Perfect interview.we can expect western movie
Musical soon
>From boss
-chris
Bivin Chandra wrote:
> I miss those life-changing lyrics!’ -A +A Font Rajiv Vijayakar
> Posted: Apr 03, 2009 at 1541 hrs IST Print Email Newsletter Post Comments RSS
> He has proved that music may have languages but not boundaries. Here’s the
> reticent A.R.Rahman , who has left no award unturned in the last six months,
> in a midnight chat from Chennai that brims with rare candour For two years in
> succession, you have clinched both the Best
> Music and Best Background Music Screen trophies. What do you have to say
> about this unique achievement? I always feel that nothing can be planned, and
> sometimes things just fall into place! Just a few years ago, a lot of things
> seemed to be going off-track. Mani Ratnam’s Lajjo, Shyam Benegal’s Chamki and
> Krishna Shah’s Baiju and one or two other musicals were wonderful subjects
> that inspired me then - and none of them even took off! On the other hand,
> Jaane Tu...Ya Jaane Na that got me your Best Music trophy this year was
> almost shelved - till Aamir Khan took over its production. Last year, a lot
> of my films came all together - Jaane Tu..., Jodhaa Akbar, Yuvvraaj, the
> music of Ada, Ghajini and then Slumdog Millionaire. So I have stopped
> expecting anything in life. If good things happen, it’s okay, but if they
> don’t, at least you are not frustrated! (Laughs). Do two background music
> trophies indicate that the background score
> is gaining more importance nowadays? Background music is something that
> needs ten times more energy than making songs. You can do songs for four more
> films in the time you take for composing a background music score for just
> one movie! In the West, they are amazed that in Indian films the same person
> composes both the songs and the background score. But over here, whether it
> was Naushadsaab in Hindi films, Ilayaraja down here or most other composers,
> we have had this tradition almost as a culture. Speaking for myself, I like
> to do both and it is about my credibility and sometimes when I get both
> right, it is a great high for me! Why do you use the word “sometimes”? Why
> are you so modest, almost Bachchan-esquely so, in your statements? I have so
> much to learn and so much to achieve. And things can go wrong despite hard
> work so often. You can’t orchestrate results and the magic just happens
> sometimes. When it does, every
> aspect of the film and the music blends together, sometimes intentionally,
> sometimes unintentionally! “Unintentionally”! Well, sometimes you are trying
> to do your part right and it may or may not happen. Or things can just go
> wrong elsewhere. Just one slip - like in an expression on the face of one
> actor, or in the way a director expresses himself, or even some technical
> point can prevent everything from falling in place. So when everything turns
> out perfect, as in my Tu hi re in Bombay or as in Pyar kiya to darna kya in
> Mughal-E-Azam, you feel blessed like an angel. Gulzarsaab tells us that you
> light a candle when your singer enters the recording cabin. Have you always
> done this? I began to do it after my first visit to Khwaja Gharib Nawaz at
> Ajmer Sharif. The candles lit there have an effect I cannot describe. In my
> studio too, it is so inspirational and organic amidst all the electronic
> gadgets. He also
> tells us that over the decade since you first worked with him in Dil Se...,
> you have become much more familiar with the Hindi film mijaaz or temperament.
> Would you agree? I have become more conscious of the language. Subhash
> (Ghai)ji and some others made me conscious about that when I began working
> with them. I always had this belief that music has no language and that a
> tune could be converted by extraordinary lyrics into a great song in any
> language. But Subhashji taught me otherwise. In Taal, Anand Bakshisaab wrote
> most of the lyrics before I made the tunes. The same was the case with The
> Legend Of Bhagat Singh and Sameerji. I realised that you cannot express
> certain words just anyhow. The elongation of syllables or of words - the
> syntax, that is - is something that is peculiar to every language. So I am
> learning Urdu for the last 2-3 years and my Hindi vocabulary is also up by
> 40-50 per cent! And did that also apply to
> English? English was easier for me, though when I took up Bombay Dreams, I
> did not know whether I could pull it off. But I managed, I think, though the
> first song, Journey home, was already made before I took up the project. And
> with the passage of years, as you get the time to evolve and be more of
> yourself, you begin to learn which song to hold back, even if you have liked
> it yourself, when you are offering a director your compositions. How
> upsetting is it when a film like Delhi - 6 does not work and your music does
> not get its due? Initially I would find such a contingency very painful, but
> now I have learnt to be detached. I explained to myself that the next
> assignment is waiting and that you can’t spoil it by brooding on this but
> should aim to score there instead! With Rakeyshji, I was very happy with both
> Rang De Basanti and Delhi-6, but when a film does not work I think that all
> of us should admit that we have gone wrong
> somewhere. Music alone may not have ever helped a film become a hit, but it
> is definitely one of the major factors. And yet, even success or failure of a
> film is relative: I know people who have watched Dil Se... 30-40 times just
> for one sequence and I know of people who loved Delhi-6. Like I said, it’s
> all about the right timing. Society’s state of mind and its concerns are all
> important. People do not like darkness in films now because I guess there is
> so much of it in real life! (Laughs) And coming to Slumdog Millionaire, a
> cliché that you will have to answer again for us, Did you expect the film and
> your songs to reach where they have? No way! (Laughs). But yes, I loved the
> film when I watched it.. All I was thinking about is that I wanted to work
> with a filmmaker as loved and respected as Danny Boyle. There was something
> strangely positive about the film - I remember feeling inexplicably relieved
> at the end of the
> movie. So you worked on the music after the film was complete. Yes and after
> putting in the songs Danny re-cut the film. How did you get the idea of
> working with M.I.A.? I find her an extraordinary artiste who makes political
> statements with her music. Some years back, she had come down to record her
> music at my studio because she needed some specific kind of percussion and
> had expressed a wish to work with me then because she liked the energy in my
> music. At that time, I was busy. But when this opportunity arose, I naturally
> took it. How do you react to Indians slamming Jai ho as nowhere compared to
> your best songs, even though its versions abroad have rocked charts too?
> Well, I had to make something that was right for the film. It wasn’t a
> situation that demanded a Beethoven’s Symphony or a Ba-ba black sheep!
> Composing for films is not about showing the world what you can do. You have
> to get
> something right first and then try and excel in it. The reverse way would be
> disastrous. The other criticism is that you have reworked Choli ke peeche
> from Khal-Nayak as Ringa ringa. But despite the story you gave to a section
> of the press, it just had a similar flavour. I was misquoted in that story -
> I never said that I was remixing the song. I only said that I was influenced
> by that song as the most important anthem of the 1990s, which is the era
> being shown when Ringa ringa is playing in the film. That was the reason why
> I chose not to compose a completely diverse song for this situation and also
> why I took the same singers - Alka Yagnik and Ila Arun. It was my ode to
> Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Subhash Ghai and the song’s team. Digressing a bit, don’t
> you feel that Subhashji’s Yuvvraaj was very underrated among your scores from
> last year? I agree. Of late, Subhashji has been repeatedly unlucky - in the
> 1990s, I was to
> do a fantastic subject called Shikhar with him. In 2003, there was
> Motherland. Neither film took off. And now it is Yuvvraaj, on which we worked
> for almost two years and made some extraordinary songs, that went unnoticed
> for various reasons, while Slumdog..., on which I worked for two weeks, went
> so far. Life can be so unpredictable! And what were your first thoughts when
> you won first one trophy and then another - and we do not mean the words you
> spoke at the Oscar ceremony where you also have to keep in mind the audience?
> I was extremely happy that my mother, my wife and my sister Ishrat, who is a
> singer, were all there with me. Such occasions are less about personal
> happiness and more about what precious people around you, especially your
> family and friends, feel. My first thought when the first award was announced
> was nothing - my mind went blank since I was due to sing in some 20 seconds!
> (Laughs) When the second award was declared,
> I just wanted to take the trophy, go into my room and sleep!! (Laughs
> again). The one week of anticipation, rehearsals and tensions all dissolved
> into that! And what do you feel - sorry again for the clichéd query - about
> being the first Indian to clinch two Oscars? I can’t gauge anything now -
> maybe I will know after a couple of years. Let’s see what good things come
> out of it. And now we have so many fans in India depressed because you will
> be working here for a less here.. (Laughs) Honestly, after Bombay Dreams I
> had scope to do work outside but never used the opportunity. I was not ready
> then - not that I am ready now! (Chuckles) - but I came back here then and as
> it happened did some pretty ordinary work! But now I want to work there - for
> me, it’s more about developing relationships, collaborating, culturally
> connecting and doing the right organic stuff. I have an agent there and have
> taken up one major
> assignment that I can reveal only after a while because of a non-disclosure
> clause in my contract. All I can say is that it is a proper American film
> that will also demand music of the kind that I am at home with. And what are
> the Indian films in your bag? I have Anthony D’Souza’s Blue, Mani Ratnam’s
> Ravan, Abbas Tyrewala’s 1 - 800 - Love and one more film. In Chennai. I have
> Robot and the animation film Sultan with Rajnikanth and a film with Gautham
> Menon. What changes do we get to see in your music after the Oscar win? There
> will not be a change in my music but I have to be more careful - because I
> guess my music will be noticed by more people now. I guess we have to
> culturally accommodate as much as we can. There is definitely a sense of
> pressure but that’s good. Good music always comes with honesty and when made
> directly from the heart and by being conscious of melody. A lot of new
> composers have
> come in of late. Have any of them impressed you? I like their spirit and
> also their desire to experiment. At the same time, however, I miss excellent
> melodies and life-changing lyrics in today’s music and I am looking forward
> to hearing some of those. Lyrics, for example, should be much more than about
> Soniye and Maahiya! The new music directors must also realise that it is a
> team that consolidates your work - you need a director who understands you.
> Ismail Darbar got one in Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Shankar-Ehsaan- Loy in
> Farhan Akhtar. A composer cannot be like an island. The director has a huge
> hand in decisions about both creativity and also dignity - dignity about what
> you should and should not do, about a mission for reviving something good and
> other firm convictions.
>
