The interview which appears below, was originally published on I Love A.R. Rahman Podcast in October 2021. ©The rights to this material are reserved to the owner. If you have any concerns or comments, please send an email to info@rahmaniac.com.
Bejoy, I’m super thrilled to have you on the podcast. You’ve been extremely kind for making this happen.
I saw some of the podcasts you did and I was quite excited with all the people who came on board. I know Srinidhi from a very long time back when I was working with her with Rahman sir, so I was quite excited to hear her insights.
So I take it you’re a morning person? You’re probably one of the first guests who said okay, let’s do a 9 AM podcast.
Well, as filmmakers you kind of are forced to be a morning person because you sometimes have shoots early morning, and especially when you’re working with Mani sir and all that. You have no choice but you end up becoming a morning person. Most of our shoots – almost 70-80% of the shoots – always start at about 6:30 in the morning, so you end up becoming a morning person.
Before we dive into behind-the-scenes stuff, I wanted to rekindle some of your childhood memories. What comes to your mind about your childhood with A.R. Rahman’s music?
I think like all of us, the first album that we all got hooked to with Rahman sir was “Roja.” I remember very clearly where I heard “Roja” for the first time and how that whole year was about “Roja.” I was about that sound that kind of became like this new sound which we hadn’t really heard in mainstream music. Then everybody knew who he was – he just came like that and everybody was aware of this new talent that came on board.
I was just hooked onto the music and I was just waiting for what is he gonna do next. I remember I was at my friend’s house when I got the cassette – the next album. I remember all of us sitting and just listening to the whole album. Those are the times when a new album used to come out, we used to actually sit and listen to the whole album and mark which ones we like more than the other and predicting which one might become a favorite later.
I remember “Pudhiya Mugam” was on loop till the next one came out. With every album there was so much anticipation. Me and this other friend of mine called Ganesh – he was obsessed at another level. I thought I was like the biggest Rahman fan, but he was even more because he used to not buy the regular cassette. He had a guy in Chennai who would buy the album and then re-record it on a high-end Panasonic cassette and then send it by courier to him. So he used to only wait for that and listen to it only on the high quality because he said he won’t listen to it on the regular cassette.
He was that obsessed and I used to wait for his cassettes to come so that we could sit and listen to it in my car or in his house. This was our childhood fanaticism. We used to really wait for every album. That time there was no internet, so we used to read about some movies that have Rahman’s music in magazines or articles. Suddenly when an album dropped which you didn’t even hear about – I remember that happened once or twice – and I didn’t even know that this album was done by Rahman. Suddenly the trailer would come out or the teaser, that excitement of suddenly seeing his name there like “Oh my god, I don’t even know what’s happened, it’s coming out now.”
You can’t rewind when it plays on TV – you have to wait for it to play back or you have to go to other channels to see if the trailer would play again. All that excitement, all that anticipation of Rahman’s music. I would be lying if I say that even now it still doesn’t exist. Even now I do get excited when I hear something new from him. I think recently he did one Telugu song – that was a surprise. I had no clue, but when it dropped I got so excited I had to drop everything and listen to it first.
I think that quality of waiting for his music and in so much anticipation and getting excited – that is still very much there. I was at my friend’s house late in the night, just about to pass out, and the TV was playing. I had heard “Dil Se” song once somewhere but I didn’t know that it was Rahman sir. Then the song played and then the credit came in. I got so excited, I had jumped out of my bed and I was like “Oh my god, when is this album gonna come out?” I remember that so vividly.
You had the opportunity to meet him for the first time ever, and there’s a very funny story about how you were not allowed to meet him.
I was part of this Yahoo group called the A.R. Rahman fans club where all A.R. Rahman fans used to keep chatting about stuff. There were some really hardcore guys on that group – they used to collect all his albums, background score pieces and put it together on FTP server so that we could all download.
When I got an opportunity to work with Mani sir on “Guru,” I couldn’t contain my excitement because I was gonna meet Rahman sir. I was gonna work on “Guru” and at some point go to meet him. So I posted on the group that “Listen guys, I’m here, this is what I’m doing, I’m gonna be meeting Rahman sir” and all that. I think till that point it was okay, but then someone in the group said something about the film. I couldn’t take that because somebody was talking about Mani sir’s film, so I gave it back to them. I kind of argued back with them.
The next day I got a call from Mani sir who called me to his cabin and said that he got to know about this because Rahman sir – one of the guys who works there was part of the group – and he read it obviously, how I was defending the film and even saying something about the film which is still in the pre-production stage. That’s when Mani sir called me and said, “I heard that you’ve been active in this group and you’ve been talking about the film. If I get to hear that you are talking about anything, you will not be working with us again.”
Then he said that Rahman sir has told us to keep you as far away as possible from the studio. So throughout the making of “Guru,” I never got a chance, I never went because this was like a warning and I kind of lost the first chance. I think once in the whole making of “Guru,” once I went to pick up some parcel or something, and even then I was not sure whether I would be allowed or not. But that’s all I got to see – only once throughout the making of “Guru.”
Did Rahman remember this incident when you finally met him?
No, no, he didn’t. He was completely chill with it. Then I think I got to meet him more often during “Raavan.” I got to spend more time with him. Then I made my film and I used to show my stuff to him. I remember one of the first cuts of “David” when I think two stories were shot, I actually sat down – he sat and watched “David” with me. So I spent a lot of time in the studio that time and interacted with him.
He used to – like I used to go to meet him for maybe 20 minutes, half an hour, but he used to actually sit for like two, three hours at a stretch. He would just randomly take time off because I didn’t know that he was going to take the time off. He used to do that and I really cherish those times because I had such a good time jamming with him. It would not be about music – it would be about stories, about scripts, about movies. We used to chat a lot of stuff and it was really – he had that really childlike quality of discussing movies and discussions. He was so excited about certain scripts, certain movies.
I had a really good time. I remember my wife also had come to one of the sessions and she didn’t expect that she thought we’d just go meet him for five minutes and come out. We sat for like about two hours with him in his apartment in Bombay where we chatted like late in the night. We were chatting about movies – it was a fun experience.
What was it like seeing his sense of humor?
That’s the first thing I saw. The first time when I went to pick up something, he was talking to the other lady who used to come every day to pick up stuff. So he told his security guard, “Just make sure you put some stickers out and put stones and make sure this guy can’t come bothering me so much. Every day he’s coming asking for something.” In front of me, he was telling the security, “Just try and make sure this guy doesn’t come from tomorrow. Put some stones or something in his path or something.”
He said it with such a straight face, I thought he was being serious. Then I looked at him and then the secretary started laughing. That’s him for sure.
What was it like working on “Raavan” and interacting with him during that time?
I think I interacted with him most during the music sessions. That’s the time I kind of jammed with him a lot. What I mean by “Raavan” was of course I was part of all the recording, and I think it was – I mean I was just like a fly on the wall. I was enjoying just being part of the process of making that music. I think almost every session except for a few, I was there. It was a great experience to watch the music happen. I think that was the first time I got to see the music happening in front of my eyes.
When you say music happening, was he actually composing while you guys were there?
Yes, he was composing as part of the process. He was recording, though the composing part I think maybe he had one-on-one sessions with Mani sir already. When I was there, I saw like a half-done project already. He was just adding stuff to it, adding more stuff to it. And then of course from there, then I went to the recording and then the recording I saw the singers come and give it more life.
Has there been an instance where you had to go back and reshoot because the music evolved so much from the temp track?
No, at least with Mani sir I have not seen him go reshoot something because his songs got better. I’ve seen songs getting re-edited – it will be shot for a certain rhythm, shot for certain visual rhythm, but because certain elements have gotten enhanced, sounding fuller and bigger, then in the edit he’s changed things to suit that. I’ve seen that happen. The edit will be different, but the final track – the second pass of the edit will be different. So I’ve seen that happen. We’ve never gone on reshoot stuff because of that.
This happens so many times. Even now I’m sure all the temp songs that I’ve been listening to, I know what Rahman sir’s gonna do. I think now I know what Rahman sir does when he gives us a temp track to shoot and how the final produced track finally comes out. That jump I’ve been part of. You’re shooting with a temp track and then finally when the album is gonna release, suddenly you hear the same track but it sounds so different, so large sometimes. And sometimes the voice that you would have heard in the temp track would be completely different in the final thing, and that voice would just change the song altogether.
I think from “Guru” was one example. We shot with a temp track and finally it was something so different. So that happens a lot. It becomes different, but we’ve never gone on reshoots.
You shot the “Ladli” music video. Tell me about that experience.
I shot with the temp track and then later on it changed. The temp track wasn’t Lata ji’s voice in the temp, but we knew that it was going to be Lata ji’s voice because he told us. He was in fact trying to get us the final recorded track before we left for shoot, so till the last moment we were hoping we’re gonna get it, but then it didn’t work out with her schedule.
In the video credits, the concept credit is credited to Rahman sir. He had a certain vision for this music video?
I can’t take any credit for that. I just executed his vision, hopefully to the optimum level he wanted. But the entire concept was his. It was his idea of what he wanted. Each of those episodes, I just bounced off some ideas for the episodes, but the entire concept was Rahman sir’s.
When Rahman sir’s vocals came in, did you have a plan to feature him somewhere in the video?
You know, that was not there in the temp track. He didn’t sing the temp track, so I didn’t know. If I’d known, definitely I would have cornered him and shot with him. So that came later, so then I was like, “Okay, now I have to just make do with what we have.”
What was the kind of briefing he gave you before you went out to shoot that song?
We spent a lot of time jamming on the concept of how he wanted to show it. The father and daughter thing, I think initially that was the idea that I came back with. He wanted the journey of this little girl who becomes this pilot, who was representative of every woman today. He wanted to see different shades of this woman. So this girl becomes this woman. Keeping that brief in mind, he was coming up with ideas of what all we can incorporate, what all we can show – her going to the temple, her going to the mosque, her at her friend’s wedding, with her parents when she’s leaving, and finally her flying the aircraft.
It was a lot of these bits that we came up with – seven, eight different ideas and finally zoned in on one. The father and daughter like in the beginning and the end was an idea that I came up with so that it ties it up together.
The beginning doesn’t have music – was that planned?
That was planned without music in the beginning. There’s that moment with the father and daughter and then the paper plane, that was without music. And that’s when the music kind of kicks in when she’s running. So that was planned.
How long did it take to shoot that song?
Three days.
Do you go back and listen to those tracks?
I love the track. In fact, I love listening to a lot of Rahman sir’s stuff which are not released, some of them which are like available on YouTube. I keep digging out those kind of tracks. I think one of his most underrated albums is the one that he did for international films. Delhi-6 has one track which is so nice, and “Warriors of Heaven and Earth” has a track. So I keep listening to stuff like that which are not the massively popular ones. I go back to that, and of course the background scores are something that I absolutely love.
There are fans asking – when are you working with A.R. Rahman in a feature film?
I’d gone to him with a couple of subjects that I was gonna do. It used to be one of those sessions where I spend time with him and I used to jam. I used to pitch him the film that I want to make, and he used to give me his feedback on it and mull over it. I remember telling him that if he connects to it, I would love to work with him on that. But the one or two films that I pitched, those films didn’t happen.
Some other films happened and in those films I was not sure whether – because I was very sure of a certain kind of soundscape and I really wanted to work with so many different composers, so that never happened. But there were these other films that I really wanted him to be part of and I pitched, but those didn’t happen. He also never kind of confirmed – he was thinking about it.
Recently, I think about two years ago, there was this one subject which I knew that I really, really wanted him to be part of and I had a gut feeling that he will connect to it. I went to meet him and we sat and I told him the story. As I expected, he immediately liked it and he said, “Finally, there is no darkness in this. There is a lot of light in the story,” he said. I remember that so well, and I said, “Yeah, that’s the reason I came to you. I really wanted to do this.” He said, “Yes, this we will do.” That was the only time – of all the many different subjects I spoke about – this is the only subject that in the first meeting he heard and he said, “This we will do.”
But again, this film got stuck and I was never been able to mount it. But I know that that’s a film I’m going to make at some point, and that film I know that I’m not going to go anywhere else. I’m just going to make sure I’ll make the film and I’ll still wait for Rahman sir to score it because I know that the subject – at some point he will give me some time for it. So that’s definitely like a long-time dream to work with him in a film.
You mentioned another collaboration idea that you both developed in LA.
About five, six years ago, I met him in LA. I was in Detroit at that point and I went to meet him to pitch him a subject. We were trying to set up a meeting and then he told me he’s in LA. I said I’ll just fly down if you want, and he said yeah, come over. So I went to his LA house where he was working.
That subject conversation got over quickly and then we started talking about another subject, and we jammed on one idea. We both got excited with the idea and we spoke about that idea for about two, three hours. I left that place saying, “You know what, I love this idea. I’m gonna work on this and come back to you.”
I came back to India and I’ve worked on that idea with another friend of mine. We developed that idea into like an outline story. That’s an idea that I think – the concept was kind of we came up with it together. I don’t even know if it’s a feature, if it’s a series, but that’s an idea I’ve been going back and forth with him. I’ve been telling him that he needs to actually listen to what I’ve done with it and he needs to jam with me whenever he has time. But I have not had the opportunity to sit with him to discuss that.
There’s a whole script there which we both kind of came up with, and I’m hoping that idea at some point I’ll get to make. And of course if it’s his idea and my idea, I’m hoping he’ll be the music director for that also.
You directed one of the episodes in “Navarasa.” Didn’t you have the option to tap into Rahman’s music?
We didn’t know. I didn’t know because it’s nine stories, so I thought it would not be right for me to ask Rahman sir to do music for like one story. You know, somehow I felt it was not right to ask. But then he ended up doing it because Gautham sir asked him. So when I heard that, I was like, “Damn, I lost the opportunity. I didn’t even get a chance to go to him because I didn’t know that option was available.”
Were you happy the way “Navarasa” was received?
I expected much more. I really expected much more. It’s still very close to my heart. I’m talking purely about “Edhiri.” I did get a lot of love for “Edhiri,” but I think the filmmaker in me wanted a bit more because I feel it’s something very personal and it’s one of my best work. It’s one of my most creatively satisfying work of mine, and I was hoping it will get more love than what it actually did.
How do you measure success on OTT platforms?
OTT platforms don’t share those kind of reports with us at all, so there is no way to measure the success other than basic perception. Earlier, at least with films when they release in theaters, the box office becomes the meter of success – you know how much money the movie has made. But here, it’s all about the perception – how much of an impact the show or the movie has made and how much of a talking point the show or movie is.
I personally do a deep dive and keep going through all the feedback to get a weighted average of whether it’s really more positive or more negative. And if negative, what does not work; if positive, what works. You have to really study that more rather than rely on data because platforms don’t share the actual data. They share broad data, but otherwise they don’t share the actual data.
So for filmmakers like me, it’s kind of challenging and difficult for us to not be able to understand how much of an impact it has. You might assume reading three negative reviews that it’s not worked at all, but the actual thing must be something else altogether. It must have been viewed so many more times even though it’s gone negative, but it’s actually been viewed, people have watched it more. And the vice versa can also happen – you think it’s getting praised by four, five great reviews, but it’s actually not been viewed so many times.
What’s it like working on “Ponniyin Selvan”?
I can’t tell you how one day on Mani sir’s set is like because every day is different. This has been such a different experience. I never worked on a mythology before, and at this scale – I think it’s the biggest film I ever worked on. I never imagined that I will get a chance to work on a project like this where I’ll get to be part of a story which is being told at this scale and size and this kind of element of fantasy and the old world coming in.
It was very special for me to work on this because it was a really surreal experience. I got to work with so many different people on this project – not just the actors, but the kind of technicians who came on board, the kind of livestock I got to work with. I never worked with horses, I never worked with elephants. I got to work with so many different elements, so many different variables that it was really, really special.
Having heard the music of “Ponniyin Selvan,” what is it like?
Weirdly, for this film, I think a lot of the tracks were already done because they had time. The tracks were already done before we went on shoot. So I didn’t hear one track – I heard like some four, five tracks at one go. It was obviously – each one was better than the others. So it was awesome.
Any message for Rahman sir?
Sir, I hope I’m not saying anything here which will piss you off and you’ll again not allow me in your studio. I’m looking forward to just jamming with him on his story ideas and my story ideas. And I think the biggest message I want to send across is please, please work with me soon. I really hope that we can work on those projects again.
Thank you so much for your time, especially on a weekend.
Thank you so much for inviting me for this podcast. Thank you for the opportunity and thank you for the work that you’ve been doing. Thank you for including people who are close to him, because for Rahman sir fans like me and for fans who don’t have that kind of access to him, to get that insight into his process, to get an insight into his music and to understand his music better – it is such a nice initiative by you. That’s something I think fans like me are very grateful for.
