AR Rahman

Behind The Mac, Once Again!

September 18, 2018 General Happenings

Of all the places in this vastness of Toronto city, I spot a massive poster hung atop a building featuring none other than the musical maestro AR Rahman, I’m still wondering how that location somewhere on Bloor Street West was chosen for this grand display! One is used to seeing a diverse mix of models complementing anything from creams to cuisine, so the excitement of watching an Indian celebrity endorsing a premium brand in a foreign land was palpable. This is Apple’s attempt at projecting it’s Mac lineup of computers as brilliance personified.

This ad was also unique for a reason because this month I chose to move on from my ‘old-but-gold’ MacBook Pro and opted for the new 2018 line-up. Here’s a little background to my old Mac which is still my favourite – the second-generation unibody Macs were first announced by Steve Jobs in October 2008 and the timing couldn’t have been more appropriate for me to order one in Canada back in 2009. It was a tedious buying episode, to say the least, however, this time the shopping experience was definitely surreal & seamless (thanks to my location in Toronto) right from placing the order on my app to receiving it within a few hours at the nearest Apple Store. The new 15-inch configurations are loaded with Intel Core i9 (up to 6 core) and upgradeable to up to 32 gigs of RAM which definitely makes it sheer desktop-class. Besides having been on Mac for several years now the need to experiment or work on a Windows (eco)system is fairly diminishing.

Which brings me to a question. In a previous post about my first Mac I had pondered if this indeed is the end of my association with the Windows family and the answer is probably “nah”. Because as someone in the creative arts field I need to constantly push the boundaries of my artistic and innovative desires and not let my limitations or beliefs stifle the positive outcomes. I guess Rahman would have definitely smiled on that note.

Latika’s Theme – Slumdog Millionaire Soundtrack

February 19, 2018 General Movies

I have zero recollection of the hours that I have spent listening to Suzanne D’Mello’s melancholic crooning of Latika’s emotions in this track, a slow and an entrancing piece of melody from the critically acclaimed soundtrack of Slumdog Millionaire. Once again, I discovered it quite randomly during my music listening spree today – perhaps your most cherished songs follow you everywhere just like your beloved memories. There are other hit tracks on the album, including the award-winning Jai Ho (Academy Award for Best Original Song and a Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media) which captured the imagination of the world and also Ringa Ringa, but I keep returning to Latika’s Theme like a hopeless romantic. From my list of favourite composers, A R Rahman is one who has the potential of casting a spell on my latent consciousness with his tunes, while consistently demonstrating the obvious that music has a universal appeal even when it’s deprived of any language or words and an effective antidote for healing our bruised soul.

‘One Heart’ Is A Melodic Pilgrimage with AR Rahman

November 17, 2017 Movies

I have been an ardent fan of the Oscar-winning music composer AR Rahman since the ‘Roja’ days and I feel particularly sorry for admitting that I haven’t been to any of his live concerts! But all is not lost and I still have my hopes high. Meanwhile, I was privileged to watch a movie on his life and times through a concert called ‘One Heart – The AR Rahman Concert Film’. It’s a film for anyone who has missed the chance to experience a live performance.

The 90-minute documentary consists of footage from AR Rahman’s ‘The Intimate Concert Tour’ in which his cherry-picked 10-member band performed in 14 cities across the US. Though I could not ignore the fact that this movie appears to be produced as an afterthought by including additional footage, in the end, it was the music and the live performances that mattered. It revealed the maestro’s melodious journey through a rare interview of the legendary composer himself, how he engineers those tunes, his inspirations, and associations, etc., also a never-before-seen Rahman opening up on his personal life. The live band consists of AR Rahman himself, with Ranjit Barot (percussion), Annette Philip (jazz/vocals), Marie Calhoun (violin), Jonita Gandhi (from Toronto! Yaay!!) and Haricharan (vocals), Mohini De (bass guitar/prodigy), Keba Jeremiah (guitar), Devi Rani Najev (dancer), along with Shiraz Uppal, Sanket Athale, Ashwin Srinivasan, and more, most of whom you might have caught jamming on the MTV Unplugged (India) season. I imagine I may have missed a few names, but then again, the concert was very engrossing.

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