Ten unforgettable background scores of A. R. Rahman

As we join millions and millions of music lovers all over the globe in celebrating the modern Mozart, A.R. Rahman’s birthday, we bring you a special slide show of Ten unforgettable background scores which elevated those movies to a much higher level. These are just a few drops from the ocean of music called the Isaipuyal.

Roja

It is hard to believe that this is the debut film of A. R. Rahman, judging not from those lovely songs,but from the background score. The opening scenes in the village will have the distinct rural sounds while the love, marriage and honeymoon of the hero and the heroine will have a crescendo of rich music. The brilliant direction of Mani Ratnam is further punctuated by the bgm that Rahman infused for Pankaj Kapoor’s terrorist which helped us identify him as a human too.

Bombay

It raises goosebumps just to remember the cool shots of Mani Ratnam when Arvind Swamy and Manisha Koirala fall into forbidden love and it looked as though Rahman with his music forced it on them. In the Mumbai riots sequences Rahman’s master strokes enriched the riveting viewing experience.

Gentleman

The debut of Shankar and the beginning of a long running collaboration between him and Rahman proved that the youngster could handle the requirements of commercial background music more than well. The scenes involving Vineeth and Arjun had some heart rending music by Rahman which hit the hearts straight.

Kizhakku Seemaiyile

When the Ilayaraja- Bharathiraja combo broke and the director chose Rahman many thought that the newbie will be exposed, but he proved the naysayers wrong with his extraordinary rural flavored songs. Rahman also passed the background score test with distinction, especially in the climax.

Duet

This time it was the turn of the Iyakunar Sigaram Balachander to welcome the young Rahman into his fold. Rahman gave a completely new dimension to film music with his ‘Duet’ album predominantly using the sax. His background score is uniformly good with the confrontations between the brothers taking the cake.

Kadhalan

By the time Shankar and Rahman came together for the second time films started drawing crowds with the tag Isaipuyal “A.R. Rahman Isaiyil”. If Shankar made heads turn with his graphics it was Rahman who made audiences sit through the mediocre story with his songs and bgm.

Indian

Again a Shankar film, but one that had the Ulaganayagan Kamal Haasan in two stunningly different roles. By this time Rahman grew into a genius and the sequence that comes to mind in this movie is the Independence struggle flashback where Rahman’s haunting music made millions of hearts throb in unison.

Minsara Kanavu

The youthful tale by Rajeev Menon had a lot of scope for Rahman to excel in the background as he had to go thara local for Prabhu Deva's character, ooze class for Arvind Swamy and dwell in ecstacy for the breathtaking Kajol. Need we say more.

Padayappa

A thalaivar film and audiences so used to Ilayaraja and later Deva’s over the top intro songs and punctuations for many a mass moment should have put some pressure on Rahman. But the ever cool Isaipuyal threw up 'Vettri Kodi Kattu' and then made the fans jump in joy with his bgm that followed every "Enn Vazhi Thani Vazhi" and " Koodave poranthathu".

Ok Kanmani

Even the great Mani Ratnam had to regain lost ground with this modern tale and he did it in great style with his trusted go to man Rahman firing on all cylinders with the songs. The background score is mesmerizing to say the least and the fans went "mental" in their "manathils"

As we join millions and millions of music lovers all over the globe in celebrating the modern Mozart, A.R. Rahman’s birthday, we bring you a special slide show of Ten unforgettable background scores which elevated those movies to a much higher level. These are just a few drops from the ocean of music called the Isaipuyal.