The article which appears below was originally published in Krishna Tiloks's book, Notes Of A Dream. ©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.
There is one other thing AR is very particular about in his movies: the dialogue. Dialogues are the heart and soul of any story, after all, and Rahman has little patience for long-winding dialogues in films. He was intent on making sure that 99 Songs did not have a single line—or a second of content even—that wasn’t helping move the story along.
“I don’t like fluff,” AR says. “I like good dialogue, but I don’t like lines that aren’t actually communicating anything relevant to the film, or which are repetitive, you know. A lot of films have a lot of stuff that isn’t needed. And I wanted to avoid that in my films.”
In addition to dialogues, AR took an active interest in the set pieces, visuals, and song sequences of his musically driven movie.
AR would spend hours together talking about what a certain house or a character’s costume should look like. What exactly he wanted to be communicated in a particular scene, and how. The look of a shot and the emotions in it are what the audience of any movie relates to at the end of the day, and AR was clear that they should be nothing less than perfect.
That made his director’s job that much more difficult, obviously. Not only does Vishwesh have to deliver what Rahman is expecting in terms of visuals, he also has to ensure that the spirit at the core of the movie is communicated effectively.
Not much ever really unsettles Vishwesh, but the strains of putting 99 Songs together do threaten to throw him off balance sometimes. Rahman is an uncompromising and exacting taskmaster, one who expects nothing less than the very best. His quest for perfection is never-ending. He himself does not tire in it (never has) and he will not allow anyone else to do so.
But Vishwesh manages the expectations with a sort of single-minded drive, usually disappearing for a couple of days and refusing to communicate with anyone until he has come up with a way to deal with the situation. (It is, as it so happens, very similar to the way AR himself deals with a challenge when it is suddenly thrown at him.)
“I never wanted to do feature films,” Vishwesh says. “It was never the plan. I enjoy doing my advertising work and playing the occasional gig. I think that’s it for me. The moment this film winds up, I’m going back to making TV commercials. Have a kid perhaps, and make a lot of money.”
The sentiment, this reluctance to get into the movies, is eerily reminiscent of someone else’s, more than twenty years ago.
