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1992 - The Dawn of a New Era
by ROTFL

One early Monday morning. The air was cold and there was the usual Monday morning tension. The radio was switched on as usual, bringing upon songs that merged with the morning breeze, mostly heard but not listened. Suddenly came this
piece of music that was totally new and different. Was this a Tamil song? And then the male singer started singing.....Pudhu vellai mazhai ingu pozhigindrathu. Everyone were rooted momentarily. This was new. It was some thing we have never heard before. The music, handling of the instruments, the appropriate clash of the cymbals and the singer reaching heights and
then suddenly lowering his range again. This time we listened. Even while continuing with the chores, we were curiously awaiting the end of the song for some announcement on details of the song. The song ended and unfamiliar names were said: Unni Menon, Sujatha and AR Rahman! The magic had begun! That was my first experience with AR Rahman, some ten years ago....

Mesmerised by this one single song, we felt compelled to buy the cassette (no CDs then). Everything about the album ooked unusual. The cast: Arvind Swami, Madhubala. The singers: Unni Menon, Sujatha, Minmini and Hariharan! Was this a usual Tamil movie, we wondered. Hurriedly, we came back and listened to the songs. Chinna chinna aasai siragadikkum aasai....what lovely, soft words, cute singing and the music! Then there was SP Bala in all his glory with Kaathal rojaave enge nee enge. Thank God, at last a familiar voice! Amazing song. Puthu vellai mazhai again. Felt like we were transported to the Alps. Rukkumani rukkumani akkam pakkam yaarummille. Strange song, strange arrangement, strange choruses. Everything from this album was new. Final song: Thamizha thamizha. Who was this Hariharan? Amazing voice. Such an emotionally power-packed song. Back to side A again.

We kept on listening to the songs and spread the news. Hey friends, have you listened to Rojaa?A new dimension to Tamil film music. Scoured the newspapers and magazines for any news or articles on the album. AR Rahman! Only 23 years old!
Wow! We can relate to him. Another genius in the making. Evening came. Gathered with friends and disseminated the music. Exciting times were here. Wait! There is an interview with Minmini on radio. Turn the volume up. Wow!
She is cool. Ask her to sing. She obliges. Wide grins on everyone's faces. Another day and more listenings. Not satisfied with the cassette alone, we look out for the songs on radio. Squeals of delight every time Rojaa or AR Rahman is mentioned. Everyone's favourite seems to be Chinna chinna aasai. We wallow in the music. And then a very important question is asked. What next? More! We are hungry for more! Thus began the journey...

Postscript :

Roja is dubbed into several languages and now AR Rahman music is spread to Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and Marathi.
AR Rahman goes on to win the Best Music Director award in the Tamil Nadu State film award followed by best music
director award in Filmfare (Tamil films) award. Roja gets the National award for best film on national integration. A R
Rahman also gets the best music director National award for 1992. Vairamuthu bags the best lyricist National award for
1992. Minmini wins the Tamilnadu State Film Award for the best playback singer for 1992. Magnasound and Lahiri
Recording company separately release an instrumental version of the songs in the Roja soundtrack

 

2002 Constellation - A group of ARR fans from TFMPage.com

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