ARR unplugged By Anupama Subramanian
I ’ve missed my flight to Mumbai. My next flight is at 5 pm. I have two hours to spare for you. Please make it to the airport," said A.R. Rahman over the phone. Considering the long list of Bollywood and Kollywood biggies lining up outside his Panchathan recording studio, two hours with the maestro was a delight. However, on the way to the airport through Chennai’s traffic, the legendary composer was in an upbeat mood. He spoke about his future projects, his vision of building a school and closeness to Allah in an exclusive interview with Deccan Chronicle. New challenges For the past 15 years I have been exploring myself with each and every composition. The music scene is changing constantly and it is very challenging. You have to continuously experiment, otherwise you become complacent. International assignments come once in a blue moon. The kind of reviews I received for Lord of the Rings (it was a three-year-long effort) gave me the enthusiasm to explore new genres of music. But whatever I do, my first priority is Tamil films which have given me an identity. More importantly you get connected through music which, according to me is a rare language. However, working on contrasting themes at the same time like Akbar Jodha, Sivaji and Lord of the Rings is really nightmarish. But I could do that because I work as a team and not alone. You get tuned to it. Anything for Shekhar Believe it or not, this is the first time that Shekhar Kapur and I are going to be working together for a full-fledged film, Golden Age. Although I have known him for the past 13 years, we have only done a commercial together earlier. And of course, Bombay Dreams was his brainchild. He asked me if I would mind if one more English composer, Grammy award winner Craig Armstrong, is also roped in for this Hollywood flick, and I didn’t hesitate for even a moment. I said ‘anything for you Shekhar’. I think Shekhar is one of the finest filmmakers of the world. Son shine My little son Ameen lent his voice to an animated character in Shekhar Kapur’s film, which he is developing for Motion Pictures. (Laughs) He is just 4½ years old and is hyperactive. He used to jump and dance whenever he watched my music on television even when he was a baby. he bagged this offer quite accidentally. It is untitled and the work is in progress. It all started when Shekhar who wanted to try out my son’s voice casually asked me whether I would allow my son to give a small vocal. I was little apprehensive initially, but to our surprise it has turned out well. Animated Superstar Composing for the animated film Sultan of Warrior featuring Rajinikanth was very demanding. Everything is artificial in an animated film, but the music plays an intrinsic role in bringing the characters alive. In fact, the music also has to act. It is futuristic and I am very excited about composing music for a new effort and that too for superstar Rajni sir. Bridging the Indo-Pak divide We almost did that few years back through a concert at Wagah border. But due to unavoidable circumstances it got shelved. It would have been great had it happened. Unfortunately, there is hatred that has been created between the two countries. Closeness to Allah If you want to be close to God, you can. If he is in your thoughts then only good things come out of you. Compassion, love, affection — all these emotions will be part of you. Lot of bad things happen in this world. Being one with God opens your eyes and you experience abundance of wisdom. School for thought I have started a foundation called AR.Rahman Foundation. We made the album Pray For Me Brother for UN with the objective of eradicating poverty. The desire to eradicate poverty has been of utmost priority and giving a good education to poor and needy students has been in my mind for several years. As our former president Abdul Kalam puts it, ‘Poverty is a direct threat to our nation’, and we have started the foundation keeping this in mind. The money collected through the album has been put into the foundation. I bought a piece of land near Chennai ten years ago, and that’s where I am planning to build the school. It will be a centre for meritorious students irrespective of religion and caste. Its my vision to give the future generation an atmosphere of love. All kinds of people from my community — by which I mean the music community will be there. Apart from academics the school will give emphasis to music and arts like cinematography, etc. Anyone from across the globe who wants to teach music and art can come and teach. All this is still in the primary stage. We have big aspirations with a small beginning. Luckily we have enough people to fund it. We have to make an effort. That’s all!
