Rahman of the moment
15 Jan 2009, 0000 hrs IST, ANSHUL CHATURVEDI , TNN
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AR Rahman probably has a cupboard full of awards the way some Bollywood names
have cupboards full of skeletons. In both cases, it’s usually a case
AR Rahman (TOI Photo) More Picsof ‘what’s the big deal about one more’.
But the Golden Globe puts him, literally, in the global league. At this point,
looking back, which is the first award that really meant something to him? “I
think the first big award that I treasured was the National Award for Roja.
That was a great feeling. It was also very unexpected.”
This one surely wasn’t. How does the kick of getting a Golden Globe for Danny
Boyle’s Slumdog compare with that years-old high of the National Award for Mani
Ratnam’s Roja? “I think I feel a kind of sense of déjà vu. The whole thing.
Because all those comments that came my way then – I am hearing all of them
again. People are saying ‘Oh, the same kind of music has been in Hollywood for
so long, and this film has come and re-energised the whole thing, it’s on a
different path, it’s such a relief to hear a different kind of soundtrack...’
It feels as if the whole experience which came with the first award for Roja is
being repeated, just at a different place.”
That experience moved him from the regional to the national stage in one
definitive move, and now he’s been propelled firmly onto the global platform in
a manner unprecedented for an Indian. No harm in such déjà vu moments at all,
surely? “Yes...,” he laughs. “God is kind...”
God is kind to the deserving, some would say. Just before the Globe awards,
Rahman said, ‘The more you expect, the more frustration comes’. On the other
hand, he’s been fairly – and uncharacteristically – vocal about saying that he
wants an Oscar for Slumdog’s music. Isn’t that contradictory? “See, the film
was just a heartbeat away from getting the Golden Globe. At the same time, we
weren’t very certain about it actually happening. So instead of lusting over
it, we said, okay, let’s just be cool about the whole thing, if we don’t get
it, that’s okay... But after I said that this award doesn’t mean very much for
me, but for India, it means a big deal, so I want to win it for India – after I
said that, I was terrified every night. What if I don’t get it? I’ll be letting
so many people down. This is the first award ever that I have been so terrified
about not getting. That’s because seeing the disappointment of so many
people would have been tough – that way, getting it was great. When I said to
the audience here also, that this is for the one billion people of India – the
people just loved it.”
The superlatives are flying thick and fast – Indian Mozart, Genius, Danny
saying it is one of the high points of his career to have worked with Rahman
(“He did? So sweet!”). Unlike a SRK, who carries his compliments and adjectives
with a swagger, he generally ducks them, is rarely seen preening while counting
the feathers in his hat. But how does it really feel inside? “I think I feel
much lighter when I don’t take these things very seriously, personally, when I
can just behave naturally. I think it’s very difficult to progress when there
is too much luggage on your head, metaphorically speaking. I feel much better
and spiritual when I am away from that, definitely, and so I consciously choose
that path of life.” So his personal spirituality is an extension of his work,
right? “Very true.” Then, after a quiet moment, he continues, “The most
beautiful thing is that after you work really hard, and it comes out, and then
it changes –
it becomes a part of people’s lives, and people own it. You don’t own it
anymore, they own it. That’s the most beautiful thing. Awards and all are
definitely secondary. However, in this particular case, someone from India
getting an award like this for the first time, it’s important because I think
it serves to raise the spirits of people, of all creative people, to tell them
that that there is a way, and if we work hard, we will make it, we can make it
– that’s the great thing. And I am glad that I was like an instrument for
that.”
Is India a fad, the flavour of the season, or is it here to stay? “India is so
rich in culture, it has so much spirituality in it, it has so many hidden
qualities to it, it has to come out one way or another. If people are
incompetent to show it, somebody else who is competent does it.”
Can we read between the lines here – he’s saying that internally, we haven’t
developed that sort of competence in cinema? It’s been said that this was a
film that an Indian director should have made long back, but none could, till
Danny came along and made it. He then obviously agrees with that line of
thought. “Absolutely, ya. In my opinion, there’s too much that we try to do...
if you aim at too many things, you fail. You aim at one thing, it works. You
need to be honest with one film and go with your passion. Here, when we do a
film, we are saying I want to satisfy the South Indian audience, I want to
satisfy the Bihari audience, I want to satisfy the Punjabi audience – and I
also want to win an award at Cannes! Which is just not possible, because the
sensibilities are different. Either you raise this taste to that level – or you
do films for, you know, the audiences, be proud of the stuff which we have been
doing. Nothing wrong in
doing that either.”
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India_Buzz/Rahman_of_the_moment/articleshow/3978801.cms
