10 Questions for A.R. Rahman Thursday, Mar. 26, 2009
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*How do you think your career will change now that you've won two very
well-deserved Oscars?* Rue Roy, LONDON
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I have been getting a lot of offers from Hollywood. A lot of my aspirations
— like I wanted to work with an orchestra — are possible now. Collaborations
are possible with pop artists and icons and all that stuff.
*Do you plan to go West and work outside Bollywood?* Jay Bee, TORONTO
I think I partly want to do that, but I don't want to just desert this place
and go. It won't be fair on my musicality. I will probably balance out both.
*What was the difference between making the music for Slumdog
Millionaireand the music for Indian films?
* Divyam Gupta, LIMA
Each director [has] their own kind of rapport with other artists. When I
work with Mani Ratnam, there's one kind of rapport. When I work with
Ashutosh Gowariker, it's different. So with [*Slumdog Millionaire* director]
Danny Boyle, automatically a different sense came in. He had his own taste
of music and I was very interested in knowing what he liked about my music.
*Do you believe in a universal music?* Kimberly Choi, SEATTLE
I do, because all of us are, in a way, getting multicultural in our ears.
All of us are listening to different kinds of music and the bottom line is
most of us love melodies, most of us love grooves. So there is a kind of
universality, and when you focus on it you can find it.
*As a convert to Islam, do you view your career in a spiritual
light?*Zainab Sheikh, NEW YORK CITY
I believe that when good vibes come from people, like prayers and love, it
changes your destiny and that's what I always felt about my life. [I've had]
a lot of goodwill from family and Sufi peers. Getting those two Oscars — I
definitely feel that I have to thank all those people.
*Some Islamic fundamentalists forbid music. What's your view?* Syed Qadeer,
LAKE IN THE HILLS, ILL.
I have personally discovered that love and music cleanse your mind and heal
you and these are my explanations and reasons to follow music. I can't
answer the question of whether it's right or wrong, but I know that whatever
I am doing is being loved by people and I do get my prayers answered.
*I recently heard the remix of "Jai Ho" featuring the Pussycat Dolls and was
surprised that you consented to have that done to such a beautiful song.
What motivated it?* Mayank Keshaviah, LOS ANGELES
I didn't want [the *Slumdog Millionaire* soundtrack] to die as a film
soundtrack. I wanted to extend it to a younger audience, too. We made sure
that we told [the Pussycat Dolls] that this was a song about destiny, about
love and all that stuff. [It's] about victory, so don't make it obscene.
Make it lovable. And I think they did a very good job ... It took almost
eight different tries to get it right.
*Where do you see yourself fitting into the modern scheme of music?* Grant
Wilder, HOUSTON
I love to embrace new technology and new ideas. But I think melody plays a
very important role in my sensibility in music. Melody and harmony — that
never changes. All the classics are always classics.
*What do you listen to on your MP3 player?* Katie Hires, BETHEL, CONN.
What I listened to yesterday were the ghazal [a Sufi song form] of Mehdi
Hassan and then I listened to Tchaikovsky, and then I listened to an Irish
artist — I don't know who it was. So it's like three weird things. I was
traveling from Bangalore to Chennai.
*Is there any way you could beat your Oscar success?* Hannah Pederson, PORT
ELIZABETH, SOUTH AFRICA
Some people have been nominated 38 times and not won. Some composers 10
times, 11 times. I have been really lucky to have been nominated [in three
categories] in the same year and then got two of those. It's really amazing.
To beat this record musically? I would love to but [it's more important] to
get the spirit back in writing music.
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regards,
Vithur
