The Score Magazine - Archive April 2009 issue! | Page 15

T
hat the Oscars’ were a field night for India in many
ways was seldom in question. Most of the world’s
who’s who at the Kodak Theater were seen grappling
with pronunciations of Indian names that would have
made many a person from God’s Own Country scandalized.
AR Rahman earned a couple more statuettes, ladled out per-
haps the first tri-lingual acceptance speech, pushing even host
Hugh Jackman’s colourful antics aside and became a larger
poster boy than most bookies would have given you odds on.
And then there were the kids. How can we forget those little
ragamuffins from the slums of Dharavi, all decked up in snazzy
attire. Truly it was India shining.
But there was another little girl in attendance that night, with
quite a distinct Indian connection at that. And it is that small
town girl, with as cheerful a name as Pinki, that we are inter-
ested in. For it is her story, set in the plains of central India,
that swung the Academy’s jury to take the coveted award for
Best Documentary of the year. When Megan Mylan decided
to make a short film on the work the Smile Train Foundation
was doing across the globe with kids suffering from facial
clefts, she probably picked India for reasons best known to
herself. How she picked the stirring music that many feel has
epitomized the soul of suffering and hope, in India is what we
do know. As told by the one responsible for it, in person.
Left alone, the name Prasanna would probably not trouble
the brows of the average person too much. Add the prefix
‘Guitar’ to it and there’s every possibility you might get to
see as much animation as the brows can handle. More if it
is a music lover; more so if a seasoned connoisseur. Preced-
ing him is tremendous reputation both as a trained Carnatic
guitarist (a rarity in itself) and a global musician. Well versed
in contemporary styles, Prasanna’s profile, interests and mu-
sical inclinations are a subject that may fill many volumes. Of
interest though, is his disinclination toward putting a genre to
his music and his penchant for originality; as was evident after
sitting through a session he handled at the KM Conservatory.
Moving forward, Prasanna who had dabbled a bit in films
and advertising, has now largely retreated to performances
across the US and India during the music season. It was dur-
ing one of these, that he received a call from Mylan, “Some-
one had suggested that I might be able to help her achieve
the Indian sound she was looking for, so she called me to see
if it led anywhere”, said the guitar virtuoso.
What then followed was probably the quickest score that
any director could have hoped for. Not that any Guinness
stats tumbled but the entire score was done in three days
flat. “I watched the movie and loved it so much, I took it up
instantly. It took on