Lyricist Na. Muthukumar was in Rahmania, and these are some excerpts of his speech ( matters relating to ARR alone here )
Q :- You have worked with a lot of Music Directos. Have you anytime felt that any MD has been making you work so much for writing any lyrics or anything like that? Ans :- Some tunes are tough to write, as they may be highly musical. In Sivaji, the Ballelaka song is such an instance. The portion where it comes as " Sadu gudu Sadugudu" is a very fast portion. The Director's expectations are very high. He wanted a lot of things to be told in that portion. If we put dummy words in that portion, it may sit off comfortably, but we are expected to put some good poem there, with some good meaning suiting the situation too. At the same time, the tune also shouldnt be hampered. Initially, we tried a lot of words for the same. Actually, we wrote some set of different words, which was liked by Rahman Sir also. But, he was telling that as the tune and the beat is very fast, he suggested that those set of lyrics wont be understandable . The tune, when given to us was still faster. It took me 30 minutes to stop the pace of the tune. Rahman sir suggested that we can reduce the tempo of the song a little bit so as to make the lyrics understandable. It is Rahman Sir who is the main reason behind the song becoming a hit. It was he who suggested that the lyrics should be given attention, and if needed the pace of the song can be reduced to a large extent , so as to give the effect needed. It was he who did the Magic for the song. Q :- How do you feel Rahman as a Music Director ? Ans :- There was a time , when people were listening to a lot of Hindi Music. At that time, a big wave was created by Raja Sir, who diverted the attention of Hindi Music listeners to Tamil Music. After 90s, during the period of Globalisation, a lot of people started listening to western & International Music. It was Rahman Sir, who diverted the attention of people listening to Michael Jackson and other Pop artistes to Tamil Music. Rahman sir has been a very big trendsetter in making people across the Globe listen to Tamil Music. I am very very comfortable working with Rahman Sir. There would be no traces of any ego or pomp in him anytime. He gives a lot of freedom, and appears simple all the time. There are some Music Directors who would be adamant in saying that they cant change any bit of their compositions or tunes for the lyricists. They dont want to change the raaga of their composition. But Rahman Sir on the other hand would never worry abt anything of that sorts. He would give a tune, and tell us to write whatever we feel like to suit it, and also would say us not to worry, if it extends the tune or the beat. Sometimes, when it goes out of the bar, he would change the tune itself, so as to suit the lyrics. For eg :- In Paarthale Paravasam there is a song " Raathiririn sondaakara" . He gave me the tune initially, and hearing it I started becoming nervous. I asked him to give me some base of writing something, and he gave me some dope on the same like " Aagayathil Kadhali Vandhaal". I wrote " Tamil Naatil Taaneer Panjam". He asked me how can it be done in the song, and I suggested something, and he liked it and kept it for the song. Now his pattern is like that. He will give a 15 minute set of tunes... scratch work. and tell us that we will sit together and select whichever suits the lyrics well. He reads a lot of poems, scripts, literary works. Even about World Poetry. he knows abt Urdu Poems, Sufism. He watches a lot of Universal Films like Iranian Films, KOrean movies, and you can go and talk to him regarding any Universal artist. These are all the matters which are taking him towards Universal Cinema. Sometimes, when we write something, he would suggest that we write something simple, and at places, he would suggest the otherway telling that the stage requires something complex or more meaningful. Sometimes, he woudl say that the thought itself requires some loneliness. Rahman Sir always breaks the barrier between us, and makes us feel so comfortable all the time. ( To be continued next week ) -- regards, Vithur
