Forgive the interviewer Gomtesh.. :-p The interviewer must not have been aware of us(fans) ;o)
On 1/8/07, Gomtesh Upadhye <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
*You sang Pray for me brother for the first time at your New Year's Eve concert in Mumbai* *Correction*: It was infact sung a long time during the Bangalore concert. Gomzy On 1/8/07, Gopal Srinivasan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > 'Guru is about rediscovering life' > Screen On & Off > A.R. RAHMAN tells Pratim D. Gupta why the sky is the limit with Mani > Ratnam, why he picked Luka > chhupi, Chhan chhan and Khalbali for the Oscars, his UN song, making > music with Nelly Furtado > and more > Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai in Guru > > What is it about Mani Ratnam that makes you reserve your best for him? > > I think it's the vibe. The vibe is very important when two creative > people work together. It is > not about egos. It is about working towards the same goal, reaching the > same result. Then > again, I don't reserve anything special for him (laughs). It so happens. > It's how you get > inspired by each other. > > What is the process? How do the two of you approach a film score? > > It's just that once the film is decided he gives opportunities to come > up with ideas. Not just > me, whether it's the cameraman, the actors, everyone. He pushes the ball > in your court and then > you go about working on it. Then he comes back when things need to be > tweaked around, to be > made better. > > This is very unlike certain other directors, who would say: "I want this > and I don't want > anything else". There you already have the boundaries. Here, with Mani, > the sky is the limit. > You can think about weird things also and he always wants to do work > which is groundbreaking. > It's not that you have to work hard or anything. It just comes naturally > with him. > > Yuva, your last work with him, had a very Bengali setting. What about > Guru? > > It's actually more Gujarati. It's more close to Mumbai than anything > else. We wanted to do one > song like Govinda ala re kind of thing but that didn't fit into the > script. So we used that > sound and feel in the first song which is Barso re megha megha. That's > where all the big drums > came in from. So, it was done for a different song but it fitted into > that. It's all Gujarat. > So there was no problem. > > Mayya mayya is on the lines of Hamma hamma and Chaiyya chaiyya. When you > create an item number > like that do you keep the popularity aspect in mind? > > In the sub-conscious mind you would want the song to become popular. > That's the whole reason of > doing a number like that. People should sing and enjoy. So we put in all > into that. For Mayya > mayya, I took the hook from a man who was shouting "mayya mayya" on the > road when I was on the > road to Haj. The word "mayya" means water in Arabic and he was selling > water. Then later in > Mayya mayya we have even added some Gujarati lines because of the > characters present in the > picturisation. > > Tere bina is your tribute to the great Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan… > > Yes, when I was doing the soundtrack of Guru, I was listening to > Nusratsaab's Sajna tere bina. > And I thought there was no such song which had come into Hindi films. > You know in terms of the > feel. So I thought it would be great to use a song like that in this > film. And I even used the > same kind of lyrics, Tere bina… and it fell into the whole groove in a > very different way for > the film. But I would say the inspiration was definitely Nusratsaab's > music and his style of > singing. > > You didn't know a word of Hindi when you started out. These days, you > seem to contribute to the > lyrics… > > (Laughs) It's good to work with people who are filled vessels like > Gulzarsaab. They are so calm > and yet the little, little things they do are fantastic. Tere bina is so > simple the way he's > written it. Yet it complements the whole setting so beautifully. And he > never tries to do > something which is great and show the world what he can write. It's all > from the heart. > > Why get someone like Bappi Lahiri to sing the Guru title track? > > I was at an award function in 2005 and I heard him sing on stage and I > found his vocals to be > very dynamic. We intended Abhishek (Bachchan) to sing that song in the > film but then he was > busy. And I had to go abroad when he was free. So Gulzarsaab and I were > talking who we can try > out and he said why don't you use Bappi for the song. It was a great > idea actually. He just > came from Calcutta and sang the song in two hours flat. > > How would you compare the soundtrack of Guru to your last work with Mani > Ratnam, Yuva? > > The music of Guru is about rediscovering life. Yuva was actually more > like item numbers, like > fillers rather than actually parts of a film. But here it is all bound > together, in the way > Jaage hai becomes the backbone of the film. Yuva started apologetically > — ok, we will also have > songs. But then here Mani said from the start: "Let's have songs in the > story." This is more > like him. > > Coming to the song you have done for the United Nations, was Pray for me > brother your idea? > > I made the song first because I have been feeling very strongly about > this for quite some time. > You know India is really coming up as a country but at the same time you > are having these > suicides by farmers and there is so much of poverty all around. That > inspired me to make this > song. Blaaze and I have sung it. Then the United Millennium Development > Cause came in. They > have this project of eradicating poverty from this world by 2015 and so > they thought of using > the Pray for me brother song like an anthem for that. > > Then, Universal Music and Nokia followed… > > Yes, Universal Music is coming out with the song. We wanted to make a > video for Pray for me > brother and when I told some of my friends in London, they introduced me > to Nokia. It is the > first ever video in the mobile cinemascope format. Here the frame > becomes vertical as opposed > to the horizontal film frame format. My friend Bala (of Bharatbala > productions) has made the > video. He's used a lot of skyscrapers to show the extremities with the > poor. > > You sang Pray for me brother for the first time at your New Year's Eve > concert in Mumbai. What > was the response there? > > The response was very good. Before I performed the song, we played a > little audio-visual where > we showed how billions are used for wars while just a fraction is > required to feed people. > Everyone was clapping after the song and in such a hyper mood like you > have on New Year's Eve, > it was good. > > Besides that song, how did the concert go? > > I wanted to do this concert because it was a great outlet for Pray for > me. The other good thing > that happened was Nelly Furtado. We were supposed to work together > before but it didn't work > out. Now I hear she's told the press that she wants to work with me. We > have to do a project, > which is good for me, good for her. > > Just a few days to go for the Oscar nomination list... What is your gut > feeling? > > Well, I am ready to be surprised, in a pleasant way (laughs). I have > heard that there have been > articles about my three songs in magazines there, like Variety. Rang De > Basanti is, of course, > there but Water is a very important film because it did very well at the > North American > box-office. So, let's see… > > Why did you choose to send these three particular songs, Chhan chhan > (Water), Luka chhupi (Rang > De Basanti) and Khalbali (Rang De Basanti)? > > Chhan chhan is very important in the film as it shows the exuberance of > characters who are > facing a crisis. For the Rang De songs it was very important that I > chose songs which have been > performed by me. Luka chhupi is special not only because Lataji has sung > it but it also proves > to be a counterpoint in the film. > > What else are you working on as of now? > > It's all work in progress. So, it's premature to talk about them. But > you will soon get to hear > about Golden Age, Shekhar Kapur's sequel to Elizabeth and Ashutosh > Gowariker's Jodha Akbar. > > http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070108/asp/calcutta/story_7233255.asp > -- Regards Gomtesh V Upadhye -------------------------------------------------- Cell : +91 988 675 3639 E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------------------------------
