The interview which appears below, was originally published on India Times in September 2003. ©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.
He’s called the Mozart of Asia. In simple words, the 37-year-old is a phenomenon. India’s most famous musician alive sells over 100 million albums worldwide – that’s more than singing sensation Madonna and Britney Spears put together, placing him in the same place as Michael Jackson. Coincidently, Rahman composed and performed with Jackson.
He made his claim to fame at the tender age of 24, with Roja’, which bagged him the nation’s most prestigious award – the National Award for Best Music; this he repeated five years later withMinasaru Kanavu’.
Awarded the highest civilian honor of the Padma Shree by the president of India, he followed it up with Filmfare’s Best Music statuette for Lagaan’; a year later, he went global with Bombay Dreams. As we chatted, the news trickled in that his Chinese film, `Warriors Of Heaven And Earth’ is going to the Oscars as China’s official entry. Over to the maestro himself.
Congrats, we just heard that your Chinese film, `Warriors Of Heaven And Earth’ is going to the Oscars.
Thanks, I just got the news some time back, as I was waiting for this interview in my room. Warriors Of Heaven And Earth’ will be China’s official entry for this year’s Oscars. It feels great. Let’s hope that what Lagaan couldn’t do, `Warriors Of Heaven And Earth’ does.
Tell us something about the film.
As you are aware, it’s a Chinese’s film called Warriors Of Heaven And Earth. It’s been produced by Columbia Pictures, the same company which produced the Oscar winningCrouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. It’s directed by He Ping. The USP of the film is that it has Japanese actors, an American producer and an Indian composer. (Laughs). Truly international, one must say. The film traces the infamous silk route from China to Turkey and to India.
And the music?
The music is a mix of everything – right from Indian, Turkish and Chinese. It’s mostly background score.
Did you go to China to record the music?
No, I recorded the music in Prague and Chennai. But I did travel to China. I have always been fascinated by Chinese films.
Do you also have the famous Taiwanese singer, Jolin singing for you?
Yeah, there is one song in the Mandarin language, the official language of China, sung by Jolin, which I have recorded in my studio in Chennai.
How did you get hold of a Chinese film?
The director, He Ping had some of my compositions like Vande Mataram’, Lagaan’ and the more recent `Bombay Dreams, and I’m told he liked it so much that he made a temp track and wanted to use it in the film. The head of Sony’s classical unit was instrumental in fixing up a meeting with him. I was very apprehensive about meeting him, as the language was totally alien to me. But when he showed me the film, I was immediately drawn to it. I saw this huge scope for music. And we decided to carry it forward from there.
What about other Hollywood offers?
I will be giving music for Shekhar Kapur’s `Pani’, if and when he decides to make it. Then there are some other Hollywood offers – I will disclose them when it happens. I have just refused an offer from Miramax’s film, as I found the theme very dark.
Are the Hollywood producers willing to pay your market price?
Money is never the idea behind my decision to do these projects. Some pay, while some take it up by publishing my music, making it larger than life. I’m okay with it. Anyway, when I’m trying to break into the international scene, I have to compromise on many things, and money is one of them. For instance, way back, I signed my first film `Roja’, with only Rs 24,000, while I used to make Rs 2,000 in a day by composing jingles.
The general perception is that Indian producers can no longer afford you.
(Laughs) No, I’m still doing Indian projects. I’m doing Subhash Ghai’s next, Mani Rathnam’s Yuva’, Ketan Mehta’s1857 –The Uprising’, Khalid Mohamed’s `Tehzeeb’, Krisha Shah’s crossover film, and a couple of other films. But, yes, I have drastically cut down on assignments to keep the quality going. I’m at a stage where I can’t take up any project just for the heck of doing it.
How do you react to the accusation that Rahman has become monotonous?
That’s why I have cut down on my assignments. I guess it happened around 1995-`96 when I was giving music to every other film. Some of the work I did was mediocre, but I myself am to be blamed for that.
Is it true that you have this typical habit of working at night?
Yeah, I work best at night. No phone calls, no meetings. The night is calm. I get my creative flow at night. My whole group is used to working at night only. And the best thing is that I can catch up with my morning prayer before retiring to bed at 7 am.
You seem to be a very religious man
I’m a pious Muslim. I pray three times a day. But I’m not a fanatic.
Your personal life has always been under wraps
It’s because nobody has asked me anything about it.
Ok, we are asking it now
(Laughs) What do you want to know? Mine is a typical Muslim family. I have a wife, a son, and two daughters, but no girlfriends (laughs again).
