Balki's next project - Shamitabh

This obviously needs a separate thread - to track everything that's happening right from the beginning!

Mayil Senthil has got some treats for us from iLaya thaLam, to begin this thread with:
http://soundcloud.com/mayilsenthil/sets/ilayathalam-balki-bombay

Wow! This is interesting. I wonder who managed to sneak out this preview. Clearly can see raaja's stamp all over.

Trying to guess the male singer.

Just added the two more bootleg audios that I ripped off their videos today. Would be on the same playlist.

https://soundcloud.com/mayilsenthil/sets/ilayathalam-balki-bombay

டாடட்ட..

DIG

There were people who ridiculed Balki's pA for the characterization of the progeria child (the role that AB played).

Such people should read this article and view the video :
Exemplery progeria child

END-DIG

Dhanush & Akshara

Surprised to see that these two are part of this project too

Akshara whose ambition was to become a Director was working as Assistant director in a few bollywood films and has rejected many offers to act. It is to be noted that Akshara's elder sister Sruthi Hassan is going great guns as a heroine in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. Now Akshara is all set to follow her sister with her acting debut in a film that includes some famous names of Indian film industry like Ilayaraja and P.C.Sreeram.

So, Kamal's first daughter sang for rAsA (Hey Ram) & second daughter will debut acting in a movie with rAsA score

Surudhi pappA pORRi pAdadi peNNE layE pAdalayA?

plum wrote:Surudhi pappA pORRi pAdadi peNNE layE pAdalayA?

Yes, her name is in the vinyl cover, along with NT's for that song 

(However, I don't know if that was her debut)

http://tamil.oneindia.in/movies/news/dhanush-starts-shooting-his-second-hindi-film-193267.html



http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2014-02-04/theatre/47003889_1_r-balki-akshara-haasan-english-vinglish

Dhanush acts with disability

முதல்முறையாக மாற்றுத்திறனாளியாக நடிக்கிறார் தனுஷ். பால்கியின் இந்திப் படத்துக்காகதான் இந்த புதிய வேடம்.

பால்கியின் மூன்றாவது இந்திப் படத்தின் படப்பிடிப்பு சமீபத்தில் தொடங்கியது. முந்தைய இரு படங்களில் நடித்த அமிதாப்பச்சன் இதிலும் இருக்கிறார். இதேபோல் இசையமைப்பாளர் இளையராஜா, கேமராமேன் பி.சி.ஸ்ரீராம்.

தனுஷும், கமலின் இளைய மகள் அக்ஷராவும் படத்தின் இளம் ஜோடி.

இதில் தனுஷ் நடிக்கும் கதாபாத்திரத்துக்கு முதலில் ஷnருக்கானை கேட்பது என்று தீர்மானித்ததாகவும், ராஞ்சனாவில் தனுஷின் நடிப்பபைப் பார்த்து அவரை ஒப்பந்தம் செய்ததாகவும் பால்கி தெரிவித்துள்ளார். இதில் மாற்றுத்திறனாளி இளைஞனாக தனுஷ் வருகிறார்.

 Detail of மாற்றுத்திறனாளி role that Dhanush is doing...

இந்தப் படத்தில் வாய் பேசாத, காது கேளாத வேடமாம் தனுஷுக்கு.

Amitabh singing again:
http://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/amitabh-bachchan-to-lend-his-vocie-for-a-song-in-r-balkis-shamitabh/

Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan is working on a new song he is set to lend his voice to for R. Balakrishnan aka R. Balki’s upcoming movie ‘Shamitabh’.

“Oh and yes another session with Aadesh (Shrivastava) at his music studio last night did result in another song that I had to sing for ‘Shamitabh’…the finest quality of music from the genius of Ilayaraja, the magician from Chennai,” Big B posted on his blog early on Monday (June 16).

Talking of the veteran Illayaraja, Big B added: “How many years have passed since his emergence and how till today his prominence continues. The veteran, the master, who nurtured some very special musicians.”

Illayaraja has composed music for over 900 films in his career. Currently, he’s busy composing for “Shamitabh”, which also stars Dhanush and marks the Bollywood debut of southern superstar actor Kamal Haasan’s daughter Akshara.

Young (iLaya) 'veteran'

Funny article by bollywood hungama

Ilaiyaraja, the Shankar-Jaikishan-rolled-into-Laxmikant-Pyarelal of the South, came into Bachchan's orbit with Cheeni Kum, and became his home composer with Paa

Pathetic understanding of Maestro by NIs.  

as jeyamohan would say - that is the max they can think of and that how they have defined their GODs.

Feb 2015

So, the music may come out a month or two earlier...

2015ம் ஆண்டின் தொடக்கத்தில் தனுஷின் அடுத்த இந்திப் படம் வெளியாக இருக்கிறது. பிப்ரவரி 6ம் தேதி இப்படம் வெளியாகும் என அறிவித்திருக்கிறது தயாரிப்பு நிறுவனம்.

இப்படத்தில் தனுஷ் வாய் பேச முடியாத, காது கேட்காத உறுதுணை நடிகராகவும், தனுஷ் பாத்திரத்திற்கு டப்பிங் கொடுக்கும் கலைஞராக அமிதாப் பச்சனும் நடித்து வருவதாக செய்திகள் வெளியாகியுள்ளன. ஆனால், இதனை படக்குழு உறுதி செய்யவில்லை.

Some pictures:
http://ibnlive.in.com/photogallery/16610-9.html

Balki knows how to promote well his low-bud movies...

app_engine wrote:Some pictures:
http://ibnlive.in.com/photogallery/16610-9.html

Balki knows how to promote well his low-bud movies...

Balki is from ad world. Sure he knows :-)

akkA singing pinnaNi for thangachchi

ஷமிதாப் படத்தில் இளையராஜா இசையமைப்பில் ஸ்ருதிஹாசன் ஹிந்துஸ்தானி பாடல் ஒன்றை பாடுகிறார். ஸ்ருதி முறைப்படி ஹிந்துஸ்தானி இசை கற்றவர் என்பது குறிப்பிடத்தக்கது

Balki's marketing of the album

Balki says this will be the finest album of Ilaiyaraja's career, raising the expectations to sky high.

app_engine wrote: Balki's marketing of the album

Balki says this will be the finest album of Ilaiyaraja's career, raising the expectations to sky high.

This :-)

Apisial song single released. Amitabh singing. Piddly. Synth rhythms put off. But tune takes off superbly towards the middle; piano and strings salvage the orch. Amitabh pulls it off surprisingly admirably. Verdict. I'll take this

The mic for the singer

Agree AB's voice is nice in this song.

Otherwise it's quite average (i.e. because I lowered my expectations after the "teaser")

As in the case of many recent numbers, saraNam is > pallavi IMHO.

Let's see now how the Shruthi Hasan song is going to be

The whole song is available officially as a free download :
http://t.co/16ZRM4eGzb

(Link posted by Nerd on twitter, nanRi sArE! )

I'm able to keep my aversion for the tsk-tsk-synth away and enjoy the song overall! 

AB's voice definitely helps in this case
(I can't imagine myself listening to this a second time - if presented with some boyish voice common in TFM today  )

An enjoyable song on the first listen. Looping full version now (thanks Nerd and App for the link). 

Lots of things going on in the song that worked for me: the tune, singing and especially the orchestration - synth was not that big an irritant to me and both of the interludes were magical). 

Amitabh's voice fitted to the playful tune perfectly. Was it auto tuned, not that noticeable.

You don't need autotune to make the singer sound impossibly perfect.  The pros here like Ravi sir can correct me if I am wrong but today's technology in any case allows the composer to zero in on the exact spot where there is a mistake, make the singer sing the phrase again and swap.  That at least is how I remember SJ madam describing it when she once appeared as judge for Ragamalika programme.  It's not today, actually modern recordings going back the last 10-15 years sound way better, pitch wise, than old recordings simply because of the flexibility of digital (where analog was more rigid and made such corrections difficult and expensive).  If somebody like Bhava still sounds off, it may be because Raja left the mistakes on the record.  Whether he chose to deviate from that or AB simply sang perfectly is hard to tell, but it's more likely the former.  Autotune may have also been used and it's possible to use it in a restrained, unobtrusive way...but a lot of times, composers now use it for the effect of the autotuned sound itself.  

My expectations from this song were so low that I was pleasantly surprised.  The synths are pretty nice, understated but contemporary.  I loved the groove.  Tune is alright, not particularly special but kind of catchy.  Compared to say a Chellam Konjam attempt to trade on Yuvan's popularity, I found this more palatable.  Tune still sounded maybe too Tamil for the Hindi audience, let's see.