AR Rahman experimentation failure with Couples Retreat music score

I wanted to see how bad Couples Retreat could be based on the abysmally low ratings at Rotten Tomatoes.  Man oh man was this movie BAD.  AR Rahman recently known to the world (outside of India) as the 2009 Oscar winner of Best Music Director (for Slumdog Milliionaire) did the music for Couples Retreat.  It must have been the case that his manager demanded the producer(s) of Couples Retreat that he have absolute freedom in the music direction because it was the worst match made that I can think of.

Granted the script itself was clumsy (albeit with what I think is an all-star cast), the music just added to the clumsiness.  Where there should have been light, silly musical banter behind the weak jokes, there was no music.  Where there was a slightly adventurous scene (the boat ride to Eden East), AR Rahman turned it into a *real* adventure sequence with the background music.  When Vince Vaughn speaks in Shakespearean tongue through a short sequence, AR Rahman adds music that you normally hear at the beginning of a wild west duel scene.

Music direction is very under-rated in the US  – in India it’s quite the opposite – and with this film, AR Rahman clearly bombed in what can only be described as “lost in translation” issue (both in terms of culture and communication).  Most audience members won’t chalk this movie failure up to music direction – but I know that the blow could have been softened with a normal music director pick.

AR Rahman wants to challenge himself but he really ought to stick to what he knows best and not make any sort of transition so as to embarrass himself on the Hollywood circuit.  In fact, his Oscar win was exactly due to this; a foreign director producing a movie in India that had the perfect blend of exoticism, comedy, and adventure.