Arvind, thanks for posting this translated interview....
With Best Regards, Nithin Sujathan
--- On Sat, 6/13/09, uday kiran <uda...@gmail.com> wrote:
From: uday kiran <uda...@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [arr] The man who did the first ever interview of ARR!
To: arrahmanfans@yahoogroups.com
Date: Saturday, June 13, 2009, 12:32 PM
Awesome is a small word for you and excellent too......... . for
getting the rare postings by our boss.
We are very thankful to you Arvind bro.
2009/6/12 ramakrisha laxmana subramanian siva gopala acharya iyer .aiyooo amma
idli wada dosa sambar chatni . <sriramiyer15@ yahoo.co. in>
Wow! that was a very good read! thanks a lot bro!
--- In arrahmanfans@ yahoogroups. com, Vinayakam Murugan <mvinaya...@. ..>
wrote:
>
> Thanks a lot, Aravind. You rock.
>
> Warm Regards
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
> Vinayak
>
> theregoesanotherday .blogspot. com
>
>
> On Wed, Jun 10, 2009 at 1:20 PM, <aravind...@. ..> wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > Hey all,
> >
> > I came across the blog of Kalyan Kumar, who was the sub-editor of "India
> > Today" magazine. He's also a screenplay/script writer for movies.
> >
> > He was the first person to interview Rahman, and the first ever interview
> > of Rahman appeared in India Today.
> > He has written in his blog about his interaction with Rahman.
> >
> > Not sure if it has been posted before!
> >
> >
> > Here's the link for the blog post (It's in Tamil... Scroll down for my
> > translation)
> > http://kalyanje. blogspot. com/2009/ 02/blog-post_ 26.html
> >
> > ARR pics from the blog:
> >
> > http://3.bp. blogspot. com/_5HXnPkUOnPk /SaeXS2fCkkI/ AAAAAAAAAIQ/
> > ZTCD7Pfx7oQ/ s1600-h/arrahman .JPG
> >
> >
> > Translation:
> > It was a fine Sunday morning, when I got a call from my friend,
> > cinematographer Rajeev Menon, asking if we can meet!
> >
> > The meeting happened at 5 pm that day. I was then the sub editor of India
> > Today, and was handling movies section too. Those days, Rajeev was working
> > more on Ad films, than for movies. He told me about a youngster who was
> > composing for his ad films - "His name is Dileep. He has tremendous music
> > sense. He's extremely talented in playing and handling all modern
> > instruments. Moreover, Mani sir has signed him on for his next movie, after
> > listening to some of his jingles."
> >
> > "Wow.. thats something new", I thought, and collected a pic of Dileep shot
> > by Rajeev and his phone number from Rajeev. Next day, I called up Dileep and
> > he answered. I introduced myself and asked for a meeting with him. He
> > immediately refused saying "No sir... No Interviews now! Mani sir has asked
> > me not to speak anything about the project!"
> >
> > I retorted - "You dont have to speak about the movie; speak about you! I
> > would be pleased if India Today publishes details about the new music
> > director who is Mani Ratnam's new find."
> > I also told him that I'd already collected his photo from Rajeev Menon.
> > Finally, later acceded to my request!
> >
> > The meeting happened at 4 pm. He was not a school kid. He was not yet a
> > college student. He seemed to be just in that transition phase, with a shy
> > smile on his face! His mom and sister were with him. His mom offered me cake
> > and savouries they had purchased from the neighbourhood bakery, for me.
> > Coffee followed.
> >
> > Then, we started talking. He told me a lot - about his father RK Shekar,
> > about how music became his full-time job after his father's death, about the
> > family background, about the conversion to islam, about his name change! He
> > mentioned that the Mani film was a God-given gift for him. He conversed with
> > him as though we're very close friends for a long time! He took me to his
> > studio and played 2 songs from his new film.
> >
> > One of those songs was Chinna Chinna Aasai. After listening to it, I
> > requested Rahman to play it once more. He was overjoyed and played it again.
> > "Just this one song is enough to take you to heights of fame", I told him
> > and wished him all luck. "Other their Mani sir, others connected with the
> > film hadn't listened to the songs. I played it just for you. Your words are
> > very encouraging", he said and thanked me. When I was leaving, he came out
> > till his front gate and bid farewell to me.
> >
> > One week later, Rahman's mom called me - "When can we see my son's photo in
> > the magazine, dear brother?" I could sense the eagerness and excitement in
> > her voice.
> > "It will hit the stands in 2 days, mother. I'll come and give a few copies
> > to you, even before that", I told her.
> >
> > En-route to my house from office, I visited Rahman's house with 5 copies of
> > India Today, and gave it to them. The images of the proud mother and sister,
> > smiling and sharing their happiness on seeing Rahman's photo in the
> > magazine, still remains fresh in my memories. But, Rahman took this big news
> > in a calm and composed manner. With a smile, he thanked me. His humbleness
> > was there with him right from that time.
> >
> > After the release of Roja, there was no magazine which didnt feature
> > Rahman's photo. After that, I met him a few more times as a reporter. Much
> > to the envy of other reporters, he would approach me personally and talk to
> > me like a friend. Once, in a press meet, he openly said "He's the first
> > person to interview me.... How can I not be close to him?". He hasn't yet
> > lost that closeness to me.
> >
> > 8 years later, I'd moved from the press and started working for TV and
> > movies. I wanted to produce a special program for Sun TV for Tamil New Years
> > day, in association with my friend Balakrishnan. That program was - "Special
> > interview with Isai Puyal A.R.Rahman."
> >
> > Rahman had started rocking both the Hindi and Tamil film industry by then,
> > and was very busy! It took me one week to just meet him. Since I was
> > producing the program, I personally met Rahman, and asked for an appointment
> > for the interview. He said, "Re-recording of Kandukondain will be over in a
> > couple of days. After that, we can have the interview in my studio itself.
> > But, on one condition... You should be the interviewer, lets not have any
> > other anchor!"
> > I agreed. In the next few days, Rahman allotted five hours of his time for
> > us, and also arranged for Biriyani for us, for lunch.
> >
> > The interview was aired on 14th Jan, 2004. In that interview, Rahman had
> > listed down his favourite tamil songs, and had also explained why he liked
> > these songs.
> > - "Kaatril Endhan Geetham" composed by Ilayaraja (from the film
> > Johnny)
> > - "Unnai onru ketpen" by MSV
> > - "Thora guna" by KV Mahadevan (Sankarabharanam)
> > - "Kaalangalil Aval Vasantham" sung by PB Sreenivas
> >
> > This was the day Alaipayuthey had hit the screens. He'd got Mani Sir's
> > consent to show clips of songs from the movie, during the interview. He
> > didnt stop with just that. That night, he invited me home and thanked me for
> > the good interview. I told him that it is he who has to be thanked! I can't
> > forget that late night meeting with him.
> >
> > Today, all the world media focusses on the man who got two Oscars. At this
> > proud juncture, I'm really proud to say that I was the first man to
> > interview him.
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Aravind
> >
> > ------------ --------- ---------
> >
> > Rahmania show interviews: http://rahmania. 4shared.com
> > ------------ --------- ---------
> >
> >
> > ------------ --------- ---------
> > Explore and discover exciting holidays and getaways with Yahoo! India
> > Travel Click here!<http://in.rd. yahoo.com/ tagline_Travel_ 1/*http:/
> > /in.travel. yahoo.com/>
> >
> >
>
--
Regards,
Uday Kiran
