i think he needs to sleep more then!!!! :)
--- In [email protected], Vithur <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>
http://filmikhabar.com/2007/08/12/often-i-get-a-tune-in-my-dream%E2%80%A6ar-rahman/
>
> Dear all,
>
> I do not know if this was posted earlier.. Anyway, worth reading many
> times..
>
> A R Rahman, 40, walks into the business centre of a suburban five-star
> hotel looking deadbeat. On a whirlwind trip to Mumbai to promote the new
> version of Jana Gana Mana produced by his friends Bharatbala and Kanika
> Myers and released by Times Music, the maestro has spent the entire day
> giving sound bytes. The last thing that he wants to do as he wraps
up the
> day is give another interview. He looks almost apologetic: "I am
naked now,
> I've said everything that there was to say (sic)."
>
> And yet, when he gets down to talking the reticent music director,
once as
> well-known for his monosyllables as his music, can be surprisingly
> expressive. The art of the interview is these days requisite for
> super-stardom. From repackaging patriotism, to his vision of jannat,
to his
> inability to say 'no' (the interview is an example), Rahman holds forth
>
> *Q Ma Tujhe Salaam, Jana Gana Mana
you've been at the forefront of
> repackaging pop patriotism.
> *
> AR: Well, I've teamed up with Bharatbala and he is the engine
>
> *Q But you are the face, the star that drives the engine.
> *
> AR: Yes, I understand that but he being the son of a freedom
fighter
(tapers
> off). My first film (Roja) had loads of patriotism, I think that kind of
> gave the impression
People said, 'Let's go to this guy, he'll give good
> patriotic songs
But personally too I do like doing these things. I don't
> like in-your face patriotic songs that harp on (clichés like) You've
to be
> true to your country, do this for your nation, or bring about this
or that
> that's too boring and nobody would listen to it. Even in Rang De Basanti
> (RDB), we tried a new approach.
>
> *Q Talking of RDB, how would you approach a project like that?
> *
> AR: It was a totally different effort. The script was four years
old, in the
> meanwhile four films on Bhagat Singh had already been made, in one
of which
> I had given the music. I just didn't want to do the same kind of
thing again
> so when we started brain-storming it was decided that we should go
against
> (emphasising) the film. Where there is sadness there should be happy
songs,
> where there is aggression there should be dance.
>
> *Q Whose idea was it to do that?
> *
> AR: Partly mine (laughs, slightly embarrassed). I didn't want to get the
> people (the audience) in a low mood.
>
> *Q So Ru-ba-ru
> *
> AR: Yeah, absolutely. The whole thing is about redemption
It's like
singing
> in paradise. Even the look of ithe's dead but he's in paradise so
it's the
> other extreme way of looking at life
Also, we decided that every
single song
> in the album had to be a hit.
>
> *Q But isn't that your approach to every song, that it should be a hit?
> *
> AR: No it's not. It's just that this film was very tough. It could
so easily
> have gone wrong. Had anyone got carried away people would have been very
> uneasy. So whether it was the casting, editing, story, music,
everything had
> to be just right.
>
> *Q Are you getting more and more involved in other aspects of
filmmaking?
> *
> AR: In a way yes, because finally you're blamed for it. People say this
> doesn't work, his song didn't work, that a piece is not shot well.
You don't
> need all this at this stage. I know there are people waiting (for my
music)
> and there is such expectation and responsibility.
>
> *Q Do you feel burdened by that?
> *
> AR: Earlier I never used to say anything about the filmmaking process
> because I used to think that's not my duty, I believed that's the
director's
> call, but I realise it's important to say (your piece) because you're
> watching so many DVDs and that there could be other ways of doing
things. So
> I may say why don't you picturise a song like that or do something like
> this. It's not that they necessarily accept it, but they may take
the vision
> or the energy of that suggestion. They can take it in a competitive
> spirit
like if Rahman is suggesting this, let me do it even better
So it's
> interesting that you can create competition.
>
> *Q Do you see yourself getting more and more involved in filmmaking?
> *
> AR: No
there is so much energy required and effort to execute what I do,
> that I am fine as I am.
>
> *Q A lot of your songs these days get cut out of the film
may be
there'll
> be just a strain or two. Does that bother you?
> *
> AR: It does bother (pause). But you do it in the interest of the
film, for
> the success of the film.
>
> *Q But you know that people may go to see a film because it has your
music.
> *
> AR: Yes, there is a big responsibility and if you lose people's
trust
If
> they get disappointed twice they wouldn't care the third time.
>
> *Q One of the downsides of being successful is that you get afraid of
> failure. Do you find that happening to you sometimes?*
>
> AR: Failure or success, you leave it to God.
>
> *Q Does it affect your music in any way?
> *
> AR: No if I am constantly insecure, it'll affect my work. It'll become
> commercial, non-arty and not passionate
That's what happens to most
people.
> If you do something well once, you want to keep doing the same thing
again
> and again. For instance, there may be someone who wore a particular
pair of
> slippers in a film and it worked and he may say let me wear the same
> slippers again and again in all my films
.it's lucky for me, (but)
we can't
> approach art like that.
>
> *Q What would you say have been the turning points in your career?
> *
> AR: I think every three years there's a turning point in my career
because I
> get bored after that. So you take Roja in '92, Rangeela in '95,
Vande Matram
> after three years, and then in 2001 Bombay Dreams, then Lagaan and
then Rang
> De Basanti. I guess some turning point is due now
>
> *Q When you started scoring for Hindi films, did you prepare
differently?
> *
> AR: My conscious effort was to learn Hindi a bit and to get friendly
with
> the Hindi audience, musically.
>
> *Q How did you do it?*
>
> AR: I did it through instruments. There is an in-built friendliness in
> dholaks and duffs. Now I use them in my Tamil music too. That was a
> conscious change after I worked with Subhash Ghai in Taal. I kept
hammering
> into my head, 'Learn Hindi, learn Hindi'.
>
> *Q So are you now comfortable with the language?
> *
> AR: I can understand it if you abuse me (laughs). I also learnt Urdu
for a
> couple of years.
>
> *Q Yeah, in Dil Se
for instance, in the song 'Ae ajnabi', you've
broken up
> the words 'tukdo mein'. The way Udit Narayan sings it, tuk-do mein.
That can
> only come with an understanding of the language.
> *
> AR: (Looking interested) Oh okay, I didn't notice that the word was
broken
> up
.I must credit that to Gulzar saab. The word was placed
intelligently.
>
> *My conscious effort was to learn Hindi a bit and to get friendly
with the
> Hindi audience, musically.*
>
>
> *Q One of the things that stands out about your music is the number of
> instruments that you tend to use.
> *
> AR: Well if you're doing orchestral music then there can be 160
instruments,
> there is a song in Bose, 'Jage Hai' that has a refrain 'Jai Hind,
Jai Hind'
> that had 140 people and a full orchestra, but then 'Ru-ba-ru' had
just three
> instruments
>
> *Q You have a great knack for picking random voices, people who are not
> necessarily great singers, for instance Shweta Shetty, and getting
them to
> deliver.*
>
> AR: I had heard her voice in a commercial and when Rangeela's
'Mangta hai
> kya' came up, I remembered that voice and got her to sing.
>
> *Q On an everyday basis, do you hear something that most of us don't?
> *
> AR: (Smiles) I try to be a listener, I am open to hearing all kind
of music.
> I always test myself whether what I create is as exciting as the stuff I
> hear.
>
> *Q Nusrat Ali Khan was a big inspiration. What are your other musical
> inspirations?
> *
> AR: Umm
after a point you don't need any inspiration. You clean your
mind
> like a blank paper and then whatever comes, just write it down.
>
> *Q You're working a lot outside India. Can you talk a bit about that?
> *
> AR: Their whole pattern of work is such that they do one thing at a
time.
> When I tell them that I do a song today and something else tomorrow
they're
> taken aback and worried whether I am crazy (laughs). You need to set
aside
> time to work on a project in the West. There if I say 'no' to something,
> they say 'Ok, he's busy let's go to the next guy'. Here, nobody
takes 'no'
> for an answer. It's also a relationship thing. If a director I know
is doing
> his next film and I am doing something else at the time, I won't say
'no',
> instead I'll say, 'Ok, let's see, we'll find the time. I can never
say 'no'.
> Also, my mind doesn't work like theirs (the westerners'), it is
constantly
> wavering. It just takes around 10 to 15 minutes to make a song.
>
> *Q Do you hear a lot of music in your head even when you're not working?
> *
> AR: Often I get a tune in my dream and I just wake up, pick up my
phone and
> record it.
>
> *Q As simple as that?
> *
> AR: Just the tune? Yes. It happens like the big bang and most often
things
> fall into place.
>
> *After a point you don't need any inspiration.*
>
>
> --
> regards,
> Vithur
>
> A.R.RAHMAN - THE ABODE OF DIVINE MUSIC
>
