Just accidentally I came across this old interview of ARR, which was
published in the Hindu sometime after Roja. As I read it for the
first time, just though of sharing it with every one here.
Question: How did you come into films?
A.R.Rahman: My father, R.K.Shekar, was a music director in Malayalam
films. He assisted Salil Chowdhary, Devrajan and others. He
died when I was nine. At 11, I came to the field, playing
on the keyboards and later as an accompanyist. I worked under
under various music directors in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam -
Ramesh Naidu, M.S.Vishwanathan and Illayaraja. It started becoming a
bit monotonous. I thought advertising would be a good alternative.
This went on for three years. I built my studio and took to
different forms of music - pop, rock and so on. It was then that I
met producer Tirlok Sharadha, cousin of ManiRathnam at a party.
He (Mani) came to my studio and heard some of my tunes. We agreed
to work together though we did not then decide on which movie.Only
later he told me it was to be "Roja" which he was directing for
K.Balachander.
Q: Despite your success, you do not seem to be working in a lot
of films.
ARR: Rather than making money, I believe in making people happy;
all other things are secondary. That is why I am not interested
in a lot of movies but only in one at a time. I like directors
whom I can vibe with. Ten years of experience in this field has
made me quite frustrated. I have evolved a technique which re-
quires a lot of time. Other music directors record a song in
seven or eight hours. But I am different. we do a basic sitting
and we record it. we record the voice and I add instrument by in-
strument to improve the quality.
Q: Will not the producers say that you are delaying their
projects?
ARR: My process involves a lot of time. The delay is not inten-
tional. That is how I get my results. When people say that
in "Gentleman" and "Thiruda Thiruda" the music is good and not like
the usual beats, I feel happy. Abroad, in some places, they take
three months to make an album.
Do you use computer in your films?
ARR: No. Not computers. The technique involved is different. In
fact, they say the music in "Roja" was computerised. As I said
earlier the recording takes time. You can hear the same flute
here in a different way. It is not computerised music. Nearly 40
persons sang `Veerapandi Kottayile' (a song from "Thiruda Thiru-
da") that does not sound like computer music. `Vellai Mazhai'
from "Roja") is sync oriented. I do not restrict the musicians,
but ask them to play whatever they feel. Then I record what I
want. I spend a lot of time on lyrics too. It takes around four
days. We write something in the first instance and then improve.
So it takes about a week to complete a song.
Q: Then you will be working only in perhaps half a dozen films a
year?
ARR: What will I do if I work for more films and only a few
click? I do not want my energy to be wasted. I want every film to
be a musical hit. In fact, "Thiruda Thiruda" songs have created a
record for any Tamil film - 25,000 discs were sold in Malaysia.
They are going to give us platinum discs.
You say you are choosy, but you also go in for popular songs.
Why is it so?
ARR: Different people need different songs. I want to go down to
the people at various levels. When I toured Tamil Nadu, I found
that people wanted songs that would make them happy. Also noth-
ing vulgar. There is nothing vulgar in "Sikku bukku Sikku bukku
raile" (a song from "Gentleman").
Q: So you want to be with the masses?
ARR: No, rather I want my music to reach everywhere. If I play
rock, only youngsters will understand, while older people will
say "Why is he shouting like this?". Each category of music
reaches only one circle: for the class audience "Thiruda Thiruda"
and for the masses "Gentleman".
Q: Does basic knowledge of Carnatic music help?
ARR: Sure. I am learning Carnatic classical music from
Dakshinamurthy and Hindustani from Krishnan Nair. I like tradi-
tional music much.
Q: Why is it that the songs these days go out of people's mind
soon unlike the old numbers?
ARR: In those days, the lyrical value was greater in songs.
Q: You want to be called number 1 in the industry?
ARR: No. Numbers are not decided by me, but by the grace of God
and by the people. I want my job to be interesting and fun. I
just do not want to get stuck again in monotony.
