'UP' with the Oscars!

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Well deserved award for a well deserved score to the most talented Mr. Giacchino!

And the Oscar 2010 nominees are...

Before I get to the list, I'd like to state something I've been feeling for a while. I no longer care for these awards, especially the Oscars, as much as I used to a few years earlier. The nominations and winners have gotten increasingly ridiculous as the years passed, and the film score fan in me got increasingly sick of watching undeserving people walk away with the trophies while the true, worthy gems returned empty-handed. Awards seem to be given more on the basis of hype and "exotic" nature of a score rather than its true quality. But I am following the major awards because of the esteem and popularity they still hold among the masses. We must admit that Oscars are one of the very few events which honour film scores on such a grand scale and help them gain at least some media attention. For that reason, I want my favourite composers to win the award for their hard work, because I am their well wisher and I want them to gain recognition, get better projects and deliver more great music for us. They have already gained the highest respect I can hold for them in my heart with their stunning music, yet I can only be happier watching them gain even more prestigious recognition for their work. The title of "Oscar-winning" means a lot for producers even today and therefore I continue rooting for my favourites at the awards, even if it means risking disappointment in the end.

Now that my semi-rant is over, I'll shed some light on my views about the Oscar nominations for Best Original Score, announced two days ago. As I already mentioned in the corresponding review, I was disappointed with A.R Rahman's much hyped Slumdog Millionaire score winning the Best Original Score award last year. Not because it was a bad score, but because the other four nominees alongside it were simply too good for it to be chosen over them. Yet it happened, and two of my all time favourite composers - James Newton Howard and Thomas Newman, who I had been rooting for since years, were once again robbed of their well deserved award. This year, I'm having more hope because it seems like the winner will likely be my top favourite score of the year, for once. The nominations are -

Avatar (James Horner)
The Fantastic Mr. Fox (Alexandre Desplat)
The Hurt Locker (Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders)
Sherlock Holmes (Hans Zimmer)
Up (Michael Giacchino)

I would specifically like to mention, first of all, that this is Hans Zimmer's first Oscar nomination after 10 years, the last being his score to Ridley Scott's Gladiator back in 2000. As we all know, the German maestro won the Oscar in 1994 for his stunning score to the hit Disney Renaissance classic The Lion King. And for Sherlock Holmes, he's come up with a most unique and innovative sound that has won him near-universal praise, even from his fiercest critics. Although I haven't had the time to review it yet, I'll definitely say that I would be most thrilled if Hans takes that well-deserved Golden man home once more.

I don't need to expand on my love for Michael Giacchino's Up anymore that I already did. Given how it's already swept nearly every existing film music award till now, I'm ready to bet a lot that it will be the winner here too, and a well-deserved one. James Horner's Avatar score, of course, was a shoo-in here too. Although fitting the film well (which I haven't seen yet, but heard from various reliable people) and a good listening experience on its own, I was rather disappointed with how Horner recycled material from his own previous scores and showcased all those techniques here (the choirs from Troy, ethnic instrumentation from Apocalypto and of course the (in)famous four-note "danger motif"), especially considering the vast amount of time he had to work on the project.

I was rather surprised that from all of Alexandre Desplat's fantastic output in 2009, Fantastic Mr. Fox was the one to be chosen, especially seeing that it consisted of very little score among a horde of songs and source cues by Georges Delerue (a practice of Wes Anderson). After all the Academy disqualified Randy Newman's score for The Princess And The Frog on these grounds this very year (he's been nominated for two songs from this film though). But I'm not complaining because Fantastic Mr. Fox definitely showed how versatile Desplat can get, and being one of the industry's fastest rising talents I can only support the well-deserved recognition he gets. I haven't heard The Hurt Locker score yet so I can't comment on it. I will try to check it out, though.

The winner will be announced on March 7. Congrats to the nominees (especially Hans Zimmer, Michael Giacchino and Alexandre Desplat), and best wishes for the award ceremony.

Analysis: Slumdog Millionaire (A.R Rahman)

Yeah, I indeed did not get the time to watch the film previously! I did check it out a couple of days back though, and really enjoyed it. Except for the unusual scenes of slum kids and local gangsters speaking perfect English, this film hardly feels like a product of Hollywood. The Indian spirit runs fresh and strong throughout and kept me hooked on till the end. Special credit should go to the performances of the kids and everyone in the cast, the acting was top notch and felt really natural. This is easily my second favourite movie of last year, following only The Dark Knight.

Now speaking about the score… I was initially somewhat skeptical of the music when I first listened to it on the CD. It isn’t really what I expected from Rahman for this kind of film, primarily consisting of a (quite good) blend of electronics, techno beats and synths with traditional Indian instruments and a few orchestral effects. Either way, after some listens I liked two tracks quite quickly – Mausam & Escape (a fast-paced action cue with some frantic high staccato string work and blend of sitar/electronics) and Latika’s theme (featuring a lovely wordless theme by vocalist Suzanne, supported by sitar and tanpura). I think that judging a score solely by what it is on CD is rather unfair, because the music is often more appreciated after discovering its effect in situ in the film, alongside the visuals.

So while watching the film I was keeping an ear out for the score too. I actually noticed the 16 minutes worth of score material on the soundtrack CD is probably pretty much all that was there, with minor variations and edits in places (confirmed after I listened to the Academy promo). The rest of the music largely consisted of the songs playing in the background (I don't consider those as *score*). O… Saya and Paper Planes were used in the opening sequence and a train montage sequence respectively as background music, and I also heard some of the source music from the original Who Wants To Be A Millionaire show. Most of the other scenes didn’t have any music. Not that I find it bad, as I previously had said, silence can often work as a great score itself in the film in certain situations. But I wonder how did this thing even come close to getting nominated for the Best Original Score award when previously Alan Menken’s lovely score to Enchanted was disqualified on the grounds of not having enough score, and that had about 35 minutes of score at least? Not that it bothers me, but it's certainly interesting how the judges sometimes cross their own rules (or conveniently change them at the eleventh hour) to allow their nominee of choice to win.

Either way, I liked how the score that was there worked in the film, for most of the part. Riots, with its layers of pounding and unsettling electronics provided a good underscore for the corresponding scene, though I’d have preferred something more fast-paced and tense.

I instantly liked the use of the opening guitar melody in Mausam & Escape, played when Jamal sees Latika at the train station. It provided a nice and appropriate enhancement of the emotions onscreen. The “Escape” part consisting of frentic sitar and electronics joined by high staccato strings plays in two parts of the film – when the kids are escaping from Maman’s cronies and when Javed’s men kidnap Latika at the train station. And both times it worked well to set the adrenaline pumping. The sheer energy and sense of terror and drama in this piece is remarkable, and for that reason this is undoubtedly my favourite cue from this album, and I rank it up there as one of the best action cues by Rahman.

Latika’s theme played beautifully especially in the final scene of the film (right before the Jai Ho sequence). It also plays when Salim purposely lets go of Latika’s hand when running from Maman, which beautifully highlights the sense of tragedy in Latika and Jamal, and when he and Jamal are searching for her in Mumbai. Suzanne's wordless vocals are sweet and heartwarming, and the gentle touch with sitar and tanpura is very precise and lovely. Initially I thought the piece felt a little incomplete, and some strings thrown in would’ve made it stronger. But in the movie I noticed the character of Latika isn't really developed a lot, and this theme with its haunting, distant and yet sweet quality fits her perfectly.

Liquid Dance is one cue I didn’t immediately notice in the film. It is a concoction of alaaps by Palakkad Sriram and Madhumita on a techno beat supported by synth strings (think of a slower cousin of Navras). Reminded me a bit of Rahman's theme music from Rangeela. Later on looking back I saw it was used in the scene where Jamal is following Salim to Javed’s house. I felt it was pretty much a filler, didn’t really do anything much for the visuals.

Millionaire is a fast-paced techno vehicle played when Latika is going for Jamal when he’s being asked the final question. Played along quite well alongside the visuals I think, nothing overtly special though. And yeah, I’d like to mention I really liked the use of O Saya and Jai Ho (I initially thought the choreography was poorly done, but later I found out it was initially done for the Aaj Ki Raat song instead, so I think in the light of this it still fits acceptably well) in the film, really fun songs and played out very well at the appropriate time. I’m at least very happy Rahman got the well deserved Best Original Song award. The rest of the songs didn't really stand out much for me (Ringa Ringa has a quite catchy tune/rhythm though).

Regarding the score , I certainly liked it a lot and whatever was there played really well on the screen, but I can’t help but still feel it is somewhat hyped. The soundtrack is VERY good, but it isn't the best in Rahman's career, who has produced even superior scores like Lagaan and Bose: The Forgotten Hero previously. I could’ve done with some better music at some points, and the fact there was too little of it doesn’t help it either (something I don't really care about, but allegedly the AMPAS does). I mean, I cannot think of it up there with the likes of Howard Shore’s Lord Of The Rings scores, or Dario Marianelli’s Atonement. Now granted the songs worked well along the visuals, but then that's why we have separate categories of Score and Song awards.

Don't get me wrong, I really liked this score, and Mausam & Escape and Latika's Theme have quickly found a place among my most played tracks. But should this be preferred over the amazing scores nominated alongside it? This is the highest award of honour a film score can get and should it just be handed over without the appropriate fierce competition? This is why I say that while it's a good score, I'd have liked to see the award go to the far superior scores of Defiance and Wall-E.

But I am happy to say isn’t a disappointment in the league of Gustavo Santaolalla’s Babel. The way I see it, this award is the Academy's acknowledgement of Rahman's immense contribution to the world of film music. I’m happy to see Rahman finally getting the recognition he deserves, for a fine score nonetheless, and hope to see him get bigger and better projects (and releases) as a result.

Music Rating - 4 out of 5

Jai Ho, Rahman!

The Indian Maestro has just bagged both the Best Original Song (for "Jai Ho", shared with Gulzar) and Best Original Score awards at the Oscars! While I still wish James Newton Howard had gotten the score award for Defiance, ARR more than deserves it, too! Here's to hoping for a much more bright future of Rahman scores!

I'm also extremely happy with Slumdog Millionaire rocking the Oscars tonight!

Oscars 2009 - Best Original Score nominations

The nominations for this year's Academy Awards, aka Oscars have been announced yesterday! The nominees in the Best Original Score category are -

*The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Alexandre Desplat
*Defiance - James Newton Howard
*Milk - Danny Elfman
*Slumdog Millionaire - A.R. Rahman
*WALL-E - Thomas Newman

You can read the rest of the nominations here - http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/art … QD95S7OB82

I'm glad, really, that maestro Rahman got nominated for this most prestigious award! His songs Jai Ho and O Saya from Slumdog Millionaire have also been nominated in the Best Original Song category, competing only with Down To Earth from Wall-E.

While I'm rooting all-out for ARR in the Song category, as he more than deserves that one, I'm kinda in a dilemma over the Original Score one. While I'm rejoicing as an Indian and a big ARR fan, I'm quite confused as a film music fan. The score of Slumdog is nice, no doubt, but is it better than the others like JNH's Defiance and Newman's Wall-E? IMO, the honest answer would be no. I'd rather have liked to see ARR get nominated for one of his many wonderful orchestral scores, such as Lagaan or Warriors Of Earth And Heaven, rather than Slumdog which primarily consists of eletronics and techno beats combined with guitar and traditional Indian instruments.

To be honest, I'd rather like the score award to go to either James Newton Howard for his excellent suspenseful violin-based score to Defiance, or Thomas Newman for his quirky, yet emotional and fun score to Wall-E (many film music fans are also hoping for Desplat's Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, but personally that one hasn't grown on me much so far. But certainly it is a strong contender). But based on the recent Oscar Best Original Score winners, which I've been following for quite some time, I'm pretty sure Rahman is gonna bag the Score award, and also hopefully the Song one. But c'mon, I'm one proud Indian and ARR fan, so why worry? :D

Will be eagerly looking forward to the fateful night (or day here) on the 22nd of February, 2009!!