A R Rahman Online Website Beta

The Champions League Twenty20 is scheduled to take place from 3 -10 December and the inaugural match will be played in Mumbai.

ESS Asia MD Manu Sawhney said, “Champions League Twenty20 is a platform where the best of the world come and play. It is premium, aspirational and the highest honor the game has to offer. In our mind, it is to cricket what AR Rahman is to music.

The official anthem will reverberate not just in India but will transcend all language barriers across the global cricket fraternity.”

Meanwhile, IPL chairman Lalit Modi said the five-year deal with Pepsi as the ‘pouring rights partner’ had been mutually terminated. “It would be wrong to say that PepsiCo broke the deal because the Rs 500 million sponsorship deal was called off mutually by both the parties. In the first season of IPL, we had faced some problems during the matches. For example, there was a shortage on soft drinks and people were not allowed to carry water bottles inside the stadium,” Modi added while addressing the press.

Some source close to Aamir Khan said, “Originally, even when Aamir was making Taare Zameen Par, he had planned a Diwali release for Ghajini. But because of his ligament injury he had to take a break for two months as he couldn’t shoot for the stunts.

So the release had to be postponed. But Aamir was hell-bent on having a Diwali release, even if it was only the promos. He decided to release at least the first moving visuals on Diwali.”

Since the past fifteen days, Aamir has been slogging to complete the promos on time. The source continued, “Aamir has been working non-stop in order to meet the deadline. He requested A R Rahman to put aside his other commitments and come to Mumbai to work on the background score of the promos.

Rahman, who generally doesn’t work outside Chennai, gave in to this last minute request and came to Mumbai. He has been working in a Mumbai lab for the past four days, only on Aamir’s insistence. Being such a perfectionist, he didn’t want to compromise on anything at all.”

So is anyone expecting another Taal ? Indeed don’t, because this musical score is extremely a different try from Rahman. Because Yuvvraaj is inspired in soul and element from European and Indian classical as well as Rahman’s exclusive library of imagination. After hearing the score, one can strongly say that all songs are strictly based on it script. If Ghai could give imaginative identity to the picturization of the songs, then a sure chart buster album is in the charts.

Main hoon Yuvvraaj

The soundtrack opens with Main hoon Yuvvraaj, designed as a dialog monologue in Salman Khan’s weird accent. The instrumentation of the song is based on 5th Beethoven Symphony performed by The Chennai String Orchestra. The track is nothing but to show Salman’s bad boy role in the movie.

The film also marked the first time Salman Khan is working with showman Subhash Ghai. And lastly, got a glimpse of A R Rahman’s mother, Kareema Begum who happened to be the guest of honor at the launch. Yuvvraaj is likely to release in the last week of November.

Music maestro AR Rahman is once again on a high after the music launch for ‘Yuvraaj’, his comeback venture with Subhash Ghai after eight years. MSN India hit the right chord with him in this free flowing chat.

A R Rahman and Phat Phish have launched a new reality show called The Big Band.

This show is based on an indigenous format and will provide a platform for nurturing and building musical talent across languages and the broad genres of ethnic, regional and contemporary music. Spanning the seven Asian countries of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Singapore and Sri Lanka, this reality show aims to create Indian television and web cast history by all measures of budget, viewer ship, regional breadth and diversity.

Rahman, said, “The Big Band is a truly unique stage which gives local bands a chance to dive deep into their true artistic depth and create original music which transcends language and that is universally accessible. We want to present to India and the world at large the story behind what forms and binds a band and how they can be mentored to become world class talent.”

The show will be presented as a travelogue through Rahman’s eyes as he journeys across fifteen cities of India in search of new talent.

Though one is yet to hear the words in the song, just the sound of piano playing in the background with some well etched frames featuring the quartet of Anil Kapoor, Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif and Zayed Khan are collectively good enough to promise a lot in the offering. Add to that a lavish look of the film and one can almost sense a Taal round the corner.

Years back Ghai and Rahman had created magic with Taal which finds itself amongst one of the all time great soundtracks. Though Rahman along with Ismail Darbar did come up with a very good soundtrack in Kisna as well, it went largely unnoticed. Now with Yuvvraaj, Ghai is back with Rahman and one expects nothing but magic from the showman and the maestro!

It’s hard to pin down what exactly it is about A R Rahman that makes him so appealing in person. Maybe it’s the absence of airs of any kind. Maybe it’s the refreshing lack of ennui or cynicism. Or, maybe it’s just plain old n iciness, of a simple, down-to-earth variety that’s hard to come by these days.

Whatever it is, it works just as effortlessly on the six winners of a Sony music organized ‘Sakkarakatti contest’ who get to meet the maestro in his front office late one evening as it does on yours truly.

They all go from hushed reverence to easy, happy smiles within minutes. And although he’s in the middle of recording for Mani Ratnam’s “Ravan”, he makes sure everyone’s got the pictures they want with him before they leave.

Starting off by discussing the music of “Sakkarakatti”, which has now spent over 20 weeks at the top of the charts. “It’s interesting to work with this new generation of directors,” says Rahman, referring to first-time director of “Sakkarakatti”, Kalaprabhu S Dhanu. “They don’t carry the same sort of baggage other directors do, they’re willing to let go of things that could make a product old and go in a new direction, with new influences.”

And as this reporter watched in amusement, the remaining young adults in the room promptly lined up to get one themselves. Moral of the story? When A R Rahman hands out something, you go pick it up. Even if it’s a pea-green coloring book for five year olds.

Sakkarakkatti became famous for its song `Taxi Taxi’, which was an instant hit. Its sheen and popularity even compelled the filmmakers to re shoot the original video. A R Rahman, before starting to compose for this film,promised that his work in this film will make everyone undergo the same pleasant feeling they had when they listened to him for the first time in Roja. Well, the maestro has fulfilled his promise.

Yuvraaj is produced and directed by Subhash Ghai, starring Salman Khan, Anil Kapoor, Mithun Chakraborty, Katrina Kaif, Zayed Khan and Jawed Sheikh. A R Rahman has teamed with Gulzar Saab for the Music of the film. The film is Subhash Ghai’s next much-awaited musical after the stupendous success of Taal in 1999. When a company has the music rights of a film’s songs composed by the Mozart of Asia A.R.Rahman, then there is no need to get worried about the success of sales of the music.

Talking about the music of the film, veteran director Subhash Ghai says “The music of Yuvraaj has an international feel. It blends both Western music with Indian classical music and folk music. It has some peppy numbers and some excellent melodies. It has a larger than life feel to it. Rahman has done his best”

He was in Delhi recently to promote a marathon race. He emphasised on the need for such events to be organised and said, “These days when a lot of unnecessary divisions and fragments are being created in society in the name of religion, caste and region, such events hold great importance. When we run along with hundreds of others, we forget what our religion or region is.”

And is he planning to take part in the race himself as well, we asked him. “An event like this where people run together will make me feel ecstatic. It is like a music concert. Like music breaks all boundaries and proves to be a unifying factor for people from across the borders who stand together and enjoy the music without thinking about its source. Here as well, we are expecting people from all walks of life to take part. I have never been a part of such an event, and who knows this year I might run too,” signed off Rahman.