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On Sat, Feb 28, 2009 at 9:37 PM, hassan basha <[email protected]> wrote: > can any one translate in tamil or hindi please my kind request..... > > --- On *Sat, 2/28/09, Srini Santhanam <[email protected]>* wrote: > > From: Srini Santhanam <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [arr] At Which Time Dilip Became Rahman > To: [email protected] > Date: Saturday, February 28, 2009, 8:36 PM > > There is so much to learn from Rahman - the human being isnt it? to be > half as good as him is great enough. > On Feb 28, 2009, at 8:26 PM, Gopal Srinivasan wrote: > > > At Which Time Dilip Became Rahman > > The Music and the Maker, the maestro's faith in Islam has found the twain > makes for perfect > consonance > > SHEELA REDDY ON A.R. RAHMAN > Meeting someone for an hour-long interview is no entry ticket to a man’s > soul, but with A.R. > Rahman it seemed like that. The first time I met him was in November ’98 > when he’d come to > Delhi to accept a Channel V viewers’ award for most popular track of the > year. Some three > million viewers had voted for him, which wasn’t surprising, considering how > his music was > already conquering the film world, both in Tamil and Hindi. But what was > unusual was the song > this post-Chitrahaar, Def Leppard-adoring generation chose as their > favourite song of the year, > Vande Mataram. By then, a countrywide row had broken out over the > compulsory singing of this > ‘national song’ in schools, but Rahman’s popular, flag-waving rendering of > it (Maa Tujhe > Salaam) was met everywhere, especially among the young, with foot-tapping > enthusiasm. I had to > find out for myself how this young man with Jesus Christ locks, blue jeans > and Muslim name had > so cleverly subverted the mullahs and the Hindu fundoos by getting a whole > generation hooked to > it. > That’s the best part of being a journalist, even a freelance one—you can go > with a question to > anyone, anywhere, and get your answer straight from the horse’s mouth. If > you know how to reach > it, of course. Rahman was easy—I just had to call the Channel V pro. Within > hours, I was > sitting in a hotel suite with this quiet young man with large, still eyes > and hands, dressed > all in black—black jacket, black trousers, black shoes—chatting not only > about the genesis of > his award-winning song (the brainchild of ad film buddy Bharatbala—they > both wanted to create a > song that would make patriotism hip). But as often happens in such moments > of enforced > intimacy, we ended up talking of much more. Such as how he converted to > Islam 10 years earlier, > when he was 21. > > It started, he said, when his father was dying. Rahman was only 11 years > old then, the middle > child between two sisters. Having tried everything else and failed, the > family turned to a > local pir. "My father was very ill then, bed-ridden, and the pir sahib > couldn’t do anything for > him at that last stage." But even after his father died, Rahman’s family > still turned to the > pir for emotional support. And then one day, nearly 10 years later, the pir > sahib came to > Rahman’s home. "He blessed a room which is very special to me because my > father died in it, and > which I had turned into my studio. The pir sahib said we were destined to > go through some > unique experiences, including much suffering, and some very hard times." > His prophecy had a > curious effect on Rahman: "The moment he said that and blessed the room, I > felt such peace. As > if everything had become green, and my whole life had started afresh." > > Within six months, the pir was dead, but the mystical power he had > unleashed on the family > lived on. That’s when Rahman says the family decided to embrace Islam. "I > felt that, OK, this > feeling that I have is God. It’s not about Hindu or Muslim or anything, but > there is that one > feeling, and that is God." It was not anything dramatic, he explained, > "like it is in films". > > "It would be hypocritical, " he felt, with the dawning of this feeling, if > he didn’t change his > name. And so, Dilip Kumar became Allah Rakha Rahman at the age of 21. For > Rahman and his > family, the conversion was more a change in their attitude to God than > anything else. "In > fact," he pointed out, "if you take ancient Hindu scriptures, the Rig Veda, > it says God is > one." It’s the mystical aspects of the namaaz that he valued the most, > Rahman said. "Prayer is > more like a meditation for me. And it helps me clean my inner self. I go > through death five > times a day when I pray and I am born again. When I start, I feel I am dead > and my soul has > departed and when I finish my prayers I am back.I am born again." > > Is it like that each time, I wanted to know. He laughed at my atheist’s > curiosity. "I try to > make it like that each time, but sometimes there is so much turmoil in the > head, so much > happening... ." And what if he’s recording when it’s time for his prayers? > "I have a small > prayer room next to the studio, and my sister takes over the recording till > my prayers are > done." And if he’s travelling? "I carry my prayer mat wherever I go." > > In all faith: with wife Saira > > Did it make any difference, getting work as A.R. Rahman instead of Dilip > Kumar? "In my field," > he said, "it doesn’t matter whether you are Hindu or Muslim. If you are > good, you stay; if you > are bad, you get thrown out." On the other hand, he said, his new religion > helped him get the > right attitude to work: to keep his sense of balance and distance. "It’s > your attitude in life > that brings you success," he said. "So I’ve taken (from Islam) whatever > helps me to get into > that attitude." His music and Islam became inextricably linked together. > > Interview over, Rahman started his own grilling. I was working then for a > street children’s > organisation and he wanted to know more. It’s written in the Quran, he > said, that a person must > donate one-third of his earnings to charity, and he was always on the > lookout for deserving > organisations he could send a donation to. Soon he left to catch a plane, > and I forgot about > the promise. Until several months later, when there was a call from his > office in Chennai: > could I please tell them who Mr Rahman should send a cheque to? The cheque > arrived, I forget > for how much—Rs 1 lakh, I think, or more. But what touched me most was that > he should remember, > and had taken the trouble. > > We met again four years later. By then Rahman had film producers queueing > up night and day at > his state-of-the- art studio in Chennai, and was also a world celebrity, > having worked with > Andrew Lloyd Webber, Michael Jackson and J Lo. When we arrived at his hotel > room, a pretty > young woman was slipping out. "A girlfriend," guessed the photographer, > experienced in the ways > of celebrity lifestyles. "Probably a journalist," I said, not wanting the > pir-like man I > remembered to have gone the way of other film celebrities. > > It was November ’02, possibly the worst time in independent India’s history > to be a Muslim. The > talk inevitably strayed to what it must be like to be a Muslim in these > post-Gujarat riots > time. But he had no regrets: "You can’t change your identity just because > of politics," he told > me wisely. "I am also a Tamilian—I can’t say, no, I won’t be a Tamilian > because I may be > mistaken for the LTTE." > > He was still devoutly religious, insisting that it was what inspired his > life and music. > "Within religion’s boundaries, I am very free. It helps me to take success > and failure in a > balanced way, rather than jumping up and down or brooding." > > The mystery woman returned, possibly because we were lingering for longer > than either she or > Rahman had anticipated. But he didn’t introduce her to us, and all of us > complied silently with > the rules of mental purdah that he set: pretending as if there was a wall > between her and us. > > But today, watching her walk the red carpet arm in arm with Rahman, I know > who she is: his > wife, Saira. And thank (his) God that he hasn’t changed. > > http://www.outlooki ndia.com/ fullprint. asp?choice= 1&fodname= 20090309& > fname=Cover+ Story&sid= > 5<http://www.outlookindia.com/fullprint.asp?choice=1&fodname=20090309&fname=Cover+Story&sid=5> > > > > > -- regards, Vithur
