The interview which appears below, was originally published in Jade Magazine in February 2009. ©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.
From creating a revolution in Indian film music to composing for international plays and films, A.R. Rahman has done it all. As we go to press, his original score for the critically acclaimed Slumdog Millionaire has won him the Golden Globe Award.
A Humble Welcome
A bylane in Kodambakkam, Chennai, is filled with people holding boquets, candles and cakes. A sleek car pulls up, a man hops out with a wide smile on his face. Greeting the crowd that mobs him. He talks, smiles at clicking cameras and then spots an old lady in torn cotton sari, standing silently in a corner. He rushes across leaving everyone behind. She flashes him a toothless smile, gives him a rose and kisses him. “I am so honoured you came,” he says.
In the living room, a Yamaha Clavinova electronic piano sits in the corner. There is a Roland D5 editing console, the size of a TT table. A glass-enclosed case holds dozens of awards and citations.
Slumdog Millionaire
“So sorry to keep you waiting,” says A.R. Rahman. “But lets sit and talk now.” Outside the glass door are a hundred eager faces watching him. Bagging the Golden Globe award for Best Original Score in Slumdog Millionaire, has his whole office excited as his fans across the world. Rahman talks about how the assignment happened.
“I got a mail one morning from Danny. He said that he knew my music and wanted to work with me on a project. I had no clue who he was or what he did. I did a Google search and found out that he was a well known director. Slumdog Millionaire is about suffering, hope and redemption. Danny was very sure what he wanted from me and what he didn’t want. The way he projected my music is terrific. I don’t think any other city has been portrayed as vibrantly as Mumbai has.”
So, what didn’t he want?
Oh, he didn’t want romantic and sentimental stuff. He likes edgy music and that’s what we worked on, so it’s like a terrific discotheque.
And the response to his music?
They loved it. LA is a place that people in the entertainment industry say things that they don’t mean. So, I thought they were just being polite. But then I found that those biggies of Hollywood actually meant every word they said. Although some of the songs are in Hindi, it didn’t seem to matter. Jai Ho, O Saya and Ringa Ringa are all in Hindi, but they responded to them wonderfully.
How important is the knowledge of classical music for a composer?
Well, knowing is good. But then not knowing is also good. Knowing and pretending not to know is also good. When one knows, ones pride often takes over and doesn’t allow one to proceed with one’s work. When one doesn’t know, there is no pride and the constant process of learning keeps bringing out one’s best. Either way, the quest for learning must go on.
Early Times
Born as Dileep Kumar, he converted to Islam after the illness of his father was miraculously cured with the healing of a Sufi saint. His father was a musician who “almost killed himself working. In those days, he did 90% of the job and almost all of it went unrecognized or under someone else’s name. What was worse, he used to be called an ‘Assistant’. This sort of a treatment never let him live a peaceful life. His health deteriorated till he passed away. His life has taught me not to take on too much work. I get lots of offers every day. But I am fine doing two or three films a year rather than running around doing twenty. One learns from life…”
After the death of his father, the family survived by hiring out the musical instruments which their father used. This continued till young Rahman started making music himself along with some close friends.
He had a band called Magic, in the 1980s, which included Sivamani, the drummer, TV Gopalakrishnan, mridangam and Deva on the drums. They released a private music album called Disco 82 which was popular with the young crowd.
The Sufi Philosophy
Having grown up with problems, one cannot help notice how down to earth Rahman is. Trying to understand life philosophically helped him heal. He says, “I took to Sufism for the one question that we all ask. The eternal question: who am I? What was I created for? And in this search I started opening up and found light and love. The turning point is to question one self and start the inward journey to find the answer. At some point, all your intellectual pride crashes. You feel a power from within. It’s this power that drives you.”
A devout muslim, Rahman never misses his namaz five times a day however busy the schedule he has. It was after his first pilgrimage or the Haj that his son was born. And as if it were a true blessing, the father and son both share the same birthday! It’s the strong Sufi inclination that gets him to creates his unforgettable melodies.
Revolutionary Music
Rahman brought about a revolution in Indian film music. There are rumours about the way that Rahman composes his music, from accusation of plagiarism to the practice of mysterious rituals. “I love classical music. I love Bach, Beethoven, Verdi. Classical music is like an ocean. All the other genres of music are mere droplets in it. So there are bound to be influences of classical music in my work. I also attend music concerts where I can. My favourite musicians are L. Subramanian and L. Shankar. There are the real heroes of Indian music if you ask me. It’s mind boggling, the phenomenal work they did of taking our music to the world, In those days when Indian music did not have any global exposure. As for secret rituals…” he laughs. “It’s just that I need complete peace and calm when I compose, so I do it in the night. Another thing is, I am a father of three kids, they often fight, and I am summoned to make peace between them in the day time. So, all this is avoided at night.”
Rahman scores music across geographical boundaries by composing for languages like Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam. Does he mind if sometimes his music is thought to be a flop? Rahman shrugs. “I didn’t know about that. I only know that I make music. Like there was this movie made by Mani Ratnam called Iruvar, for which I composed. People suddenly realized that they music was good one year after the film released! So, you never know. What is flop for one, works for another. As for me, if I haven’t invested in myself wholly and felt satisfied about my music, then I term it as a flop.”
The Inheritance of Music
As for music legacy, Rahman doesn’t believe in it. “I think music has to change time and again. RD Burman became himself not because he tried to be his father. Similarly, I dread to be anyone else or have anyone else take over from me. I keep worrying about my children having a father like me. People start expecting from them what they see in me. You can be influenced, but you have to make your own music in the end.”
Other than film music, Rahman has done a great deal of work in non-film music. “I have been working with the Hamburg Orchestra, to compose a great Sufi mystic Fareed Al din Attar’s Conference of the Birds. It’s not an easy thing. I mentioned it to them and they immediately commissioned it. It’s only after I started working on it, that I realized what I was getting into. I haven’t done much work on it. I feel I need to be spiritually ready for it.”
Are there any specific music directors or singers that he likes. “Mohd. Rafi, Whitney Houston, Ofra Haza, the Jewish singer, Kylie Minogue…” He also takes time out to watch a film once in a while. “A good movie I saw recently was Takwa, a Turkish movie and then I saw Waris Shah – Ishq da Waris by Gurdas Mann, on the Sufi saint Hazrat Waris Shah. I loved them.”
The Philanthropic Composer
It’s difficult to practice Sufism without constant detachment and charity. It was this philosophy that got him to start the A.R. Rahman Foundation.
“I was inspired by the El Systema project in Venezuela. They take poor kids from the slums and train them as classical musicians. This is a movement. There is immense participation and in the end they come out with some of the best music. So, the foundation I set up is on those lines. It works to make poverty history in India. If we all put our heads together, we can do it. We only plant the seed and water it with good intentions. What it grows into is not in our hands.”
He came up with his first English composition “Pray for me Brother” to raise funds for the foundation. “I feel that more than anything every person in the world needs love. I hope the song will create awareness and make a difference in the life of underprivileged children.” Rahman’s formula for love and his Sufi philosophy also got him to endorse the famous “Free Hugs” campaign started by Jason Hunter.
Rahman took time out along with his old buddy drummer, Sivamani to compose Jiya Se Jiya, the popular track and video that promotes this campaign. “Believe in the power of love and love your fellow humans. This is what the world needs now.”
