Sound | Gladiator 20th Anniversary

July 23, 2020

Sound | Gladiator 20th Anniversary | Hans Zimmer

The sound track of Gladiator has gone platinun today, I don't owe Hans Zimmer but Madurai Mappillai Vinayagar theatre.

Back in 2000, I was in my XII standard, auteur Ridley Scott's Gladiator was released in my temple Madurai Mappillai Vinayagar Theatre. If my memory serves me well, our quarterly examination was in progress. Our classes closed by noon and we were allowed to go home to "study". It was a Friday noon, Gladiator was released.

Typically, Mappillai Vinayagar theatre exhibits trailers in accordance with the international trailer release - 2 to 3 months before the theatrical release itself trailers were exhibited. Therefore, anticipation was always high and hype was set for any English film released in Mappillai Vinayagar and Manicka Vinayagar theatres, especially for large scale action and science fiction films.

There was a high anticipation for Gladiator. I always talked about this film even during the classes and was asked to kneel down in front of the class for doing so. I never bothered. As far as i'm concerned, more than the class, education and the teacher taking class, I needed to talk about films especially English language speaking films that I admired watching in Mappillai Vinayagar and Manicka Vinayagar theatres. That Friday I got excited more than usual and kept praising the film even without watching. My excitement for films has always been contagious (If I may say so). Some 10 to 15 friends gathered alongside me, decided to skip the examination preparation and went for the evening show. I began going to the houses of friends around 2 pm after finishing lunch by bicycle (MTB). By the time I completed it was 4.30 pm. By 4.45 pm we reached the "Ticket Counter", we were the first. We were standing for an hour in the counter, staring at the poster of Gladiator and praising the film.

Then, I knew who Ridley Scott was because I had seen his Aliens in Mappillai Vinayagar and Manicka Vinayagar theatres through 90s. But, I didn't know who Hans Zimmer was? Then, It was only a couple of years since the theatres graduated from George Lucas's THX certificated sound and film projection to Digital Track Sound (DTS), film projection was retained until 2012 though. Therefore, the sound of Gladiator was not only thunderous but exhilarating. It well complimented the content (visuals) of the film. The soundtrack especially the theme started resonating in my mind even months after watching the film. It still does. Remember, internet was not ubiquitous then, it was a luxury. So, if you had to know of the details of the crew, you needed to find only from the poster.

In intervals, I used to go through the lobby cards at the display boards. They had poster as well. From the fine print of the poster, I found the composer's name. It was legendary Hans Zimmer. The obsession with his soundtracks began from there. How much i'm obsessed about the soundtracks of him. I will write exclusively on his birth anniversary.

Today, I happened to notice from Hans Zimmer's official Facebook account that as a part of commemorating the 20th anniversary of Gladiator, its soundtrack has gone platinum (vinyl record), which induced me to recall my memories.

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#Gladiator has gone platinum. 🎶 It was such fun to celebrate the two decades of the soundtrack for Ridley, Lisa and me! Listen to our 20th anniversary Spotify playlist at DeccaGold.lnk.to/Gladiator20Playlist.

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Language is a human intervention, but the sounds are not. They are cosmic, a function of disturbances of the universe. His compositions are synonymous with such sounds of the cosmos. Arguably, someone who has complimented all possible scenarios in fiction with his music. It would be an understatement to say a generation has grown up listening to his work. He was born 64 years ago today, on 12th September, 1957. This man is Hans Zimmer.

His compositions are visceral and hypnotizing, it becomes challenging to distinguish them between man-made and supernatural. Arguably, if music were a religion, He would be the creator. A long time collaborator of auteur, Christopher Nolan. He was born 63 years ago today, on September 12, 1957. The composer of Gladiator, Lion King, Dark Knight trilogy, Interstellar, Inception, Dunkirk and many. Birthday wishes prolific composer.

I can't meditate as it's humanly impossible for me to align my thoughts into a single stream. Rather, I feel content with a perplexed state of mind. If I still meditate, it only provokes. Nevertheless, since 2014, I meditate in the form of listening to this soundtrack '#CornfieldChase', composed by legendary musician #HansZimmer for auteur #ChristopherNolan's '#Interstellar'. It has become my routine, I begin and end my day with this track.