The interview which appears below was originally published on the Tehelka website in July 2001. ©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.
Allah Rakha Rahman is on a high. The soundtrack of Lagaan is flying off the shelves of music stores, and Nayak is also ready for release. The usually reclusive music composer is suddenly very accessible, as this interview reveals. R S Vasan spoke to Rahman at the release of Nayak’s music. Excerpts from an interview:
How different is the music of Nayak from the original Mudhalvan?
Firstly, we remixed the whole thing. Then we added two songs. One is a Rajasthani folk number. The second one is a typical Bollywood number. It is pure contemporary Hindi film music. I am working on a lot of Hindi films. I have to compose music for original Hindi films. Since the scores are in Hindi, it makes a difference.
How will you cater to Hindi audiences with Tamil songs otherwise?
This has been carefully done, taking into account the tastes of the Hindi film audiences. The music has to be friendly to them, but at no time will you find that the pace of the original music has not slackened because of the changes.
The music of Lagaan saw you change your style. I am very curious to know. What did you do?
A lot of research also went into the compositions. Surprisingly, the whole track of Lagaan was composed in one-and-a-half months, in November and December of 1999, to be precise. It had some dummy lyrics written by [director] Ashutosh Gowariker. I would compose the song and ask him whether it did go with the 1893 kind of a feel. Many people have thus contributed to the music of Lagaan. Even Aamir Khan has done his bit. Javed Akhtar saab has also done a lot of work here. The lyrics of the songs were also in Avadhi.
Talking of Avadhi, your songs don’t sound so South Indian any more. You have more of a national appeal now.
I am friendlier to the North Indians (laughs). Earlier, I composed music for very few Hindi films like Rangeela and Kabhi Na Kabhi. Most of the films for which I composed music for were all dubbed films. So when the songs were dubbed, they lost the flavor of the language. It lost the poetry. There were other problems like lip sync, among others, during picturisation.
Now I am working on a lot of Hindi films. I have to compose music for original Hindi films. Since the scores are in Hindi, it makes a difference. I have now worked with late Majrooh Sultanpuri saab, Javed Akhtar saab, Gulzar saab, Anand Bakshi saab. I have a better sense of Hindi poetry, too.
So no more “Telephone dhun mein hasne wali, Melbourne machli machalnewali” kind of music?
No. Not anymore. You don’t have to match the lips. The whole thing is rewritten. The Hindi market is much bigger than in the South. So extreme care has to be taken.
When did you change your style? During “Vande Mataram”?
The problem started in 1996 when a whole lot of Prabhu Deva movies were dubbed and released. Here the lyrics did sync with the music, the lip or to the meaning. It was amidst this utter confusion that the problem was seen. But the struggle helped to break the barrier. Dil Se came out very well. Taal followed. That was much bigger than Dil Se, and now it is Lagaan. It has stabilised my music. Lagaan is very different from any kind of a music we have heard before.
What made it so special?
Once you are involved with the script, the cast and the director, these are the people who have lived the film. You look at the script through his eyes and you know what to do and what not to do.
You are also composing music for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Bombay Dreams? What’s happening on that front?
We just finished composing the music now. The musical is now looking at theatres and casting. We hope to hit the theatres in May and June 2002.
