The interview titled "A Jugalbandi with A.R.Rahman" which appears below, was originally published on Filmfare in October 2000. ©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.
You really can’t touch this. The man who revolutionized film music is ready to conquer the international scene. But A.R.Rahman remains remarkably removed from the ragas and rhythms of success. He’s forever on his own trip beating out new tempos in his recording studio in Chennai.
I’d been trying to pin down the super-booked composer for two months. His sweet and genuinely friendly wife Saira had been the mediator between us, passing on our messages to each other. Until one Sunday afternoon when I finally pinned down the genius composer:
Deepa Mehta claims you’ve given the best music of your career for Water. True or False?
Must we speak of Water? People will start picking one me. You know how it is with controversial films. But yes, I think Deepa is right in a way. A film of this nature cannot have anything but pure music. You have to give a hundred percent of yourself to something like this. I think this time I’ve achieved a perfect ten. Once I trust a particular filmmaker I don’t even listen to the entire script.
Do you mean you just go by your instinct?
(laughs) I don’t have the patience to listen to the whole script. All I need is the story in one line.
So how do you compose so precisely?
I know this guy in the script loves this girl, and that’s how it goes. In three minutes flat, the director finishes telling his story. (Smiles) For Dil Se, Mani Ratnam didn’t even reveal a line of his script. He was scared that I might get put off if I knew that the film dealt with terrorism.
All he told me was “Give me a love song which is almost Sufi-like in its purity and give me this other song expressing a young girls’ happiness on her marriage.” When you work with a filmmaker repeatedly you can understand what he wants from you.
So you are more comfortable working with filmmakers like Mani Ratnam and Shankar?
With new directors you never know what to expect. Sometimes they surprise you with unbelievably good work and sometimes with just the opposite. Sometimes they have the gift of the gab but they don’t achieve much on screen. And there’s Shankar. The way he narrated his first script, everything sounded so magnified and overblown. The music came across atleast four hundred percent better than the way he narrated the situations.
You must have done a record number of films with Shankar.
No, I have done more films with Mani Ratnam. Six, including his latest Alai Payuthey. As a soundtrack, the music in Alai payuthey is not as concentrated as Roja or Bombay. It caters completely to the film. The songs of Alai Payuthey were done at a very short notice. Mani decided to include songs at the last minute. He’s always full of new ideas, so I guess he must have initially thought that a love story without music would work. Imagine Mani Ratnam film without your music. (grins) Yeah, imagine.
What about your new international project with Andrew Lloyd Webber?
Well, the script of Bombay Dreams is almost complete. they want to make sure that everything is absolutely perfect before going on stage. I think that’s wise because they’re putting millions of bucks into it. We’ve recorded some music already.
What kind of music?
That would be telling. Well it isn’t a plastic kind of depiction of Mumbai’s cinema. It goes much deeper.
So what kind of music have you done in Bombay Dreams?
(laughs) I think my main concern was how to interpret Indian melodies into English. I thought it would sound ridiculous with English lyrics. Just a couple of months ago we recorded some scratches. And everyone is happy with them.
So who’s ever unhappy with your music?
I”ll show you lots of producers who are unhappy with my music.
Does the reputation of tardiness in Mumbai bother you?
No, not exactly. Once music listeners trust you, you’ve got to live up to their faith. You can’t tell people there wasn’t enough time to do justice to the music or that the director gave me the wrong brief. All listeners care about is the quality of the work. So I better do my best. Since buyers spend their hard-earned money on music I think its our responsibility not to betray their trust. If you lose their trust you’ve had it. Sometimes things go wrong. Sometimes you know you’re going wrong with a score. Then you have to turn around take another route and get it right. Some songs happen very fast, others take their time.
You seem to vibe well with singer Sukhwinder.
In fact, I believe he has written the lyrics of Water. Yes, Sukhwinder plays a major role in the speedy creation of my music. When I give him the basic scratch recording he thinks up the lyrics and sings the tune in a musical way. When another musician follows your style and knows what you are thinking, then things become easier.
In Water, Sukhwinder Singh has written lyrics for the first time. officially yes, But earlier we did Chaiyyan Chaiyyan together. He wrote Punjabi lyrics. But we didn’t use Punjabi words for that song. Chaiyyan Chaiyyan was composed much before Dil Se. Sukhwinder and I vibe as well as I do with Mani.
With Sukhwinder, I relate from one musician to another. Even my flute player Naveen knows exactly what I want. yeah Sukhwinder, and I share a great rapport. He was perfect for Water. There’s one song where I created Santoor sound to denote the flow of Water and he started singing.
That was really quite different from what I usually do. It was a completely improvised number.
Your theme music for Deepa’s 1947:Earth reminded me of Maurice Jarre’s compositions.
Thanks. You know last month, I met composer John Barry. He might be attending one of my concerts soon. But coming back to Water, the music is devotional. And every devotional song is a love song. You can hear the love even without the lyrics. The music has a sense of longing about it. You just have to hear it to know what it is.
You’ve composed a beautiful devotional song for Fiza. Do you enjoy that more than conventional love songs?
If you take any love song, or if you take R D Burman’s 1942: A Love Story, the songs are basically devotionals. Do you know 1942 was a Bhajan album that R D Burman turned into love songs., That’s why it was so beautiful. It communicated itself to something far greater than mere mortals. The same is true of Water too.
I believe you were very hesitant to compose a qawwalli for Fiza?
The thing is we’ve already heard the best that the qawwalli form has to offer. So this was my modest and humble attempt at doing something within the genre. I wasn’t sure how it would come out. Haji Ali was a great Sufi. I wanted it absolutely right.
In Shyam Benegal’s Zubeida, you again go back in time like Water.
Yes, the music has a 1950s feel. But it also has a contemporary sound to it. Lataji has sung two very lovely songs – a lullaby and the theme song. She comes on five times in the score.
The industry wallahs are wondering if you are gradually shifting to London.
Me? I don’t think I can afford to stay there. Being in London for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Bombay Dreams is fine. But I don’t know whether London is good for my future. All my musicians and family are in Chennai. So it’s impossible for me to shift base. (Chuckles)
My colleagues in Mumbai are just indulging in wishful thinking I believe the track Que Sera Sera for Pukar was originally done in Tamil.
It was quite different in Tamil. But I thought it had the potential for wider exposure. I think the music of Pukar grew with the listeners. When I was in New York recently, everyone said that they liked this or that song. Besides unlike Taal, Pukar wasn’t a musical. The songs didn’t take the story further. Somehow every time I score music, I am expected to do something different.
Right now, I am doing two very different films, Shyam Benegal’s Zubeida and Aamir Khan’s Lagaan. Then there’s Shashilaal Nair’s One Two Ka Four. I have enjoyed working with Ashutosh Gowariker in Lagaan. he’s very music-minded. Everyone was stuck in Bhuj for so long.
I’d almost finished the music before they went on location. (Guffaws) Then I went to Bhuj to help them with the music to make things easy for them. I wanted to share the heat.
Did you get scorched?
I did. There was no electricity. My music equipment went on the blink because of the heat.
How do you plan to balance assignments in Chennai, Mumbai, and abroad?
Actually, I have done another international project – The Thief of Baghdad with Chiranjeevi. We have done three songs – mix of Indian and Middle Eastern – for that. The Indian version will have three extra songs. The international version might only have two.
Why aren’t you doing any more international projects?
Getting an international project is a big thing. If I do the Webber project right, I’ll probably get bigger assignments than just doing background music for big films. I was recently offered something in the UK. God Willing, Bombay Dreams will open doors for me internationally.
Will you be giving exotic music in international projects?
No way. The reason they want me is because of who I am and what I am. But don’t worry. I’ll be heard more in Mumbai more often after Bombay Dreams is over. I might be doing a couple of films for Jhamu Sughand. Quite a few of my films are backed by him. What to do? Its a coincidence.
What does A.R.Rahman do in the new millennium?
I don’t know. If I had all the answers, I wouldn’t be here. I don’t think I have done anything special yet. I am not trying to be modest. It’s the truth.
You have changed the entire pattern of film music.
(Chortles) You mean I messed it up some more?
Article credits: A Jugalbandi with A.R.Rahman - Subhash K. Jha/ Filmfare October 2000
