The interview which appears below, was originally published on I Love A.R. Rahman Podcast in March 2023. ©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.
Thank you so much for blessing the podcast series. It’s a tribute for A.R. Rahman sir, and I have been extremely keen to have you as part of this journey.
We all love A.R. Rahman, all of us. We’re all his fans, so I’m very happy to be here to talk to you about him. I’m very happy to meet you too. Music keeps us going – it keeps all of us going, keeps the whole world going. Whichever profession you are in, I don’t think without music we would have been probably as good as animals. Maybe even animals love music. There’s nobody in this being who doesn’t love music.
Before I dive into A.R. Rahman topics, there’s one specific thing I wanted to talk about. Do you have any guesses why I’m wearing a white shirt?
[After seeing a picture of the interviewer’s Pooja room with Sai Baba’s image]
Oh my God, Sai Ram! It’s amazing. I’m so happy. More than me, I’ll say my husband – there are so many moments where in music, Baba has guided him and guided me also. He’s been with us through our musical journey, really for both of us.
I’d like to hear any memories that come to your mind of interacting with Swami.
I remember once I came to sing in Puttaparthi, not the very first time, but later on. Just the day before the concert I got an extremely bad cold and I tend to be bronchial. I kind of lost my voice. When I came up on stage, I just sang somehow – I croaked through one song and then I was crying a little bit, saying that here I’m in front of Swami, not able to sing.
So Baba understood. He came backstage to bless all the artists and said, “What happened? Why are you crying?” I said, “Baba, I had this opportunity to sing for you and I have not been able to sing. My voice is gone.” So he just gave me vibhuti and said, “Everything will be all right. You don’t cry. Now you have this continuously for one week.”
I went home to Bombay, took a flight back, and had that for one week. Exactly a week later was Swami’s actual birth date, the 23rd November. That day I came back and we were all supposed to perform in a big group. I came back and sang for him in the big stadium and I could sing that day.
After that, I do tend to suffer from a lot of colds and coughs – allergies and all this – but I’ve been singing through all these days. There are moments when it’s like fighting a battle sometimes, trying to sing. But through all this, it is like Baba saying, “Why are you worrying? Everything will be all right.” I feel he’s given me a lot of courage despite all these odds.
Any rituals before you go into recording?
Nothing like that. It’s just small prayers which I say before I start singing on the mic. Baba has told us, “You don’t worry about rituals. You just pray and you pray to me. Everything is okay.” He’s never said there are specific rituals. I’m not ritualistic at all, but I say those prayers whenever I can.
My husband has Swami’s picture in his violin case, so before any concert he will keep that, he will touch that photograph, or sometimes he will just take it out of the violin and keep it in front of him as he plays a concert.
Have you seen any resemblance when Rahman smiles and you see Swami in him?
I’ve never thought about it like that. I must now probably look at it from that angle. But I know that Rahman has a very, very sweet, serene smile. He has a very sweet smile. When he smiles, his face does light up. Sometimes it’s not even a full smile – he just gives a small little smile and his face lights up that much I know. But I have never really connected the two. Maybe now I will, now that you tell me.
For the devotees and fans who are also devotees, anything you would like to say from Swami’s perspective?
I’m not very profound, I can’t say anything very profound, but the one thing I can say is that in my journey of life, I cannot go through this journey without his blessings. Never can I ever think that I did this, I sang this song. That word “I” cannot come, because the moment the word “I” comes, then there is this corruption inside you.
I always feel that the spiritual blessing holds our hand when we are doing any work. Even when I’m learning a song, the ability to learn the song, the ability to be able to pronounce the words right, the ability to feel what the composer wants and to go to the mic and sing – all these abilities, if somebody is not holding my hand, if Baba is not holding my hand, if there’s no spiritual blessing, if Lord Ganesha is not holding my hand, I don’t think I can do it.
Like Baba says, if you remove “I,” then there is peace of mind. I feel that the word “I” should not dominate our personalities. It’s not “I” ever, it’s “we” – it’s the blessings of divine. We are doing whatever we are doing. It’s not our arrogance, it’s not our capacity. He’s guiding us, he’s also giving us the capacity.
Coming into the A.R. Rahman world – meeting him for the first time, any vivid memories?
I met him in Bombay in Saint Xavier’s. There was a communication college where they had a beautiful studio. He was there with Mr. Mani Ratnam. After Roja, he was a phenomenon, and “Chinna Chinna Aasai” was a song which we all loved. I was really looking forward to singing for him.
I went to the studios and I saw this such a young, young boy. He was so young and so quiet and so shy. I don’t think words would come out of his mouth. He played it to us and he sang a little bit casually, told us what to do. With our experience, we sang those alapanas – Shankar sang his part, I sang my alapanas. This was all as part of the background score for Bombay.
After the recording finished, I was taking my leave. As I was taking my leave, they came out of the cabin – A.R. Rahman and Mani Ratnam. They looked at each other and told me, “We just want to find out if it’s possible for you to come to Chennai next week to do a song for this movie.” That was my first meeting.
Tell me about recording “Tu Hi Re” from Bombay.
The next meeting was I went to Chennai. I reached pretty early in the morning and I was in the studio by 10:30. Mr. Murthy was waiting for me and he took me into the studio. I wrote the lyrics down and the track was played to me. Actually, Mr. Murthy did the entire recording – he was the sound person and he conducted the entire recording.
I finished the song and after I finished, they brought Rahman into the studio to hear it. He completely okayed it, said it’s absolutely fine. I told him, “This is such a beautiful song,” but actually at that point of time I did not hear Udit’s portion at all. I heard only my portion, so I had no clue how it was going to sound.
He said it’s very, very nice, then he said, “You know what, you eat something now, take a break for half an hour, then we’ll do the next song.” I was very happy because I worked on the principle that the best PR was you sing a song well in the mic and you get called for the next song. That’s the only PR you can do – your work should be able to talk for yourself.
Then I heard “Tu Meri” and I knew exactly what the composition was. Now I wrote my words and I went to the mic, and I was extremely nervous because there are two lines which are very, very high. The scale was also pretty high, so I was wondering what will I do because I suffer from bronchitis and sinus.
I sang the song to the best of my ability and again he said okay. That’s the time I first saw his gentle smile. He said, “Can you possibly do those two lines again?” I said I did my best, it’s very, very high for me. He said, “No, that’s okay, you just try.”
Then Rahman came in and he told me to sing the lines again. He was in the recording console and he smiled at me – his very sweet, shy smile as usual, which is so charming. I took a deep breath, and that’s where all the spiritual blessings came in. I started singing and I think I sang it once, then I cut it myself and I think I sang it again. When I finished the second take, he said, “Okay, okay, that’s it.”
The magic happens afterwards when the song is about to be released. When the film was ready and the songs were coming to the market, that’s when I heard it and I couldn’t believe what he had done with the sound. Everything was so beautifully enhanced and I heard my high notes and I said, “Oh my god, did I sing it with so much ease?” It was amazing that he could give me so much courage.
How did that experience change you as a singer?
After singing those two high lines, though I had sung “Hawa Hawai” and everything before that, I really got courage that I can do a lot of high notes. I never felt scared after that. I said, “Okay, if I can do Tu Hi Re, I can do it in the higher scale also.” I always used to mentally tease Rahman saying that he sings in a very high scale, his range is so high.
I hardly exchanged few words with him because he was very, very quiet. It’s later on through the years that he speaks a little bit now, but those days he was a very, very quiet, very shy person. I think his smile spoke for him more than anything else.
He was one person who is not given to gossip. I’ve never heard him talking detrimentally about anybody, never heard him talking about anybody else. It’s him, his work, and his artist in front of him. He’s a person who’s very non-gossip and very, very straightforward.
Did you see a change in him when you met him recently?
My recent collaboration was actually more with my husband and his children and my child – the “Conversations” piece that got done. That recording, I could not go, so I didn’t meet him then. It’s been some while since I met him.
Slowly, as I did the other songs like “Taal” and “Pukar” and other films, he would once in a while come and sit and speak a couple of sentences – “How are you?” When we were in London for “Mangal Pandey,” I had to record late at night in a studio there. When we were traveling, we were talking to him and asking him about how it has been working with Andrew Lloyd Webber. He was very cheerful and said, “Yeah, it is a very different system working here and I enjoy working here.” That’s the only time I heard him speaking a little more.
He’s always been on the quieter side. He’s more an inward-looking person, that’s what I feel about him. That’s the strength of his personality.
As a professional singer, do you get to hear the track until it gets released?
Not really. That was much later, in the mid-90s. From ’93, ’94, ’95 onwards, those things used to happen. Till 1991, we used to record the songs live with the orchestra. When you record live, you go to the booth after the recording is finished, the whole song is played – musicians, your male singers, all of you are doing the song together, so I get to hear the entire song.
But somewhere in the mid-90s, what happened is sometimes I would sing my portion first, the male singer is doing his portion later on. I did my part separately and when I finished my part, sometimes the recording session, it’s already taken an hour, everybody has to go for some other work, so I don’t get to hear the whole song. There are a lot of songs where I sometimes hear the song only after it’s completed and it’s already in the market.
With A.R. Rahman, what used to happen is there are certain songs where you go to the mic and sometimes there are only chords playing – only the required chords because even the track is not completed. He’s probably looking at what the singer is going to do, he’s probably going to make the track more compatible with that. So just the few chords that are necessary to give me support for the voice would be there. Then you sing the lines and he would say, “Can you sing it a few more times, as many ways you would like to do it?”
So I sang it a few times where I felt maybe I could do this, maybe I could do that, and I would record. He would just quietly record and later on he would mix and match, and finally when the song comes out, it’s like magic.
Have you had a chance to ask him about any of your previous songs after they were released?
Never, because sometimes for some other people, I have sung songs and when they’ve come in the market, I felt, “Oh God, they haven’t really mixed the voice very well. I wish the voice had been a little more rounded, it’s sounding too shrill,” or “The delay’s too much or the reverb is too less or it’s too dry.” I have felt it about a few other people’s songs, but with A.R. Rahman, never.
He’s a master. He knows in that particular song how the voice has to be projected, how it is, where the orchestra should stop, where the voice should come in. He’s a master in production work. He’s beyond expectations. Most of his songs, whether I think of “Mangal Pandey” – I sang till 4:30 in the morning and at that time your voice cannot be your best, but what he’s done with the song is marvelous. When I heard it, I couldn’t believe it. I said, “Did I really sing it? It sounds so nice.”
He knows what he wants and he knows how to get the best from his artists. Another thing – he is so peaceful in a recording. Except for that sweet smile, he’ll never get angry, never feel distressed about what you’re doing at the mic. He might gently say, “Maybe this line you could repeat, it can be a little better,” but he never gives any negative feelings to an artist. It’s always a positive vibration because he’s a very positive person.
What’s the aura like in an A.R. Rahman studio?
The aura is positive, and even the people around him, his staff, his people – they’re all very positive. All of them, from Shiva, everybody those days when I was there. All the people around him are also – he has chosen people around him who are very, very positive. They’re all lovely people, so warm, so affectionate.
Singing for him has been milestones in my life. Even there are songs like that song from “Doli Saja Ke Rakhna” – it’s such a sweet song I’ve ever sung. Then “Buddha” – one song. All the songs I’ve enjoyed, every song I’ve sung for him. In every song I feel that he gets the best out of every artist. No artist walks out of the studio feeling that it was not my best.
It feels like special songs are reserved for you. Is that fair to say?
Thank you if you feel that. I’m so grateful. But I’ve always felt that he knows my voice very well. He told me when I first met him at that communication college, he said, “The way I heard you and called you was because of this song that has registered in my brain and I love the way you have done this.” He was referring to a jingle that used to come on the radio which was recorded for Mr. Vaidyanathan and Mr. Ashok Patki had arranged it in Bombay.
I think he knows my voice, so every song he’s given me, it is within my range and it falls into that. But also at the same time, he has experimented by making me sing those kind of songs like “Que Sera Sera.” He’s made me sing out of the box songs.
I really feel that some of my best songs in my life were definitely out of the box for me. I’ll tell you why – in 1994, when I sang “Bombay,” I sang “Love Story 1942,” it was not a very good period for me because I never got very good songs at that point because it was mostly T-Series and Nadeem-Shravan songs, and for them, Alka was their voice, not me. Every other film was Nadeem-Shravan, so I never got very good songs.
I used to keep thinking, why is it that I get a lot of item songs but romantic songs don’t come my way? When it’s romantic, it used to be either Anuradha Paudwal or Alka Yagnik. Romantic songs hardly came my way, and I thought maybe my voice quality, because of all these reasons, didn’t have the soft romantic quality that a romantic song requires.
That’s the time I got “Tu Hi Re.” How did Rahman know that I can sing “Tu Hi Re”? Because I sang for him which is an entirely different kind of song, more like a classical range, and I did some alapanas. How did he know? Why did he not call Alka Yagnik or Anuradha Paudwal? They were the singers who were at the top, or Chithra ji could have also sung the Hindi version. Why me?
I sang the song and it’s one of the first few romantic songs which came my way which made it big. He could definitely see that there was something in me that I could have sung a romantic song like that. It stands out as one of the most remarkable songs I have done in my life. There is not a single concert where I don’t sing it.
Tell me about “Satrangi Re” from “Dil Se.”
Your portion was very tiny and you had a talking portion too. In the briefing, he didn’t want me to say it loud. I generally tend to – my voice is a little on the thinner side when I speak, so it will sound so ineffective. He said, “No, no, you whisper it.” I whispered it. He says, “Can you make it a little louder?” I did it as much as I could, as loud as I can, and then he liked it.
Then there’s the alapanas. He told me, I did it the way he told me within the scale and within these notes. He always guides, he knows what he wants and we can’t do random alapanas. He will sing it like the way he sings and then you do it like that.
Actually, when the song came in the market and after Sonu had sung it and I saw how my voice had been used, I thought it was absolutely a very, very intelligent way of using it. It’s a very small portion, but you know how effective it is. If you remove it, there is something which will fall less in that song. Some songs, when you remove the alapana, it still sounds okay, but in this song, he has so effectively used it.
I’ve had people coming and telling me that they like it. I thought “Satrangi Re” is Sonu’s song, but there were so many people after that coming and telling me, “Oh, we love what you did in that.” That shows how intelligent the music director is and what a clear picture he has of the song. That’s why he’s a great music director. That’s why he falls into the league of great music directors like Pancham da, where they have a vision of what that song should be.
Tell me about “Ishq Bina” from “Taal.”
In this song, I remember Subhash ji’s smile because he was there at the recording. He was right there in front of my booth – this is my booth, A.R. Rahman is there in the console, he’s sometimes himself used to do the songs at the console, and Subhash ji is right outside my booth. I was a little embarrassed because he’s literally watching my face when I’m singing, but he had a smile.
I asked him after the recording, “Subhash ji, is it okay?” He was smiling. He told me, “Kavita ji, I was not smiling because of that. I was smiling, I was just thinking.” There were three bars – the first lines, there were quite a few pre-bars, and I really had to decide what variations I wanted to do. There again, he kept on singing, he just kept on recording those little things that I did in the song.
I had to time myself well before the chorus line starts, I had to finish everything within that because it’s tight. But he allowed me to sing freely and then I think he would have shifted the chorus to fit exactly where I finished. There was again a lot of comfort zone because though the composition is his, he gave me the freedom to improvise a little bit here and there and do what I want. He allowed me to sing what I want and then brought in the chorus.
There were some high notes also in that as you go high, and it was very, very beautiful because I was not constricted. I had the feeling, I had the freedom to do what I want and he allowed it. The thing which is very special about him is his composition is there, like strong, but he allows me the freedom to do what I want. But if there is something that I do which is not part of his style, he’ll tell me and I’ll change it.
It’s not that he allows me to sing a song which is totally Kavita Krishnamurthy style. Kavita Krishnamurthy has to fall within Rahman’s style. He has to be there because it has to fall within his territory. He has his own style and he tries to mold the singer in his own style. He makes them think like him at that point in time. Even if I’m improvising, even if I’m doing a few grace notes, it falls into his style.
It’s like – this may sound funny, but I love dogs – it’s like my dog, I give him one of those long leashes. He goes on the road, he can go quite a bit, but I can pull him back. So the song is on a leash. It’s not that Kavita does whatever she wants in a song and it’ll be accepted by Rahman. It falls within his framework.
Tell me about “Mori Saiyaan” from “Doli Saja Ke Rakhna.”
I don’t think I don’t know whether the film did very well or whatever, so the song didn’t become a big hit, but very nice song, very, very nice. This song got remade in Tamil, but I absolutely love the original in Hindi. Beautiful song, beautiful soundtrack.
Any memories from recording “Tum Ho” from “Rockstar”?
“Tum Ho” is one of the last songs I did for A.R. Rahman. When I recorded, again there it was just chords, all that happened. I didn’t know what the music arrangement is going to be because I just got the chords, just whatever chord is required in the song, that’s all I got. I sang it like an ad-lib, whatever, and then finally when I heard the song, it’s so different from anything I’ve sung before. Such nice songs he’s giving me, I’m so grateful for that.
Do you speak with him in English or Tamil?
Quite a lot in English. Simple things he’ll say – “You get the song ready and I will come back to you to record in half an hour. Meanwhile, you can just work on the song. The songwriter is there, he’ll give you the lyrics.” He would speak with a lot of respect.
Any memories from Tamil recordings?
When I sing Tamil words, I have to focus on the pronunciation also because I don’t know those words very well, so the songwriter would also be there to correct my pronunciation. For me, I had to be a little careful because I had to focus on the words. It’s not like Hindi words where I know the language very well.
Sometimes because of Hindi singing, I would have a habit of singing a little more legato, a little lazier, longer phrases in Hindi. But Tamil is kind of different singing, so there are a lot of things which were new to me when I sing in Tamil. But he was very, very patient. He gave me sufficient time to be in front of the mic, and if I was coughing and I needed to have a glass of water because I had issues, he would give me enough time to clear my throat and sing the way I want.
Compared to any other music directors I’ve worked with, he is one person who has always been very relaxed, very sweet, very positive, making the singer sing his song but with freedom. When I enter the studio, by the time I knew how he is, so I was totally relaxed. I’ve never had any tensions. I would feel okay if I can’t sing that line at one go, these dubbing techniques are there, I can always redo the line, take a ten-minute break and come back and redo it.
Did you get the opportunity to meet Chinmayi during recording?
I wish she was around. What has happened to her is tragic. The two singers who I thought were amazing and I thought if they had continued singing, they could actually in a way be the voice of Rahman – they would have been trained under him and they were young singers who would have really come up with extraordinary songs for him. This is where God’s will comes in.
Another singer who is amazing for most of the music directors and has been amazing for A.R. Rahman is Chithra ji. There is not a single singer in this world who could have sung that song like hers. There are so many songs of hers for A.R. Rahman that she has sung. There’s another song which she sang with SPB in Tamil – would there be anybody in this world apart from Chithra ji who could have sung like that? She is, according to me, a phenomenal singer, one of the most phenomenal singers I’ve ever met in my life and one of the sweetest singers I’ve ever imagined, one of the nicest ladies I’ve ever met in my life. She’s also a blessed child.
Are there any songs outside of what you have sung that you felt belonged to you?
That’s not part of my temperament at all. The reason is, I have dubbed songs for Lata ji right from 1978 end. There was a song – that’s the first song I dubbed, and from that day, almost three songs a week I used to dub for Laxmikant-Pyarelal. After I dubbed for Lata ji to sing, I used to use that as my point of reference to see how certain lines she has sung it. That’s how I learned a lot about singing by looking at her interpretation.
At that point of time, I never felt my voice should be kept, it was Lata ji’s voice, my guru, her voice. How can I even think that my voice will be kept? So that thinking has not come into my personality at all because I have started this way. If Alka has sung a song or Anuradha or Chithra has sung a song, I’ve always felt it’s their destiny and it’s their songs. It’s never my song. My songs are what comes to me and I have to do my best with it.
Of course, there are times when I felt like I wish I had sung for Madan Mohan, I wish I had sung – I did sing for Salil Chaudhury, but I never sang for three music directors who I wanted to – Roshan saab, Madan Mohan, S.D. Burman. Three people I could not sing for, so I have that sadness that I wish I could have sung for them, how much I would have learned from those music directors. But I’ve never felt that any song that my colleague has sung, I can sing it better or I should have sung. It’s not part of my personality at all.
This is because I’ve inherited this from my parents and I’ve inherited this from my spiritual blessings from Baba and all. Being with Baba, you learn jealousy and envy cannot be part of your personality. If you are a musician, it has to be out of your system, otherwise you’re hindering your own progress. This is what I have to tell every singer, every artist. If the younger generation wants any advice from me, I’ll tell them this – you please look at your own work, you please progress in your own path. As far as other singers are singing, you listen to them, but wear blinkers. Never say that he’s luckier than me because he’s got this and I haven’t got it. That envy, that jealousy should not be part of your personality because it’s very destructive.
Is there anything else about A.R. Rahman that you’d like to talk about?
I think I have spoken a lot about his personality and how he has made me record, how he’s made me feel comfortable, and how though I’m much older than him, in the studio it was like being with a friend. How I feel he has got the best out of me for that particular day – whatever my best was, he got it out of me. I’m so ever so grateful to him that he gave me such wonderful songs to my list.
I would like to bless him that he should continue in his musical path for many, many years with his genius. I’d like to say that I just absolutely am amazed at the way he did “Conversations” – I think it is one of his finest works because of the way he has played it, the way he has also arranged it. I just love the way he has done that song. I can only bless him and I can only say that God give him good health, long life, and he continues with this positivity and contributes greatly to this world of music and artists.
The fans will kill me if I don’t request you to sing at least two lines of any song.
[Kavita ji sings a few lines]
Beautiful, it’s beautiful.
Do you go back and listen to your own songs?
Not to my songs unless I have to prepare it for a stage show. I tend to be a little critical and then I say I wish I could do this again. Unless there are some songs which I really like – if I had to listen to “Tu Hi Re,” I would happily listen because I really know probably it was my best. But there are so many other songs I wouldn’t want to listen to because I’m very critical. I feel like I could have done better.
I must tell you something special about Lata ji – she would sing in the studio, and once the recording got okayed, she’d pick up her handbag and leave. She never listens to her song. There are two conjectures – one, that she’s such a perfectionist, she knows exactly how it’s going to sound because most of her songs were done live in her generation. And the second is that she knows for that day what she has sung is her best. She cannot do better than that, so she knows I have given my best, so now it’s time for me to leave.
Do you keep up with A.R. Rahman’s recent releases?
Sometimes, not so much. I really don’t, but I do get to hear them somewhere in the early part of January because I’m part of the Radio Mirchi jury. That’s the time when I do hear it because I’m part of the jury, but that too it’s not all the songs – we get the best songs and then we listen to them, and A.R. Rahman always falls in the best song list.
You’re coming to Australia very soon.
Yes, I think I’m there on 22nd in Sydney. I want to spend some time in Melbourne because I don’t get to see the city otherwise.
Anything you’d like to share about the concert for the fans?
I’d like to say one thing – that this is a very special concert because Pyarelal ji is one of the last living legends, and he’s going to be on stage. For me, nothing else matters. If I was there, I would just come just to see Pyarelal ji, to see this great man. The kind of arrangements he has done in songs, and this man at this age is going to fly across from India all the way to Australia and he’s going to perform.
If nothing, just to give him a standing ovation, all music, Bollywood music lovers should come. They should not think of the money that they’re spending or that they are so busy doing something else. Everything should be postponed if you’re a genuine Bollywood lover and you have loved Laxmikant-Pyarelal songs. You should be there because Laxmikant ji is not there – he died an untimely death in ’98. Pyarelal ji will be there just to give a standing ovation for the phenomenal work these people have done.
They’ve given songs to Rafi saab, they’ve given songs to Lata ji, Kishore da – some of the best songs of their careers have come from these music directors. If you love music, that’s one thing all Indians must learn to do – not just sit and do free download and free stream at home and listen to songs and say no. They must make the physical effort of going and showing respect to the artists when they come to your country, especially at the age of 80, and they’ve come to perform.
You should see the way he’s looking at his musicians and he’s the only one who knows if they’ve made a small mistake or not. He’s listening to his percussion and you’ll see him looking at the person. At this age, to see that kind of dedication, it’s quite amazing. He’s really one of the geniuses.
There are people like Ilaiyaraaja, A.R. Rahman – I mean A.R. Rahman is his father’s generation, I’m sure he would have been inspired by the way they’ve arranged. For that reason, I feel people must come. It doesn’t matter, please come to pay respects to this great man who belongs to the era of the greatest generation of Bollywood music.
Thank you so much for blessing my podcast and making my little dream come true.
Sai Ram, and may Baba really hold your hand all through your life and be with you in your work. Thank you so much and looking forward to seeing you in person.
