Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Great Soundtracks - Slumdog Millionaire


In 2008 Danny Boyle took us all over India with his Oscar winning film, Slumdog Millionaire. The film, which centered around a boy from the slums winning the Bollywood version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, had the world at their feet. Much of the excitement of the film came about because of it's story, the timeless classic of a boy trying to reconnect to the woman he loves, but was forwarded thanks to the score and music of A.R. Rahman. Rahman found a way to mix the music of "old India" and "new India" together - mixing sounds of one generation, and the traditional sounds of the country and blending it with more urban and contemporary work of today. Rahman collaborated with M.I.A. on a track, M.I.A.'s international smash, "Paper Planes" appears twice on the soundtrack, once on its full release and another, as a remix by DFA. Rahman, rightfully won an Oscar for Best Original Score for his sublime compositions that had us travel to exotic parts of the world right in the comfort of our own iPods. Now, almost five years after its release, the soundtrack to Slumdog Millionaire is still something to smile about.