The interview which appears below, was originally published on Khaleej Times in April 2008. ©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.
A.R. Rahman has good times ahead with Shekhar Kapur’s Elizabeth: the Golden Age and Jodha Akbar lined up. Often considered the ‘Mozart of Asia,’ musician Allah Rakha Rahman has done everything from classical to reggae and now with Shekar Kapur’s Elizabeth: the Golden Age awaiting release, where he pairs up with Hollywood actor Craig Armstrong, he is very excited.
“It has been really a wonderful experience working with Craig. We traveled a lot in places like Glasgow…remotely working with the guys in London,” says Rahman who was in Delhi recently.
The singer-composer has his hands full with a lot of films, the latest being Ashutosh Gowarikers Jodha Akbar starring Hrithik Roshan and Ashwariya Rai Bachchan.
“Jodha Akbar is a romantic story about a king falling in love with a princess and I have tried to keep the music contemporary so that it satisfies both critics and the music lovers,” he says.
“The music of the film is very much what is required for the film. We have celebration songs and quawallis,” he adds. Rahman, who composed the music of Subhash Ghei’s Kisna is once again paring up with the director in his latest flick, Yuvraaj.
“Yuvraaj is a very challenging project. We had a hard time composing the first two songs but now as those have been cracked, we hope we will be able to wrap it up quickly,” he says.
“We have a very unlikely combination in this film as we have Gulzar saab, Subhash Ghaiji and me in this venture,” he adds. Rahman who was in Delhi to mark the one-year celebration of an FM channel, will be performing live in the city in November for the first time.
“I was planning to perform in Delhi for the last 10 years and now I have got the chance to perform and I am very excited about it,” he says.
Rahman had composed the tracks of Shivaji-The Boss, which struck gold at the box office in India and abroad and now since the film is being dubbed in Hindi, Rahman is a little apprehensive about it.
“After a long time, I have decided to dub my songs in Hindi. I had almost stopped dubbing in Hindi but this time I am convinced that it will do well. The music is ready and will be released soon,” he says.
While other music directors of tinsel town have already started cashing on their popularity by joining the small screen and also vying for the big screen, Rahman is unperturbed and says he is a musician and would love to remain so.
“I have enough musical commitments to fulfill and I love to be a musician and would love to continue the good work. And anyways, I am not well versed in acting so it doesn’t matter to me,” he says.
