Unstoppable Indians in NDTV There was a show in NDTV profit some days back, in which ARR was interviewed. Pls find the link for the interview
http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/videopod/default.aspx?id=26595 The Extract!!! A R Rahman- the Mozart of Madras. His music is both personal and universal. It's distinctive. Even when he draws from older forms he transforms it into something entirely new. By most estimates he is the best selling recording artist in the world. A R Rahman - thank you very much for joining us on The Unstoppable Indians. NDTV: When people like me use descriptions like the Mozart of Madras - do you cringe? A R Rahman: Yes. It's become a habit now - listening to that - oh my god - no way. NDTV: But you know it's also catchy with Madras. But tell me - you know at least something like - probably the best selling recording artist in the world - I mean that is something tangible - that we can all feel and touch. That must give you some satisfaction. A R Rahman: It's good because India's got 1.4 billion people. And what's good is in the 90s when I started as a Tamil film composer on Roja and then I never knew that it's going to be dubbed in different languages - and then that success kind of led into Bombay. And all Mani Ratnam movies. And Shankar movies. And you know Rangeela. So I think it became like a pattern where the music covered almost all the people of India. NDTV: And that's something I want to flesh out in greater detail with you in just a moment - about how your music for starters united every part of India. But tell me is there one description - or a description of yourself that you would like to give me so that the next time around when I am introducing A R Rahman I know I've got it right. A R Rahman: I don't know. When I started I was very frustrated. I was playing for a lot of composers and stuff. I said why can't we hear this kind of stuff. Why can't we - why can't they do this - this 'they' became why can't 'I' do this. Because I had an opportunity to do that and I discussed with the directors so much. I said I want to do this. Otherwise I don't want to do this film. Then he said - ya of course - I would love for you to do that - if you can pull it off. And that's the way it started - like good poetry, good lyrics, extraordinary presentation and the aspiration for that music to reach all over the world. It was big at that time but now I feel good that we had aspired for that. NDTV: Well I am going to remember that description - good lyrics, good poetry, music that the world can identify with. We are here in Chennai and you know it's where it all began. And I want to go back right to the beginning. You were born in a family that loved music. Your father - a musician himself - was he a pretty big influence? A R Rahman: He was. Ya. Still is. I think he was very hard working and he would never say no to good work. He used to assist people. He used to do his own work. And he kind of immersed himself in music - fully - throughout. Without saying that I need to take a break - I need to go with my family - nothing - music was everything for him. When I lost him, something inside me told me that people only need you till you are what you are. Then I realised that I had to keep some time for myself to rejuvenate, to fill me up with other things like spirituality and stuff. So it kind of complements my music. Music comes from different things, not necessarily from within music itself. NDTV: I want to ask you if this is true. I believe your father had 3 LPs. One from China, one from Latin America and one American country ballad. And you know when we are talking sitting here now of the universality of AR Rahman's music - do you think you can trace that universal quality back to that first exposure? A R Rahman: Ya I think so, because when I used to listen to the radio at that time and these records were like for me the window to the outside world - I said what is this? Why is he having this record? And who are these people? There was a black American. I think it's a Miles Davis recording playing trumpet and I was so fascinated by that. Though I couldn't understand a thing but probably all those things became a foundation for my understanding through other kinds of music later. NDTV: You lost him when you were young - you were 9. And you started working at a very young age. Touring with Zakir Hussain as well. What was that experience like? A R Rahman: It was a very brief tour. I think my first probably the world kind of exposure came with that group - L Shankar, Zakir and his wife and all that stuff. And what was good about that was that the whole outlook of music - they were looking at music in a different way than film music. I said why can't film music be like this. So the question of making film music into an exciting form of music came from all those experiences. NDTV: You know I am trying to put all of the influences on A R Rahman into perspective here. One is of course your father. The second is people that you interacted with. And you also chose to study music at Oxford. Did that study introduce a kind of discipline? Was that exposure a whole new window? A R Rahman: Well the study was mainly done in Chennai. The syllabus was here and I got trained in music by Jacob John - one of the masters who completely changed me. When I thought I could never do music - he said - No - you have music in you. And you can take it further. And I really owe it to him. I met him actually four years back in Liverpool when he was fighting with cancer. And he said seeing you I want to live for another ten years. And I started crying at that time. And in fact that's one of the reasons which has inspired me to start a conservatory here. A music conservatory for our own people to learn western classical because that's always been looked upon as another culture. I don't think it's another culture. Its within us already and its become part of our culture. It's just the infrastructure there. You can play music in an organised way. And to create a harmony with 100 odd people. NDTV: And that's what is taking up some of your time and energy now - the music conservatory. A R Rahman: Ya. I think it's worth it. It's worth to do that right now and to take it further. NDTV: You know, in a sense adversity shapes all people but do you think that your tough growing up years put a certain kind of go-getter spirit in you? A R Rahman: 25-26 ya. NDTV: 25-26. Tell me that first thought - was it - oh my god - can I do this? A R Rahman: That was there of course but I always thought I was not ready. Even now I think like that. But first he asked me for some tunes and I gave it to him. And there was no feedback for 3 days. I said ok now he hates everything. Let's go back to jingles again. But then he came back again and said I like this - I like that. So I said - strange - he likes something of mine. But after the first film I thought I could never compose again because I had given all that I knew. And then something came up and then there were ways to explore into music. And then you discover. But that happens every year. That happens in every album. I said after this what am I going to do. Then something keeps coming up. And also the good thing about films is you have a team and sometimes you mix with - like you know chemicals when they are mixed with another chemical it becomes another product totally. It's like that, and you work with different other people the whole music becomes different. NDTV: Has there been one film - because there have been so many since Roja and I am not going to list all of them. We all know them. We love the music. Has there been one film where it gave you a complete sense of well being - a complete sense of satisfaction. A R Rahman: I think recently I would say Jodha Akbar because we worked really hard on it. It was tough. We had such a tough film like Mughal-e-Azam standing in front of us and saying I am here. And we took a completely different direction and that helped. I am glad that people are loving it now. NDTV: And your western sort of journeys and you know Lord of The Rings also comes to mind. There was a certain amount of hesitation before you took that project on? A R Rahman: That was actually just because I was very busy at that time. And I believe that spending enough time is necessary for a project. But once I got into it I discovered so many things in music. I discovered so many things of in-depth travelling into music. And that whole team was really inspired. And I have learnt so much that now whatever I do in future I think it's going to change completely from the other path that I have taken - in a good way. NDTV: Do you think that it also posed the challenge of creating an almost - the word 'distinctive' is used very loosely - but you know the challenge with Lord of The Rings must have been that .... A R Rahman: See, you have to cater to that rather than - like a Bombay Dreams was a sort of - like picking up pearls and making a garland out of what is existing. Here you have to make that pearl for that particular thing. And it has to be focussed, and it has to be musically correct and exciting and blah blah blah. So that was the first time I was challenged to do that. And though I was a co-composer for that. But still I think a great deal did go into that. NDTV: Does your commitment to films and there must be many seeking your commitment - ever raise the question in your mind - am I committing myself too much? Is this going to hurt my musical ingenuity? A R Rahman: In my case the more chaotic I work the more better it is but of course all the deadlines go haywire. But musically what happens is - it's like, you know, playing pool. You hit one ball and other so many balls move. So it's like you go into one focus of music and sometimes it doesn't focus there and it gives something else. The brain is always rebellious. You know you want to do something - it says something else. So I keep my brain open. When I am sitting for Subhash Ghai I might get a Raykesh Mehra tune. When I am sitting for Ashutosh I might get an English tune. So I can never say compose for Ashutosh today or compose for The Lord of The Rings today. I can never say that. NDTV: Because you don't know. stop it. Something else is coming so let me get it. So that happens always. NDTV: And of course you choose to work in the stillness of the night. The day is not conducive to.... A R Rahman: Ya it's a habit which I think is a good habit but a lot of people think it's a bad habit. NDTV: When did that habit start? A R Rahman: It started when I worked for the films from morning 9 to the evening 9 'o' clock and then I used to do my own commercials which was my creative work. So all my creative work was done in the night. And the stuff I was playing - doing outside was during the day. So my mind got tuned. Ok in the night you have to start creating. In the day you work for other people. NDTV: And you can't actually define whether it's been a good night's work or can you? How do you say - today I've had a great night? I mean is there a certain body - a certain volume of work or just a certain - hitting the right note? A R Rahman: Yes I think mostly - it's not that when I sit in the night I get a tune or something. Sometimes I get a tune even while going in the car or travelling by flight or whatever. But what I get is a kind of - as you said - a stillness and I think the night is very special for me. I said that. It all comes together. And there is no adversity. NDTV: I am sure there are nights when it doesn't all come together. When that block faces you. Does that block ever face you and how do you cope with it? A R Rahman: I think anxiety sometimes. When I finish a concert or something it takes a while for me to unwind because the excitement and the energy level of a concert is so high that I can't suddenly go into the ease of vacuum to create a tune. So that's a time I find that - or when I travel a long distance - completely exhausted. NDTV: We talked briefly of your inspiration and spirituality is a cornerstone of your music. But you know when we hear your music - I mean it's a confluence of reggae and pop and folk and it all sort of comes together. So what I'm actually asking you is - how do you keep track of all the music that is out there in the world? How do you get the time to absorb it? A R Rahman: I try to embrace everything - as a listener too. I don't listen to heavy metal. I don't listen to reggae. I don't listen to jazz. I see what is good in that music and the essence of that music. And if you study it, then you'll be able to do it. You have to keep the essence of the music alive in a remix. A lot of people don't like remix. But I think it's an art. It's an art and I think people should do it with the permission of the original composer. If you just - if that guy is alive and then you take his songs and rip it apart - if he doesn't like it - that's not good - it's like murder. So I believe in that. So when you - when there is a future and when things come up new in the future - you can't say that's not good. What is old is good. That's not growth. Growth is something, which brings along some good even in the future. There is growth in everything. If you start looking at it - then you can do it. NDTV: You know one gets a sense that at one level A R Rahman has possibly everything that he could have hoped to achieve? A R Rahman: In what? NDTV: In music. A R Rahman: Well for me - for me the bar I have drawn is somewhere else actually. It's not film music alone. If you look at film music there is a limitation of what you can deliver to a film. You can't go beyond something. Because they don't need that. They just need that - if it's 50 per cent- they need that 50 per cent. You don't need to go to 100 per cent. Sometimes you go beyond it and then it doesn't fit the film. But even though then for certain sound tracks I do that and keep it. Whether they use it or not. So that's one thing we can look at in future. That music exists outside film too. Right now it's both complementing each other. Which is good. But there should be stuff - like how classical music exists. NDTV: So music that grows beyond films? A R Rahman: That's probably my direction for my label. And though it's very difficult for me I am going to try and do it. NDTV: This is a very trite thing to request of you but is there a piece of music that you would share with us that describes where you are right now? Or your philosophy? A R Rahman: Or my philosophy. I could probably say - "Khwaja mere khwaja". NDTV: Will you sing it for us - a bit? A R Rahman: With my bad voice? Let me see. "Khwaja mere khwaja. Dil me samaja. Shahon ki shatush. Ali ka dulara. Khwaja mere khwaja. Dil me samaje. Bekasoor ki takdeer too ne hain savaree. Too ne hain savaree. Bekasoor ki takdeer too ne hain savaree." I've got a bad throat actually. NDTV: AR Rahman thank you so much for joining us on The Unstoppable Indians. Indeed you are The Unstoppable Indian. A R Rahman: Thank you. COURTESY :- MALAVARAYAN - ORKUT -- regards, Vithur ARR -- The Sweet Cube always
