Tag: ar rahman interview

First Day First Show | Reviews of ‘Jailer’ and ‘Made in Heaven 2’

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Around Tinsel Town

>> ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ stars Bomman and Bellie allege exploitation by docu makers; send legal notice

Bomman and Bellie, the mahout couple who, along with the elephant Raghu, headlined the Oscar-winning documentary The Elephant Whisperers, have alleged that the makers of the documentary have not remunerated them and had been irresponsive after the Oscar win. The duo shared they were subjected to difficult situations during the making of the documentary, and added that they spent a large sum of money to cover the expenses of the shoot. The duo also sent a legal notice seeking a ‘goodwill gesture’ of Rs 2 crore from filmmaker Kartiki Gonsalves

>> Filmmaker Siddique passes away

Popular filmmaker Siddique suffered a heart attack and breathed his last in Kochi on August 8. Siddique was one-half of the most successful filmmaker duo in the industry, who conjured up humorous repartees, which are still a part of everyday conversations for Malayalis, three decades later.

>> IDSFFK 2023 ends, Nausheen Khan’s Land of My Dreams wins Best Long Documentary

Here are a few highlights and interviews from the 15th International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK), organised by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy

> ‘Miles Away’ looks at migration through the experiences of three women

> Deepa Dhanraj interview: A lifetime of raising pertinent questions through documentaries

> ‘Bagawat’ takes a journey back to Chambal to understand the history of dacoity

> A day of focusing on the lines and strokes at the IDSFFK

> When documentary filmmakers look inward and bare their personal lives before a larger audience

> Nausheen Khan’s ‘Land of My Dreams’ wins Best Long Documentary Award

Bollywood

Farhan Akhtar announces ‘Don 3’, Ranveer Singh replaces Shah Rukh Khan

First-look posters of Suhana Khan, Agastya Nanda, Khushi Kapoor from ‘The Archies’ revealed

Wamiqa Gabbi joins Varun Dhawan, Keerthy Suresh in Atlee project

Rani Mukerji reveals she had a miscarriage in 2020

‘Thank You For Coming’ to have its world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival

Vir Das joins Ananya Panday in the cast of ‘Call Me Bae’

Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s ‘12th Fail’ starring Vikrant Massey locks release date

It’s a wrap for Ananth Narayan Mahadevan’s ‘Phule’

Hollywood

Strike-delayed Emmy Awards move to January, placing them firmly in Hollywood’s awards season

William Friedkin, Oscar-winning director of ‘The Exorcist’ and ‘The French Connection,’ dies

Greta Gerwig’s ‘Barbie’ mints $1 billion globally

Sandra Bullock’s partner Bryan Randall dies after private battle with ALS

Wes Anderson to be honoured at Venice Film Festival

Dwayne Johnson says dropping ‘Black Adam’ “will remain a big mystery”

DC Studios has no immediate plans for ‘Wonder Woman 3’

‘Succession’, ‘The Bear’ bag top honours at Television Critics Awards

First look of Paul Mescal, Andrew Scott’s ‘All of Us Strangers’ out

Rebel Wilson suffers ‘stunt accident’ during ‘Bride Hard’ filming

First look images from Emerald Fennell’s ‘Saltburn’ out

Regional Cinema

First look of Kangana Ranaut from ‘Chandramukhi 2’ out

This Japanese couple has travelled from Japan to Chennai to watch Rajinikanth’s ‘Jailer’

It’s a wrap for Vishnu Vishal and Vikranth’s ‘Lal Salaam’

Boyapati Sreenu-Ram Pothineni’s ‘Skanda’ wraps up shoot

Director Vinayan teams up with Unni Mukundan for ‘Athbhutha Dweepu’ sequel

Priya Bhavani Shankar, Malavika Sharma to play female leads in Gopichand’s film ‘Bhimaa’

Yogi Babu’s ‘Lucky Man’ gets a release date

Santhakumar’s film starring Arjun Das titled ‘Rasavathi – The Alchemist’

It’s a wrap for Suraj Venjaramoodu’s ‘Madhuvidhu’

Kannada actor Vijay Raghavendra’s wife Spandana dies due to cardiac arrest

World Cinema

Switzerland picks ‘Thunder’ as the International Feature Submission for this year’s Oscars

‘Firebrand’ director Karim Aïnouz starts production on ‘Motel Destino’

Trailers

Dulquer Salmaan is gangster, footballer and folk hero in ‘King of Kotha’ trailer

Teaser of Hansal Mehta’s ‘Scam 2003: The Telgi Story’, a series on the Stamp Paper Scam, is out

Trailer of Vijay Deverakonda, Samantha Ruth Prabhu’s relationship drama ‘Kushi’ out

Raj B Shetty returns in another intense avatar in ‘Toby’ trailer

John Cena’s buddy comedy ‘Vacation Friends 2’ trailer out now

Uma Thurman and Maya Hawke feature together in ‘The Kill Room’ trailer

Sushmita Sen fights for transgenders in India in trailer of ‘Taali’

‘Fair Play’ trailer shows Alden Ehrenreich, Phoebe Dynevor’s steamy romance turns turbulent

Varun Tej is a man on a mission in ‘Gandeevadhari Arjuna’ trailer

Apple TV Plus drops the trailer of parenthood drama ‘The Changeling’

‘Adiye’ trailer shows GV Prakash Kumar and Gouri Kishan team up for a multiversal love story

Trailer of Disney+Hotstar’s extraction series ‘The Freelancer’ out

Trailer of ‘I Am Groot’ Season 2 shows mischievous Baby Groot return for a fun adventure across galaxy

A dare game exposes hidden secrets in the trailer of Malayalam film ‘1001 Nunakal’

‘Mathagam’ trailer shows Atharvaa take on Manikandan in an intense crime drama

New in streaming

New on Netflix in August: Spy action thriller Heart of Stone, Season 2 of Heartstopper, the coming-of-age comedy, The Hunt for Veerappan, the docuseries following the rise and fall of the forest brigand, and more

New on Disney+ Hotstar in August: The action thriller series Commando, the comedy-drama series Only Murders in the Building Season 3, Star Wars: Ahsoka, and more

Coming to Apple TV+: Final season of dramedy Physical, adult animated series Strange Planet, third season of The Morning Show, and more

New on Amazon Prime Video this week: Second season of Made in Heaven, Sivakarthikeyan’s superhero hit Maaveeran, rom-com Red, White & Royal Blue, and more

Essential reading

1) AR Rahman: I asked Kamal Haasan to make a Hollywood film, just for the heck of it

>> Ahead of his concert in Chennai, Rahman talks about why the city will always remain home for him

2) Ramya Krishnan on her ‘Jailer’ reunion with Rajinikanth, and reigniting the ‘Padayappa’ magic

>> She talks about being part of Rajinikanth’s latest and why she’d love to do a dance number in S.S. Rajamouli’s next

3) Trinetra Haldar Gummaraju on ‘Made in Heaven’ and representation of trans characters

>> The doctor-turned-actor talks about her journey and breaking stereotypes about the trans community

4) Team ‘Made in Heaven’ on marriages: Not an endogamous monolith

>> Sobhita Dhulipala, Arjun Mathur, Jim Sarbh and team talk about marriages in India and their bondings on set

5) Love and progressiveness: Are Bollywood romances losing their verve?

>> Bollywood is grappling with self-reflection, as makers challenge conventional narratives and question stereotypes

6) Actor Shanthi Krishna: I am happy that I could do justice to my role in ‘Nila’

>> Shanthi, basking in the appreciation, talks about her character in the film and her journey in Malayalam cinema

7) From Ponnambalam to Dhilip Subbarayan, stunt masters in Tamil cinema have found limelight as actors

>> While heroes have turned into villains and vice versa, many stunt choreographers have made their mark as actors

8) Meghana Raj: It is amazing to see women flourish in so many aspects of filmmaking

>> The actor talks of her role in BISFF and the space of women in the world of cinema

What to watch

1) With ‘Jailer’, Rajinikanth, Nelson make a captivating comeback that majorly works

Read the full review here

2) Sunny Deol is superb in ‘Gadar 2’, a middling sequel

Read the full review here

3) Akshay Kumar and Pankaj Tripathi have a talk with society in ‘OMG 2’

Read the full review here

4) Chiranjeevi’s stardom doesn’t help ‘Bhola Shankar’, a stale, unimaginative tale

Read the full review here

5) Season 2 of ‘Made in Heaven’ is proud, progressive and a tad lost

Read the full review here

6) Gal Gadot shines in ‘Heart of Stone’, a forgettable spy film, while Alia Bhatt deserved more

Read the full review here

7) A British royal and US’s first son fall in love in ‘Red White & Royal Blue’, a smart, sensitive rom-com 

Read the full review here

8) ‘The Jengaburu Curse’ is a noble cli-fi that lacks cinematic heft

Read the full review here

9) Watching Urvashi-Indrans courtroom drama ‘Jaladhara Pumpset Since 1962’ is a tiring experience

Read the full review here

10) Third season of ‘Only Murders in the Building’ is thrice as good

Read the full review here

11) ‘King The Land’ has chemistry and charm aplenty from Lim Yoon-a and Lee Jun-Ho, but little else 

Read the full review here

12) Sigourney Weaver dazzles with fierce dignity in ‘The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart’, a tender story of generational trauma

Read the full review here

13) ‘Medusa Deluxe’ is a stylish, inventive murder mystery that will keep you guessing

Read the full review here

14) Netflix docu-series ‘The Hunt for Veerappan’ is engaging and riveting despite coming close to devil-worshipping

Read the full review here

15) Shanthi Krishna excels in Indu Lakshmi’s refreshing narrative in ‘Nila’

Read the full review here

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In conversation with AR Rahman on his upcoming sufi music concert

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At around 6 in the evening, A.R. Rahman excuses himself from a conversation. Inside his ARR Studios at Chennai’s Kodambakkam, the Oscar winner swiftly paces from one block to another, his mind pre-occupied, only briefly pausing to smile at a few people on the way. Clearly, the man has to be someplace soon.

Someplace is just three floors above. Here, amidst many instruments that have been played in superhit albums, is silence.

He requires that for his prayers, a time that is sacred, a time spent in solace. His assistant tells me, “It’s his prayer time. No one disturbs him for a while.”

Watch | In conversation with AR Rahman on his upcoming sufi music concert

Sometime later, the Mozart of Madras emerges from the elevator, clad in a maroon kurta and sporting a smile. The composer is in great spirits, which soften when we enquire about his son Ameen, who escaped a major accident on the sets of a song shoot a week ago. Rahman says, “He is shaken. He tells me, ‘Appa, I can’t sleep well. I feel that the fan might fall on me’.”

As we wait for the interview to begin, Rahman hums a line from ‘Adiye Sonali’, a one-minute independent music video launched by his son in January. Good things await Ameen; he has also sung a song in upcoming Simbu-starrer, Tamil film Pathu Thala under his father’s composition.

AR Rahman during a previous Sufi concert
| Photo Credit:
Nishant Matta

Good things also await Rahman. He is gearing up for a concert in Chennai this weekend, but it will be very different from the head-banging, familiar rhythms that draw huge crowds for his every live performance. At Wings of Love, scheduled this Sunday evening at Nehru Indoor Stadium, the composer will perform a “Sufi concert”. “There will be no ‘Muqqabula’ or ‘Chaiya Chaiya’, but “there will be numbers like ‘Kun Faya Kun’,” he informs. “I wanted to do a bigger concert but that couldn’t happen. However, I realised there are many fans for numbers like ‘Kun Faya Kun’ and ‘Khwaja Mere Khwaja’, and thus we have this.” This concert is to raise awareness and in aid of the ‘Save Lightman’ fund, to recognise lightmen working in various film industries. “We’ll get a blessing from everyone that way.”

This is A.R. Rahman the Oscar-winner talking, but in the late Eighties, he was a just boy named A.S. Dileep Kumar. So, when did he get drawn to the world of sufi music? “I was not a fan of qawwali,” he admits candidly, “In 1991, a friend of mine, Sarangan, introduced me to a record of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and I was like, ‘Who is this? What is this music?’ It changed my whole paradigm of thinking. Later, I met Nusrat and learnt a few lessons, but then he passed away. Then, Khalid Mohammed came to me and said that he wanted a song like ‘Muqqabula’. I didn’t want to do that yet again, but learnt that he was planning a qawwali, and I wanted to do that.”

Though Rahman was initially nervous about experimenting with a completely new genre, that conversation did result in a memorable song: ‘Piya Haji Ali’ ( Fiza) in 2000.

During a visit to Ajmer, Rahman says a khadim asked him to compose something for Dargah Khwaja Saheb, which ultimately made its way into Ashutosh Gowariker’s Jodhaa Akbar (2008) . Another favourite number for fans is ‘Kun Faya Kun’ from Imtiaz Ali’s Rockstar (2011) ; the comments on its YouTube video even go to the extent of likening it to therapy. Rahman explains, “Whether it’s a bhajan or a gospel or a sufi track, it is the sincerity that the listener hears. When I listen to a ‘Vaishava Janato’, the sincerity is what makes that song. You don’t need a two-hundred piece orchestra track for that.”

A.R. Rahman with actor Ranbir Kapoor during the promotions of ‘Rockstar’ in 2011

A.R. Rahman with actor Ranbir Kapoor during the promotions of ‘Rockstar’ in 2011
| Photo Credit:
AFP

A voice for hope

Though other popular performers, including Javed Ali and Sivamani, will be part of this sufi concert, Rahman the singer will undoubtedly be the big draw. In a 2018 interview, he told The Hindu, “My wife keeps asking me to sing more in films but I dodge it as much as possible…” Things have changed vastly since then; singer Rahman is a constant feature in almost all his recent albums. “During the U.S. tours, I had a lot of time to practise. In the bus, in the car… I would just put on the tanpura and sing. All the singers I work with — young or old — are better than me. I get inspired by them, and push myself to sing better.”

He is also pushing himself on other creative fronts; the last few years saw him conceptualising and writing 99 Songs and Le Musk, both of which have added a dimension to him beyond music. After working with multiple directors and producers, how does it feel to be in control of an entire project? “Terrifying,” he laughs, “Sometimes, I feel alone and there’s no one else to say, ‘What if you make a bad decision?’ And I think I might have made some bad decisions — in 99 Songs, for instance, people loved it as a theme but we pushed it too extreme to people in the sense that we showcased the lead character’s entire journey. Instead of having five hit songs, we tried to see how he evolved as a composer and the errors he made. It was satisfying to do something that tried to be honest to the script. It was a gamble, but it was worth taking.”

AR Rahman with Mari Selvaraj during the recording session of ‘Maamannan’

AR Rahman with Mari Selvaraj during the recording session of ‘Maamannan’

Besides working with regulars such as Mani Ratnam, Rahman is keen to forge newer collaborations, something that is evident in Tamil projects like Cobra (Ajay Gnanamuthu), Pathu Thala (Obeli N Krishna), Ayalaan (R Ravikumar) and Maamannan (Mari Selvaraj). “We learn from each other. They don’t have the luggage of the previous generation, and the enthusiasm in their eyes is infectious. It makes me work harder.” Mari Selvaraj, who wowed Tamil cinema with Pariyerum Perumal, is someone Rahman describes as a “different kind”. “I was amazed with his choice of music. He’s doing great service for people from underprivileged backgrounds.”

What the Oscars mean

“We missed the bus during ‘Jai Ho’. We should have cashed in on its success, considering it was a global hit, and should have raised our profile more. Now, with ‘Naatu Naatu’, we have another chance; the whole profile of India’s music and cultural side can change. People are going to be like, ‘What else has this composer done? What else has AR Rahman done?’ Also, India has long been associated with Bollywood; but now, RRR is a Telugu film and The Elephant Whisperers is shot in Tamil Nadu. We are so bundled with talent, and we deserve this.”

Being a celebrity

While on the move, Rahman is besotted with requests and selfies, something that he takes in his stride. Celebritydom does come at a price indeed, and the composer smiles when I tell him I did something he cannot: walk across the street to buy biscuits while I was waiting for him. “They’d eat me instead of the biscuit if I did that,” he guffaws, “But, we get other extraordinary things to do; like travelling constantly. When you win something, you lose something.”

AR Rahman with his mother Kareema Begum

AR Rahman with his mother Kareema Begum
| Photo Credit:
PTI

The rare times when he is alone, he says he often thinks about his mother, Kareema Begum, who passed away in 2020 and was the biggest support in his musical journey. He chokes a bit when I mention her, and says, “Even when she passed away, it was a strange reaction for me. I knew she was suffering — with needles constantly poking at her body —- and somewhere felt that it was a relief that God had given her. But then, I was performing at a concert, and saw an empty seat, and remembered suddenly how she used to attend my concerts with a big thousand-bead prayer necklace. It hit me very hard when I realised that, ‘Oh my god, I have lost my mother’.”

Rahman points out that everything he has today is because of his mother. “All that stuff you see around is because of her one decision to put me into music. While all other parents back then were saying things like, ‘Become a doctor and then do music,’ she was saying, ‘Do music.’ That’s genius.”

AR Rahman’s Sufi concert will take place on March 19 at Nehru Indoor Stadium, Chennai. For details, log on to https://wingsoflove.in/

Graphic: Albert Francis, Photo: Nagara Gopal

Graphic: Albert Francis, Photo: Nagara Gopal

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