"It was going to be a very different challenge to me," said Rahman, who is currently in Los Angles, promoting Danny Boyle's film. Slumdog Millionaire is playing in about 80 theatres and is steadily expanding across America and Canada. "It was gritty, serious and moving. It was also about redemption."
He never thought whether the film would be a success. "I was totally drawn to the film and I felt it was unusual at every turn," he said. Though Boyle wanted him to compose the songs only, including the theme number, Rahman offered to do the entire score. "I like to be immersed in a film," he said, adding that that wasn't an easy decision to make.
"I had to make a big sacrifice," he said. Taking up Slumdog Millionaire would mean having to say no to Ashutosh Gowariker with whom Rahman had worked for three films -- Lagaan, Sandesh and Jodha-Akbar.
"I could not compose for his What's Your Rashee?," he added. "But surely, we will have more opportunities to work together. ButSlumdog Millionaire was something that was going to happen very soon and I was hooked by the way Danny had directed it. I wanted to be a part of the film. In my career, I have taken up many films which were out of the box. And I thought this film was one such project."
One of the best reviewed films of the year, it has already been declared the year's best by the National Board of Review, and received many top nominations including the best director and best screenplay writer categories for 13th Annual Satellite Awards given by the International Press Academy.
Rahman's musical score has also been nominated, along with the rousing Jai Ho as the best song of the year. Other musical nominees include Quantum of Solace, Wall-E andAustralia.
Rahman's mandate was to compose half a dozen songs which are used in the background for about a minute. But the songs get the full treatment on the CD. You hear them in the voices of Alka Yagnik, Ila Arun, Palkkad Sriram, Madhumitha, Mahalaksmi Iyer and Sukhvinder Singh, who belts out the rousing Jai Ho number. Rahman is also heard, as well as M I A (whose given name is Maya Arulpragasam), one of the biggest names on the alternate music scene.
Tanvi Shah is featured in two numbers: Gangsta Blues with BlaaZe and the Jai Ho item. Suzzanne not only lends her voice to Latika's Theme but also for the number of Dreams on Fire.
"Danny trusted my instincts," Rahman said. "But I kept overloading him with one little tune after another and gave him plenty of choice."
The composer told the trade publication, Variety, 'The energy of the film takes you through a roller coaster, and that's one of the main inspirations for the whole music.'
The number Latika's Theme originally had words in it. "Danny said the words were beautiful but he was afraid they might distract the audiences from the film's narrative," Rahman recalled.
The score, which might get an Oscar nomination, has been singled out by major reviewers in America. 'Danny Boyle has upped the ante by hiring the great A R Rahman, the king of Bollywood music,' wrote Kenneth Turan in Los Angeles Times, 'to contribute one of his unmistakable propulsive scores.'
'The propulsive score, by Bollywood soundtrack auteur A R Rahman, is hip-hop fusion of a very up-to-date kind,' Kurt Loder announced on MTV.Com.
In Rolling Stone, Peter Travers wrote, 'The film is a visual wonder, propelled by A R Rahman's hip-hopping score and Chris Dickens' kinetic editing.'
The soundtrack also has two remix numbers by M I A from her Grammy nominated album Paper Planes, and features the London-based singer sharing a song with Rahman, O... Saya. Danny Boyle says she approached him in London to discuss the possibility of using her songs in the film. She told him she wanted to work with Rahman.
Rahman and M I A had not met before the Slumdog Millionaire project came up over a year ago, though she had done much of the recording and the mixing of her album Kala in his Chennai studio about 18 months ago.
"Her musical is unusual," he said. He had heard her music, and wondered who this girl was. When he met her, he was surprised to know that M I A knew his work very well, and admired it.
He also remembers telling her, 'Cut the crap, this 'my idol' crap. You have to teach me.'
Boyle knew how the music would sound right from the start, and how Rahman could do wonders to his film.
"There would be delicate music as well as edgy and loud numbers," Boyle said. "In the West, we are afraid of using music that loudly announces the emotions. In India, they are not afraid of using music that is loud and melodious at the same time. Rahman's work has elevated the film immensely."
The crowd-pleasing number Jai Ho, Rahman added, "has on the surface the typical texture of a Hindi film song. But as you continue listening, it emerges as a tune and singing that is quite different than our usual songs."
But why didn't he sing it himself? "I think I was lazy," he said, chuckling. "But hasn't Sukhi (Sukhvinder Singh) done an excellent job?"
Courtesy: rediff.com
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