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Opinion Editorial

Published: January 12, 2013 00:40 IST | Updated: January 14, 2013 00:53 IST
Our songs, their movies
The capital of Carnatic music seems to have made an impression on Hollywood.

Chennais longstanding tryst with music and the arts is well-known, and its Music Season attracts aficionados from
the world over. But of late, the capital of Carnatic music seems to have made an impression on Hollywood as well.
When Danny Boyle was looking for a music director for his Mumbai-based Slumdog Millionaire, his eyes fell on
A.R. Rahman, the Mozart of Madras, who eventually picked up Academy Awards for Best Original Song and Best
Original Score. Now, the Carnatic musician Bombay Jayashri has been nominated for Best Original Song (Music by
Mychael Danna; Lyric by Bombay Jayashri) for Pis Lullaby, in Ang Lees Life of Pi. The song faces tough
competition in the form of Suddenly, from the hit musical Les Misrables, and, especially, the blockbuster title
track from Skyfall, which came right in time for James Bonds golden anniversary on screen, something the
Academys voting members will certainly have in mind given the films lack of nominations in the major categories.
Then again, Ang Lees Brokeback Mountain was denied Best Picture in a widely criticised 2005 decision (Paul
Haggiss Crash won that year), and the Academy, still red in the face, may be looking to make amends. Sometimes,
as was the case with Slumdog Millionaire, a film can end up showered with Oscar love, sweeping everything in sight.
Ang Lee will certainly be hoping thats the case.
Oscar politicking apart, the nomination of Pis Lullaby raises an intriguing question: does popular music from
India travel better around the world than its popular movies? Jai Ho, after all, is very much in the beat-heavy
Bollywood mould, and Pis Lullaby is only the latest version of a long line of bedtime songs Indian screen mothers
have sung for their screen children. Meanwhile, Barfi!, a big hit in the country and Indias (highly questionable)
official nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, did not even make it to the shortlist. But its not that simple.
Jai Ho and Pis Lullaby found recognition because they happened to be part of movies that were embraced by a
worldwide audience. The soul may have been Indian, but the packaging was still international. One may wonder,
then, why the songs of, say, Gurinder Chadhas Bride and Prejudice failed to find any takers. After all, Chadha is a
well-known name, and her film was based on the work of someone even more well-known: Jane Austen. The film
even starred a Miss World. Yet, the score made not a ripple, a fate that was shared by the song Gori Re, in Mira
Nairs adaptation of Vanity Fair. Both these films got little critical recognition, and did not play very well to
audiences either. It may bode well for Pis Lullaby that critics and audiences around the world have loved Life of Pi.
Keywords: Carnatic music, Hollywood, Bombay Jayashri, Mychael Danna, Pis Lullaby, Ang Lee, Life of Pi, Oscar
nomination
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