The interview which appears below, was originally conducted by Nazeef Mohammed in July 2008 during the audio launch of the movie 'Sakarakatti'. ©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.
When A.R. Rahman entered the homes and hearts of every Indian with Roja, he left everyone wondering where this “talent” had been hiding all those years. They had never heard of him, yet it seemed like the dawn of a new decade for music—Rahman had changed the order of the music charts.
And he didn’t stop with Roja. From then on, Rahman continued to deliver super hits up to today’s Ada, consistently discovering new talents and giving them breaks that they never looked back from. Musicians, singers, and technicians alike, find the best and bring the best out of them. His latest discovery was Kabhi Kabhi Aditi’s voice, Rashid Ali, who has quickly become the talk of the music town.
At the recently concluded audio launch of the latest Rahman magic called Sakarakatti, I met a musician who is doing wonders with Rahman right now. Quiet and always working, he seemed to have adopted this quality from working with Rahman. When I got to know him further, he surely proved to be important in the making of Rahman’s music.
It all started with his name. “Excuse me, I’ve seen you here for quite some time. I’m Nazeef, a huge fan of A.R. Rahman. How about you?” With a smile, Krishna Chetan replied, “You don’t have to be so formal, da!”
It was Krishna Chetan indeed—and to be called Rahman’s music assistant is to have climbed the highest rung of the musical ladder, at least that’s how I felt personally. From preparing the beats and grooves to giving the final touches on Rahman’s command, Chetan shares the strongest “musical” bond with our hero. And to talk more about him, behind almost every new release of A.R. Rahman, his name has been credited. And now he has proved to be quite a rage with his super remixes. He has always been a quiet man, almost a reflection of his boss himself, but he plays a very integral part in the making of Rahman’s music.
The singers and others somehow got to be in the limelight with the first song they work with Rahman — but it took Ponmagal Vandal for Krishna Chetan to get slightly noticed. I took this to be my golden chance to expose a little more of Rahman’s “music assistant,” Krishna Chetan!
First things first, how did you meet A.R. Rahman?
My dad is a musician. He had worked with Rahman from his first movie and played an important role in his rhythm arrangements in his early albums. After he felt that I had grown up to a level, after working with several other music directors, one fine day he spoke with Rahman and introduced me to his team.
What did you talk about at your first meeting?
Not much! He gave me work through his engineer. It was the ‘Vaaji Vaaji’ song from Shivaji, and at that same time, Rang De Basanti song mixing was happening on the other side. I programmed the song and waited for him. He suddenly appeared, heard it, made a few corrections, and gave his feel for the song, then left. Our first few meetings were always about work. It took the Rang De Basanti background score for me to actually see more of Rahman and his work.
Could you enlighten us on your journey before meeting Rahman?
I was working as a freelance keyboard programmer for many music directors like SA, Raj Kumar, Mani Sharma, Srikanth Deva, T Rajender, etc. Before that, I completed five grades of music theory and solo piano from Trinity College London, soon after which I did a diploma in sound engineering from SAE Technology College.
So on a normal day in the studios, what exactly is your work like?
It depends on what work is happening that day, whether it is composing, recording, music production, or background score. Each requires a different mindset, and I play different roles in each. Ultimately, as a person who knows both music and technology, my main job is to put everything together take the product close to the finish point and make sure work does not stop. :)”
What exactly does a programmer do? In this case, you…
In short, a good programmer who knows music and music production can finish and give you a final product, whether it is a song or a background score piece. All he needs is the melody from the composer. I work on all our songs, but how much work depends on the song. I will have a lot of programming work when it comes to peppy and western numbers. Sir loves to do his melody songs by himself, so I will have less work on them.
Now coming to what popularized you instantly, tell us about the making of Ponmagal Vandal…
When we were working on Azhagiya Tamizh Magan, Rahman Sir had a very busy schedule because of LOTR and he had to deliver the final two songs of the album. One is the remix of Ponmagal, and the other one is the hero introduction song. So he asked me to start working on the remix. I asked him what exactly should be done. He said, ‘Anything. It should be young and innovative.’
I said ‘okay,’ and he left the place. In the next few hours, I came up with the beat, the bass, and the whole groove, and arranged the song. I was working only with the old voice at that time. And Sir suddenly came in and said, ‘Hey! It’s nice and exciting—don’t change a thing. Let’s finish this fast; we will record a new voice and maybe some rap too.’ I said ‘Okay.’ He suggested Aslam for the lead voice, and Ember, the rapper from the UK, was in town at that time. He asked me to use him too.
Okay, here is the exciting part: he left the place for a few minutes and came back and said, ‘Chetan, I am thinking of giving you the credits for this.’ With a smile, he said we will put ‘Remix by Chetan.’ I just shook my head and gave a smile; I did not realize how big it was at that time.”
I sincerely thank Sir for giving me the official credits for the remix; it shows his big heart and the way he encourages the people who work hard for him.
So what exactly was your role in the song? It became quite a controversial thought as to who actually remixed it; we would love it if you could shed some light on the song.
I played the role of Keyboard Programmer, Music Producer, and Vocal Producer in the Ponmagal remix. I think the song was credited to me for a reason; Rahman Sir is not a person who gives credits away easily to anybody. I did a lot of work, from building the beat and music from scratch to recording vocals and rap and producing the song for a stage where Sir could play with it. He must have felt it was right to give me the credits.
What was Rahman Sir’s role in the Ponmagal Vandal song?
Well, he is the captain of the ship. He always inspects his work at crucial stages. In Ponmagal, Sir did three major things: he recorded rap in a melodious way (Diamond girl phrase), he re-recorded Aslam’s voice at places where I messed up the Tamil pronunciation, and he edited the song from 5 minutes to 3 something. He junked one charanam and a few music interludes to make it short and exciting. I really thank him for that because that made all the difference.
What was it like working for Ember?
Ember is a good friend of mine; we met in London when he came for auditions to Rahman Sir. He is a talented RnB composer, singer, and rapper. Even I was excited to work with him for Ponmagal. I explained the situation of the song in the movie to him, and he wrote the lyrics in 10 minutes in front of me. He finished recording in twenty minutes.
‘Pappu Can’t Dance’ seems to be entering the charts. How was it remixing an original A.R. Rahman track?
It was challenging because even the original song was a peppy number. To make a remix that is more exciting than the original was the challenge. I did not keep in mind that this is a song by Sir. I just took the vocals from the original and had fun with it. The Pappu remix was completely done by me.
To us, remixes are all about raising the tempo and adding the beats. Do you have a formula when you remix? How do you actually remix?
I don’t have any formula, and a remix is not about raising the tempo and adding beats. Nowadays, a remix is a fresh approach to an existing melody, presenting it in an all-new way. It is your point of view or your feel for the melody. How you present it and the quality of your presentation is all that matters. When I remix, I first see the potential in the melody or the source, and I think about how I can present it anew, and then I execute what I feel.
Ponmagal was completely different. Besides being taken from a yesteryear movie, everything else was new. So how was it called a remix?
Yes, it is actually a modern rearrangement of an old song, but there is no other term that you can use to express it and make a common man understand.
On the other hand, Pappu is a typical remix where the original tune is retained, and you remixed the rest. How contrasting was the remixing of Pappu and Ponmagal?
Well, in Ponmagal I was free to explore any genre of music, but in Pappu, we wanted to do a typical club mix. I thank Abbas Tyrewala, the director, for giving me this opportunity. We had good fun working on both the remix and the original. Since we wanted to do a club mix, I had to put in some usual elements and sounds to make it that way, but I did my best to keep it fresh and exciting. I also thank Rahman Sir for giving me the time to do this remix in his busy schedule.
Does Rahman Sir give you inputs/suggestions on the remixing?
Yes, Rahman Sir thinks a lot before giving suggestions; it sometimes gets really tough to execute them, but it always works.
Rahman Sir is conventionally known to be against remixes—how does he handle the whole remix scene?
Yes! He hates anything that is dance or club music because musically there is nothing that excites him in them, and he needs to be in a different mindset to compose his music. But when you come out with something that excites him, then he jumps in.
Did you try remixing for the movie Ada? It’s an open event!
No, I had enough fun working on the originals.
What pleases Rahman Sir the most in your remixing? Or his dislikes, if any?
By working with him for the past three years, I’ve learned his likes and dislikes, and eventually, tend to share them naturally. So my remix will always have a pleasant and smooth feel; you can hear it again and again without hurting your ears. So far, I have not done any presentation that he has disliked.
You were also assigned to score the background score for Azhagiya Tamizh Magan. Again, something debated.
Well, I work on all the background scores, but I did a lot of work on the Azhagiya Tamizh Magan. It was exciting till the last moment.
You are A.R. Rahman’s music assistant—how tough is carrying the name? The responsibilities?
It is very exciting. I constantly have to keep myself updated and running. Rahman Sir has a different vision for each project and he has to constantly do better than before. So there is constant pressure on us too. We have to understand his visions and him to work with him.
Amazing knowing so much! May God bless you, and I hope you have a great future!
