'I was very surprised with the three Oscar nominations for Slumdog'

To say that A R Rahman has had a busy day is nothing new but he had an extraordinarily hectic day on Saturday last week.

In between giving the finishing touches to the score for Delhi-6 and taking in over a dozen congratulatory messages following three Oscar nominations for his work in Slumdog Millionaire, he was also getting ready to fly to Los Angeles to join fellow Oscar nominees at a formal dinner. The following interview with rediff.com's Arthur J Pais was conducted in his Chennai office.

How did you hear about your Oscar nominations?

I watched the live announcements on TV. You know they announce on TV just a few nominations including the best picture, director, script and the actors. The announcements were over and I switched off the TV and got ready for another working day at my studio in Chennai.

Just then I got a call from my agent in Hollywood, and I heard him say something about three nominations for Slumdog Millionaire. And I told him, Yes, I watched the TV and I know the film has received three nominations. He then said, you have received three nominations and in all the film had received 10.

You surely were expecting the nominations, weren't you?

I did not think seriously about the prospects. I am like the film's director Danny Boyle. You do your work and hope things work out well. Frankly speaking, I was very surprised that I got three nominations, two of them going for the songs. Some of my songs in Water and Rang De Basanti have made to the short list, and yet I was very surprised with the three nominations for Slumdog in two categories.

Why were you surprised?

I knew Jai Ho was a hit. I had heard about people cheering the song wherever the film has been shown. I though it would be okay to push for one song (for nominations) but MIA (who joined him in writing and singing O Saya) thought we should push that song too. And she proved to be absolutely right.

What happened to you when you heard of the three nominations for you?

I was happy for all the nominations the film had received. And I felt people in India will continue to be proud of this film. I was feeling very gloomy and I was very upset before the nominations were announced. I could not understand why and how some people had made the film controversial. I was deeply disturbed by the controversies. I was hurt. I knew the film was made with good intentions, and it shows in every scene in the film.

I always believed that this film is about goodness triumphing over evil. It sent out the message that life was indeed worth living and that all of us can come out of the darkness.

I also knew the film was about pure love and that it also celebrated the human spirit. There is a lot of negativity around us but here is a film that showed that people can actually overcome the divisions among ourselves and go beyond the things that are hurting us. It is a film all Indians can relate to and we ought to be proud that we are associated with it.

Director Danny Boyle says he just could not believe how excited you were when he offered you the film.

(Laughs). I was very exhausted when he met me over a year ago. I thought I was not going to do a film for a few months. When I saw the rough cut of Slumdog Millionaire, I knew I had to do the film. He wanted me to do a few songs but I said I wanted to do more.

Like what?

He had wanted some old songs to be used in the film. For instance the Choli Ke Peeche number. I offered to create my own version and that is how Ringa Ringa came into existence. And I was going to do the background score, too.

And how many days did all this take?

This is one of the fastest works I have ever done for a film. The songs and the rest of the score were done in just about 15 days.

You have said that when you took up Slumdog, you had to sacrifice a couple of movie projects.

True, especially Ashutosh Gowarikar's What's Your Raashee? We worked together for Lagaan, Swades and Jodhaa-Akbar. All three were acclaimed and all box-office hits.

What went through your mind when you jumped at Slumdog?

I knew one doesn't get such an offer every day, and that the film could touch many people. One never thought of it getting any nominations or turning into a big hit. The film was showing only in about 500 theatres in America, and now it has expanded (grossing about $56 million in less than three months). I also felt that having worked with Ashutosh three times, I needed a break. And he too felt the same way. We said we will work together some time soon.

Another composer might have worried that he (Gowarikar) might not return to him.

(Chuckles) I believe what is my share would always come to me, and what isn't mine will not be there.

Have you also missed out other films because you were busy with other assignments?

There are quite a few. I could not take up Dil Chahta Hai. Also, Bunty Aur Babli. But I am glad that Shankar (Ehsaan and Loy) were able to shine in these films. I love their work in these films.

When you received the Golden Globe for Slumdog Millionaire the first thing you did was thank the Almighty.

I believe in the saying that if you recognise God in the smaller gatherings, God will recognise you in the larger gatherings. I don't consider myself a religious person, but I am inclined to be spiritual. When I pray, I do it hoping to be a better person, a better spiritual person.

You have worked again with director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra recently.

I enjoyed working with him for Rang De Basanti and now we have completed Delhi-6. He is a visionary, and he is very focussed. He knows how to make the best use of a composer, and everyone associated with the film.

One of the much discussed songs in Delhi-6 is Bhor Bhaye and it uses the voices of Shreya and Bade Ghulam Ali Khan.

I heard Bade Ghulam Ali Khan's classic just about four years ago when I was buying classical Indian music at Rhythm House in Mumbai. I thought the song was divine. It was profound and yet it was accessible to anyone who had good musical sensibilities. There was no gimmicks in the song. I wondered why I had not heard it before.

What did you want to do with the song when you first heard it?

I heard it again and again and again. Then I discussed with Ashutosh Gowarikar the possibility of using it in Jodhaa-Akbar, but we could not find a situation for it. Here (in Delhi-6), it works very well. We have the song in his voice and we have Shreya singing the same song in such a way that you get the feeling that she (actress Sonam Kapoor) is learning to sing it.

The song Masakalli became a hit overnight.

It is a catchy song, and it is a matter of days that people get used to the other songs in the film. Mohit Chauhan and I had worked well in Rang De Basanti, and I wanted to work with him again. And this was an excellent opportunity. I felt he could bring freshness to the tune. There is laughter in the song, and an immediate appeal. The musical situations in the movie are quite interesting. Have you heard of a song that features pigeons, at least in recent films?

Tell us about the qawwali in Delhi-6.

You listen to it carefully and you get to feel what Delhi-6 is about. I wanted Javed Ali for this song, and to give it some edginess, I added Kailash Kher's voice.

You also found an opportunity to sing the lovely Rehna Tu number.

(Chuckles). It is not always easy in the singer in me to persuade the composer in me. I think I was selfish but I wanted to sing Rehna Tu.

You use many voices in your films but we haven't heard songs by some of your favourites like Sadhana Sargam in your recent films.

(Chuckles). I think I am becoming forgetful like Ghajini. Some times what happens is that my assistants show me a list of singers and I pick from the list. Yes, I have not done justice in recent months to some extraordinary voices. I would, for instance, like to use Hariharan's voice more often. And I thought of this when I recently recorded a song with him for Rajnikant's Tamil film Robot.

You seem to enjoy a great deal working with Sukhvinder Singh, and now that Jai Ho is a big hit.

Working with Sukhi means you don't have to start from the first note. You can start at any level and work with him through the rest of the tune. He gets charged with a tune he really loves but one has to be careful while working with him (chuckles). He can meander. He loves to improvise. But there was no scope for such a thing with Jai Ho. The tune was set, and it was going to be pictured on dancers. And Sukhi surely enjoyed singing the song.

Courtesy: rediff.com

Ghai's confidence in YUVRAAJ (Salman Khan)!

Former showman Subhash Ghai has received praises from most quarters for attempting something different in BLACK & WHITE. Apart from his sensitive handling of the subject, Anil Kapoor's acting in the film has also been appreciated. But its the restrained performance of the newcomer from Patna , Anurag Sinha, who has impressed one and all.

Though BLACK & WHITE is under-performing at the box-office, Ghai is not unduly worried, as he knew that the movie would be a slow starter, which would grow with time. Good news for Ghai is that BLACK & WHITE has been declared tax-free in Delhi (where most of the film has been shot and based). Another factor going in favour of the film is its very reasonable budget of around 7-8 crore.


However, Ghai is supremely confidant of his Anil Kapoor, Salman Khan, Zayed Khan and Katrina Kaif starrer, YUVRAAJ. As per Ghai himself, the big budgeted musical (A.R. Rahman and Gulzar) will show that he is still way ahead of others in showbiz. In fact, the Mukta Arts head honcho goes on to add that YUVRAAJ is his box-office trump card.

The first time teaming up of Subhash Ghai and Salman Khan, YUVRAAJ, is all set for a Diwali release.

Courtesy: Glamsham.com

Box Office: Jodha Akbar opens well below expectations in India

If controversies are expected to boost a film's initial, that hasn't happened in regards to the advance booking of Jodha Akbar.

Though the film is expected to open better overseas, the Friday advance opening of 'biggest film of the year' in India is well below expectations. Chennai is at 85% which is good but not recordbreaking. Delhi is hovering around 65%. Bombay is trailing at 60% and Calcutta follows even tad below. Indore is around the 60% mark. Centers across Rajasthan are of course 0% because they aren't even letting the movie open there. The figures are mostly off single screen theaters as most multiplex chains nationally have bypassed the film till now.


The single screens were expected to be entirely sold out and yet they are only opening at just about above average/average. So for a film being mounted on a historic scale and budget, starring Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai, and billed on par with Mughaleazam by critics in reviews, the box office initial has come as a shocker.

Nationally, the film is not releasing in hundreds of theaters due to various issues with the theater chains, and that has not augured well for it either with almost 50% of its prints unable to earn. It will definitely impact opening week collections now, as will the fact of state of Rajasthan blocking the film out entirely. Right now the previously defiant filmmakers are desperately hoping the ban on Jodhaa Akbar doesn't cross over into other states of India.

Courtesy: Ibosnetwork.com

Dressing up Jodha and Akbar

Dressing up the stars is a piece of cake for fashion designer Neeta Lulla (right).

She has been in the film industry for two decades and won a National Award for her designs in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Devdas.

Her latest assignment is designing for the Ashutosh Gowarikar's epic love story, Jodhaa Akbar. What makes the fashion designer's job easier is that she is no stranger to one of the stars, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, whom Neeta has been designing for, in the last decade.

Neeta Lulla talks to Patcy N about Jodhaa-Akbar's elaborate outfits:

Though I have worked on period films like Devdas, Kisna and even a Hollywood film, One Night with the King, Jodhaa Akbar is one of the most challenging films I have ever done in the last 20 years.

One of the main reasons is because this is the first time I have designed for an entire cast -- from Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya, to a commoner walking on the road.

What made it easier was that everything was well researched. Even then, I worked on this project for a year and half because there was very little information available about the costumes and jewellery worn during that period.

Gowarikar made things smooth. I am yet to come across a director like him who is so organised, calm and in sync with what the technicians are looking for.

I wasn't nervous while doing the film. I thrive on challenges and Jodhaa Akbar was one project that really excited me.

I designed the clothes myself. The accessories, however, were tricky so Tanishq (a leading jewellery brand) stepped in and gave me inputs. Gowarikar also gave me inputs. The accessories were made of gold, cut diamond, ruby, kundan and jade.

As the Mughal era was known for its grandiosity, we used a lot of warm tones though we were careful not to go overboard.

The costumes and accessories were quite heavy but the actors took it in their stride.

I share a great bond with Aishwarya. I have been designing for her for the last decade so I knew her likes and dislikes.

The most ornate costume I designed for Aishwarya in the film is her bridal dress as well as the one she wore for a celebration song. We chose the colour red for the bridal dress, which had a lot of embroidery. In fact, the grandness of the bridal dress was the ornate embroidery which I designed in detail and was brought to life by my artisans.

We got the fabrics from Delhi, Jaipur, Mumbai and Rajasthan.

We used a lot woven fabrics and different textures like brocades, silks and cotton. We used a lot of zardozi, kundan and stones embedded in the embroidery. We also had gotta work done on some of the costumes.

For shoes, we got authentic embroidered mojris from Rajasthan.

Hrithik found it difficult to handle so much ornate work. I don't think anyone would like to wear so much ornate stuff.

I also kept in mind the character while designing the clothes. For example, I used a lot of dark tones of brown, black and green while designing for Nikitin Dheer's negative character.

The jewellery used in Jodhaa Akbar go back to the days of age-old traditions, but with a few modifications.

People may love the accessories of those grand days when they see them in the film but at the same time wearing them in real life is not feasible. People may not be able to afford them.

Plus, more and more people are looking for comfort as well as fashion. So, what I was aiming at is a blend of both -- bringing back the grandness of those days in today's time zone.

Courtesy: Rediff.com

Controversy and Bollywood's versions of Indian history go hand in hand

Controversy and Bollywood's versions of Indian history seem to go hand in hand. HIMANSHU BHAGAT talks to some historians to find out why

WHEN K ASIF made Mughal-e- Azam in 1960, he adhered to popular folklore and showed Jodha Bai as the Rajput queen of the Mughal emperor Akbar. There was no controversy. Asif's tale of forbidden love between Akbar's son Prince Salim and the courtesan Anarkali became a huge hit. Perhaps people were too busy humming “Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya” to notice any historical inaccuracies. Or they just didn't care. Almost fifty years later, as Ashutosh Gowariker is set to release Jodhaa Akbar, a tale of love between Akbar and Jodha Bai, played by Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai, a section of Rajputs in Rajasthan has protested that the film is historically inaccurate and threatened to block its screening in the state.

Factually at least, they are on solid ground. Akbar never married Jodha Bai. It was his son, Prince Salim who did. Salim became Emperor Jehangir. And his son from Jodha Bai, Prince Khurram, succeeded his father as Emperor Shah Jahan. “All this goes to show that history is not settled business,” says Mahmood Farooqui, who is currently writing a book on 1857 but is better known as a dastango who has single-handedly revived dastangoi or the traditional art of oral storytelling in Delhi. “It is almost as if each generation has its own myths about the past.” “Those protesting the movie have two specific objections,” says Dilbag Singh, professor of Mughal history at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. “That a different person was married to Akbar. And, that there was no love affair between the two.” Iqtidar Alam Khan, the noted historian and authority on Akbar who teaches at Aligarh Muslim University, points out that Akbar did marry a Rajput princess but she was Harka Bai, daughter of the Kachwaha ruler of Amber, Raja Bharmal. “The erroneous tradition that Akbar was married to Jodha Bai can be traced back at least to the 18th century. That is when we find the first written reference to it,” he says.

Shah Nadeem, who teaches history at Zakir Husain College in Delhi University, also points out that one of the palaces at Fatehpur Sikri, the city built by Akbar near Agra, is called Jodha Mahal, and is one reason why Jodha Bai is popularly believed to have been Akbar's queen. But why should getting Akbar's Rajput wife's name wrong touch a raw nerve? Is there some latent sense of communal grievance behind the protest? Singh can't see why the Rajputs should harbour any grudge against the Mughals. As he points out, the tradition of intermarriage among ruling families as a means to achieve political stability and forge new ties is an old one. Rajput princesses were married to Muslim sultans in Delhi and Gujarat during the pre-Mughal era. “The Mughals merely systematised this tradition. Akbar was the first Mughal emperor to marry a Rajput princess,” says Singh. “From the time of Shah Jahan, the practise of establishing matrimonial ties between the Mughals and the Rajputs declined. It is no coincidence that, around the same time, the Mughals had achieved a healthy degree of political stability.” And the Rajputs had no qualms about intermarriage with the Mughals. Khan feels people often forget that the medieval world was very different from ours, with different attitudes and outlook. “The Rajputs wouldn't have seen the Mughals as 'outsiders', for the idea of India as a nation didn't exist at the time,” he says. “In matters related to marriage, caste pride played a bigger role. The Rajputs, for instance, would never have married into communities they felt were lower in the caste hierarchy.” Whether it is a film based on the life of Mangal Pandey, or one on Bhagat Singh, or one that depicts the plight of widows a hundred years ago (Deepa Mehta's Water) - in India, films based on historical themes inevitably become controversial.

This also holds true for books on historical figures like Shivaji, Nehru or Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. Questions about Shivaji's parentage incense some; others object to a close examination of Nehru's relationship with Edwina Mountbatten or of Netaji's links with Hitler. Perhaps the phenomenon is an indicator of the fact that India is “a land of million mutinies” where castes, community and regional groupings feel the need to assert their identity for a number of reasons. And history is the key to identity.

“In England, there is the historical [Queen] Elizabeth [the First] and there is the popular Elizabeth. There is a consensus about her there,” says Mahmood Farooqui. “But there is no consensus here. If you make a film on Ambedkar or on Bhagat Singh supporters of Gandhi are likely to object. And it can go the other way round.” Singh points out that in India, group identities play a larger role in the individual's psyche as compared to the West. “Mughal court historians referred to Jats as plunderers and even today the Jat community resents that,” he says. “They were actually farmers - peasant proprietors and zamindars - who resisted Mughal power.” Farooqui feels that an artist must be mindful of these realities. His current dastan (story) is set during the Partition and features a street poem from a time that is very critical of Nehru. “There is no such thing as absolute freedom of speech,” he says. “You can go to certain extent but not beyond that.” What bothers most historians is the cavalier fashion in which films and television in India treat history. They appreciate that a film is meant to entertain and not serve as a history lesson.


But there are ways of going about it. “The television serial Prithviraj Chauhan, which is being aired currently is one hundred percent fiction,” says an indignant Singh. Shah can cite any number of instances where “Bollywood's fetish for love affairs” means that facts mean nothing. He points out that contrary to what the film Razia Sultana depicts, the real Razia - the only woman ruler of the Delhi Sultanate - did not fall in love with the Abyssinian noble Yaqut. He also cites the SRKstarrer Asoka as a poorly researched film littered with factual inaccuracies. “In case you don't already know, Ashoka didn't attack Kalinga because he was in love with a girl,” he says. There is a reason why he feels strongly about this. “Some accuracy and a basic adherence to facts are necessary because films and TV have a hold on the popular imagination and shape perceptions,” he says.

There are examples which filmmakers can learn from. “A good historical film is Satyajit Ray's adaptation of Premchand's novella Shatranj Ke Khiladi,” says Shah. “The tale of two chess-playing noblemen during the last days of Awadh is completely fictional. But the setting is authentic and historically accurate. The film gave a true picture of Awadh during the tumult of 1856 and its last Nawab, Wajid Ali Shah.” The mix of history, folklore and outright fantasy can make for good entertainment but a more discerning viewership, as well as one that is quick to take offence, will ensure that film directors think twice before they decide to set their next love story in the 16th century.

Courtesy: Indiafm.com