The interview which appears below, was originally published on the AV Max website in March 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.
They say time flies when you are having fun. We’ve had great fun listening to your music, has it been fun making music?
Yes, in a way. I believe that only when you have fun can other people have fun too. If you feel tortured, people listening to you will also feel tortured (laughs). So I make it as less torturous for people as I can.
It’s been nine years since ‘Roja’. After all these years, what does ‘Roja’ mean to you ? Is it just another film or is there something more to it?
During ‘Roja’, I couldn’t foresee what was to come, in that sense it is very special. Before I signed ‘Roja’, I was very satisfied with what I had. I had producers asking me to compose for commercials and whatever ambitions I had had long been subjugated(laughs). Just before ‘Roja’ happened to me, I went into a state of spiritual vacuum, and temporal ambitions took a secondary place. In such a state, every moment was a surprise.
I tended to take what came as it came rather than hope and foresee too many things and have too many ambitions. Yeah, the success of ‘Roja’ surprised all of us, but I tended, and still ten to look at it philosophically. I think it worked out better this way because it is no use having too many ambitions and getting frustrated in the process.
There is something called ‘sophomore syndrome’, which you beat with ‘Pudhiya Mugam’. Did you have to work doubly hard on that score, because post-‘Roja’, expectations were high and you had a lot to prove, and perhaps lose?
Yeah, there was another aspect to it, though. With ‘Roja’, I had Mani Ratnam and (lyricist) Vairamuthu helping me. But the set-up for ‘Pudhiya Mugam’ was completely new. The film was Suresh Menon’s first, and although he was experienced at producing commercials, I felt the pressure. I didn’t know what he expected of me. The odd thing was that I went into ‘Pudhiya Mugam’ assuming that people were expecting something along the lines of ‘Roja’ from me, so I composed a melodic score. But when the music came out, they turned around and said that the music was repetitive. It is only now that people say what a good score ‘Pudhiya Mugam’ actually is.
Was the rhythm-oriented score of ‘Gentleman’ a reaction to this?
Yes, it was. ‘Roja’ and ‘Pudhiya Mugam’ were both melody-based and the rhythm-based compositions were seen as different at that time. Also, I guess I was a little more sensitive about public reaction then than I am now. It actually took me a good four years to figure out what people meant when they said I was repetitive. I learned to read between the lines, so to say.
What is your opinion on public opinion?
I can be a little confusing at times. It is an odd fact of my career that whenever the music of a film I have composed for is released, the first reaction is one of non-acceptance. This happened earlier with ‘May Madham’ and ‘Duet’ and other films and is happening today with ‘Zubeidaa’ and ‘One 2 ka 4’. The reaction is that Rahman is burnt out, he is getting repetitive, and he has no future.
Four months down the line, after the film releases, the same people say that the music is very good (laughs). Take my last Tamil release, Tenali. With that film, I tried and worked on a new sound, and I felt that at least now they would stop saying I was repetitive. But they complained that the music was too radical. Give them something that they can predict and they don’t like it. Give them something completely new and they don’t like that either (laughs)
How do you react to criticism? For example, how do you feel when people say that you are getting repetitive?
Initially, it used to hurt, but then I tried to analyze what they were trying to say. One criticism is that all my tunes sound alike. Now that is not true, but it could be the use of certain instruments. I used the pan flute in a couple of songs and since they sounded alike, it is assumed that the tune was being repeated.
So I switched to a bamboo flute for some time. I have switched back to a pan flute it takes time for people to realize that it is not the tunes but the instruments that are being repeated and how the instruments are used is a signature style of the composer, it takes time to establish that it is the feel of the instruments that is the same and not the tune.
There is a lot of talk about a ‘Rahman sound’. Do you agree there is one and if so, what is it?
It is like a personal signature. Take Mohammed Rafi, for example. He might sing in different raga, but no matter what he sings, you know that this is a Rafi song. It is also like an RD Burman track. No matter what he composes, you know this is an RD Burman composition by the way it sounds, by the way, the instruments are arranged, and by the way, the song flows. It is possible that every musical composition is imbued with a bit of the personality of the composer. When I compose, I am not conscious of a particular style, but yes, people do say that there is something called a Rahman sound.
So there really is no such thing as a Rahman sound or style?
As I said, I think it is something that people have identified and labeled. As a composer, I try and do something new with every film.
But you do agree that your music sounds very distinct. When was the foundation for that distinctness laid?
That happened in 1989 when I began construction of my own studio. There was something very spiritual about the place. Maybe it was because my peer-saab laid the foundation for the place. Since then, a lot of people who have been here having also felt the same spirituality about it.
In fact, there was a time when my friends would drop in at the studio just to relax. In the early days, I mostly did documentaries and ad films. And I took the trouble to ensure that I composed something distinct. Where other composers took eight hours to finish one documentary, I would spend three days just to ensure I got everything right.
This was possible because I had my own studio at my disposal and could spend as much time as I wanted to in it. Also, working late wasn’t tiresome because the place had a sense of peace about it. The flip side, of course, was that I would often get ribbed for spending so much time over the music. I could never explain to anybody that I was searching for something inside myself through my compositions, and composing music was a bit like meditation. I guess the more time I spent composing, the closer I got to producing a sound that I liked.
That said, how much have your sound engineers Sridhar and Sivakumar contributed to making your style what it is?
Immensely, I would say. I would say that they have sacrificed their lives for my music. That’s because I work at night and both Sridhar and Sivakumar have been here right through. Of course, their wives keep cribbing (laughs). But seriously, we have struck up a perfect working relationship.
Sometimes I compose a tune and leave it to Sridhar to see what sense he can make of my ideas. Take, for example, the last bit of music in Rangeela. Even the director wasn’t sure what kind of music he wanted there. I composed a piece based on what I thought would be appropriate, but when we were mixing it, Sridhar went and pasted a different piece onto that portion of the film.
When I heard the result, I couldn’t believe what he had done, because not only was the piece apt for the situation, but it also gave a different sub-text to the climax scene. That was really exciting. I guess such magic can only happen when people vibe very well and are on the same wavelength. Sridhar, Sivakumar, and I are definitely on the same wavelength. Here’s something that has intrigued us.
Vocalists and instrumentalists have a riyaaz to perfect their art. What does a composer do to perfect his art?
Personally, I would say that a sense of spirituality helps a great deal. And it is important that you study life as well. Both these things will make you a better human being, and therefore, a better composer.
Life teaches you what real pain and happiness are, and these things help in creating better compositions. It works like this: if the film demands happy music the composer only has to tap into the wellspring of happy experiences from his own life to create the right ambiance for that tune. I think this is more important than learning all the technical gymnastics of music [laughs].
I mean a composer is exactly that; he has to compose. He needn’t arrange a 101-piece orchestra to get a certain mood. This, sadly, is a folly that many composers fall prey to. What they are trying to do is overwhelm people with sound and not emotional content.
What you are saying is that a composer has to feel from his heart while composing?
Yeah, it is important that you compose music that can move people emotionally. That’s it.
What about singers? Why do you risk introducing untried, unconventional voices when industry wisdom dictates that you go with perfect voices?
When I started composing, I found that there was a lack of variety in the voices we used in the film industry. I mean, take the West for example. They have such a diverse variety of singers. Some of them have, perhaps, only had one hit song o record, and are still able to make a decent living on the royalties from that song or record. And that’s a great thing.
Here, of course, the situation was very different. Not only did we not have a great variety of singing voices, but we also didn’t have the time to unearth new voices given the speed at which the recording industry worked. The industry needed instant results, and newcomers couldn’t be expected to do this. Of course, this is no reflection of the available talent. What was needed was someone who could push them a bit more and they would deliver.
In my early days, I took 10 times the time to record a song because I worked with newcomers and I wanted the singers to get as close to the emotional content of my composition as they could. In working with newcomers, I always took the directors into confidence. Sometimes they okayed my proposal and sometimes they rejected it. After a time, they started trusting me implicitly, which I didn’t like very much (laughs). The thing is, I could have been wrong with my choice, and I need to be challenged.
Do you like it when directors push you?
Sometimes yes, because it gives me an insight into what they need, and helps me come up with better compositions. Sometimes I could be wrong and their input could prove invaluable. The intention is to give something individual, but inputs are always welcome.
Is the choice of singers an intrinsic process or is there a formula for it?
I believe it is intrinsic. Even while composing, the composer knows what voice would suit that particular song. Take ‘Chandralekha’, for example. It made little sense to ask Chithra, who has a well-modulated, melodic voice to sing that song. That voice required a singer whose voice had oomph because the character on whom the song was to be picturized also has lots of oomph. In choosing singers, I tend to go by what I like.
What about diction? You have used Sukhwinder Singh and Udit Narayan extensively in Tamil songs and people have accepted them without reservation?
Here again, I go by what I like. I reason that while people listen to Khaled and do not understand a word other than “didi, didi” – does that make it a song in praise of your dear sister? (laughs)- people still liked the tune. I guess people liked the happiness in his voice and in listening to the song, they themselves felt happy. Udit was my Khaled to the Tamil industry. And once that clicked in ‘Kadhalan’, I was encouraged to use him more and more. Once people like the tune, they forgive small transgressions in diction and pronunciation.
But Sadhana Sargam did get the pronunciation right in “Alai Payuthey”, didn’t she?
Yeah, basically you’ve got to be patient. And technology is a wonderful thing. The computer can fix many things.
You mean punch in…
Not really. In Sadhana’s case, she actually learned the whole song. She even sang it at a New Year’s concert without looking at the lyric sheet. It doesn’t matter where a singer hails from as long as he or she can sing well. Look at some of the singers in the south. P. Susheela and SPB both hail from Andhra Pradesh and are equally well-accepted in Tamil and Kannada. Or take Hariharan and Shankar Mahadevan, who is basically Tamilian, but are doing a great job in Hindi. As long as you don’t mess around with the lyrics and work hard, I think you’ll be fine. Push as far as you can for perfection, beyond that….(laughs).
But the use of unusual voices has become a trend, hasn’t it?
Sometimes when I listen to certain songs, I think we are setting the wrong trend. Sometimes you can’t make the head or tail of the lyrics and that’s bad. The words convey a certain meaning and you have to respect that.
Talking about lyrics brings us to the perfect jugalbandi you had going with Vairamuthu. Do you need the lyricists to challenge you with their work for you to give off your best?
This is specially true because your works in Hindi pale in comparison with the sterling work you have done in Tamil.
Yes, it is true that Vairamuthu is a great lyricist and a great poet, and his lyrics inspire me to give off my best. But what also inspires me is the content of the films themselves. The more interesting the subject, the more one is inspired. In Tamil, I get to work with filmmakers who address a variety of subjects in very different styles. In Mani Ratnam’s films, the songs form a part of the narrative. In Shankar’s films, the songs are relief points, and so on. In Hindi, it doesn’t always happen that way.
Two exceptions are ‘1947 Earth’ and ‘Taal’. Both films had stories that demanded good music and lyrical treatment. The same is the case with ‘Zubeidaa’. As a composer, I can only hope that my repertoire is a nice balance of hte commercial and the artistic.
Have you struck that balance?
I keep trying (laughs), and hoping that filmmakers will be kind enough to give me a variety of interesting subjects to work with.
Do you feel vindicated when other music directors adopt your style of orchestration?
There is no sense of vindication, but if the listener gets to hear better music because of it, then I think it has to be welcomed.
When will the Bombay Dreams be premiered?
Hopefully, this year. If not, next year, definitely. The compositions are almost complete, but when it will premiere depends upon a whole lot of other issues.
There is a buzz that you are working with Jennifer Lopez? Is that true?
This is the first time I am hearing of that. Somebody told me that they heard her say on MTV that she listened to my music and liked it. That’s about it. But the answer to your question is no, I am not working on anything with Jennifer Lopez.
In a recent TV interview, you mentioned being famous is a curse, and won’t miss it much if it goes away.
I always wanted my music to be famous, not me. But I accept that people relate the music to the person. I have tried to stay away from becoming a commodity. I have tried to stay away from becoming a face on a soft drink commercial or something like that, and it has worked fine so far. The advantage of this is that the day these people drop me, nobody will get the impression that I am over and done with, musically.
Who’s the best lyricist you have worked with?
That would have to be Vairamuthu and Javed Akhtar. I couldn’t relate much to Hindi lyrics, at least until last year, but I have started learning Urdu. The other poet-lyricist who inspired me is the late Kannadasan, and I am completely in awe of poet Subramania Barathi. I try to use his poetry whenever possible.
What about singers?
That would have to be Mohammad Rafi. He had a wonderful voice, which conveyed a range of emotions effortlessly.
