.
Rahman’s non-film musical repertoire is also quite substantial. In 1997, the Government of India hired him to do music for India’s national song, Vande Mataram; what we got was a singularly jarring piece sung in Rahman’s singularly unmusical voice; it was an affront inflicted upon the original tune set in the mellifluous Desh Raag — a highly appropriate choice of Raag……..”
Read full article at dharmadispatch.in
