And The Oscar Goes To...

Azadnagar shantytown, the 200 acre slum located next door to Mumbai's International Airport. (Taken in April 2007)
I just finished watching Slumdog Millionaire. When I wake up I hope it'll have won the Oscar. And so to AR Rahman. Good night!

Slumdog Millionaire Pwns The 2009 Oscars

Not surprisingly, the Indian media is going ga-ga over Slumdog's success at the Academy Awards and the man at the centre of attention is A.R. Rahman, the Tamil music director. He became the first Indian to win two Oscars, and follows in the footsteps of legendary director, Satyajit Ray as one of a handful of Oscar-winning Indians. Eight Oscars out of nine nominations was not a bad effort and along with the Awards for Best Actress, Documentary & Short Documentary, t'was a great night for the UK & India.

But I am happiest for A.R. Rahman, a guy whose music I have been worshiping since I was eight years old. The fact that he is Tamil makes his victory all the more sweet. He even added a Tamil phrase at the end of his first victory speech which was a nice touch. But the joy in his success is shared by every Indian who has been touched by his musical greatness. In many ways his Oscar victory is not wholly surprising. His rise to the top has been gradual but consistent. In the 80s he studied Western classical music on a scholarship at London's world renowned Trinity College of Music and was a member of the legendary Tamil music director Ilaiyaraaja's music troupe. In 1992 he made his musical film debut in a Mani Ratnam blockbuster and followed it up with dozens of successes at the Tamil and Hindi box office over the next decade. In 2003 he switched gears and composed the music for Andrew Lloyd Webber's West End Production, Bombay Dreams and with the global recognition he received from that, went on to compose the music for the globally released Lord of the Rings theatre production. It only seems natural that the next step was to compose the music for an entire English movie, having only had bits and pieces used in various films like Inside Man, Lord of War, and The Accidental Husband. Along came Danny Boyle and his team of Slumdog Millionaires. The rest is history.

But my fondest memory of the music genius comes from the summer of 1997, a time when India was preparing itself for its 50th Independence Day celebrations. There was tension in the air as Hindu right-wingers stirred an old controversy. They were making an issue out of a supposed claim that Indian Muslims purposely did not sing India's national song (not to be confused with the national anthem) because they were offended by the depiction of the Mother Nation as a Hindu Goddess. In a country filled with centuries of history of communal violence between Hindus and Muslims it seemed but a matter of time until the tension boiled over. But it didn't. Barely weeks before the Independence Day celebrations, A.R. Rahman came out with a rare music compilation outside the film industry. It was titled Vande Mataram (Mother I bow to thee), the very name of the controversial song. Needless to say A.R. Rahman is a Muslim (though he was born a Hindu and converted only after the death of his father while still a child). Composed of songs in both Hindi and Tamil, the album went a long way to diffusing the tension. And in true neighbourly spirit, there was even a song in collaboration with the late Pakistani musician, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, who tragically died two days after the 50th celebrations.

So yeh, who cares if the Oscars are political? Congratulations to all the winners! Alla Rakkha Rahman Tujhe Salaam (I Salute You)!

Barrington Bjorn Beckenbauer Yearwood

The name of one of the players in the recently concluded cricket tour match between a BCA President's XI and an England XI.