Slumdog Millionaire

I'd never heard of A.R. Rahman until seeing SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE and immediately recognizing the music as fantastic, original, and one of the most important elements that elevated the movie into the 'classic' category. I purchased the CD when it was released, and after listening to it a many times through, I still think the music is fantastic, if a little less compelling when stripped of the dynamic visuals of the film. The electronic beats are interwoven perfectly with the indigenous instrumentation to create a soundscape that is both exotic (at least to western ears) and familiar at the same time. The energy level and pacing to the songs is great; this is music you can (and my wife has) danced to. It's so full of life and power that listening to it can't help but put you in a good mood.

I learned in an interview with A.R. Rachman that he is one of the top selling composers in the world! How fitting then that the movie that is succeeding in popularizing Bollywood in America has also succeeded in popularizing this talented composer. He deserves the recognition of winning a Grammy, and he deserves to be selling millions of records. While I'm not familiar with his other music (although I plan to buy a few other soundtracks after enjoying this one so much), I feel he demonstrated such a level of creativity in SLUMDOG that I'm frankly amazed that more people in the US hadn't hear of him before, including myself.

This is 'THE' soundtrack to own from 2008. Nothing else comes close. I liked the Wall-e soundtrack as well, but its a distant second to this one (sorry Peter Gabriel). This is an easy purchase for anyone who loved the movie. Great stuff.

5/5 Stars.

People must get some kind of kickback for these reviews because quite frankly this CD sucks. But then again looking at what passes for music these days I'm not too surprised.

Having listen to Rehman music for just over decade now, I have seen a huge transformation in his sound tracks. Though, Slumdog millionaire has a hint of masala targeting the west, it does have Rehman stamp. MIA's tracks were awesome. I have to give 4 stars, my 5 stars for Mani Rathnam's movie soundtrack.