Mani & Rahman Combo Rocks Again!

Hi Friends!

Talking about our ace Director's latest film GURU....Prem, there is a small correction here...Actually it's not Bipasha Basu did the item number in the film but Mallika Sherawat for the song Mayya Mayya.

Let's talk about GURU's tracks which is already release in market and now in first ranking.Rahman willing to do anything for his mentor Mani Ratnam b'cos for him No Mani No Rahman. Let's read what this two GURU's says about GURU the film.

A.R.RAHMAN

On Bappi Lahiri singing the song Ek Lo Ek Muft in Guru

The tune for this song had been ready more than three months ago and I wanted Abhishek Bachchan to sing it. But he was abroad and by the time he would return to India, I was going abroad. So there was a dilemma. I felt it was a special song and wanted it to sound fresh.

Just then, I happened to watch some award function on television, and there was Bappida singing a song and getting a lot of applause. I contacted him in Kolkata the next day, and he was in Chennai in a day or two.

It is amazing that he could record the entire song, which is quite wordy and long, in less than two hours and then he went back to Kolkata. The song has been picturised very well on Abhishek and Aishwarya Rai. It is going to be even more popular after the film's release.

On singers Chinmayee, Shreya Ghoshal and Madhushree

Chinmayee sang a beautiful song for me in another Mani Ratnam film, Kannathil Muthamittal, called Deiva Tande Poove. It became very popular. She has won many awards in Tamil Nadu including state awards. I was surprised to see how she could change her voice for this film (She joins Rahman in Tere Bina, one of the most haunting numbers in Guru). There is more strength in her voice than I had thought and it is huskier too. I love singers who are capable of surprising the composers.

When I first heard Shreya a few years ago, I liked her voice but I thought it was a bit shrill. Now, it is full bodied. Apart from singing Barso Re in Guru, she has also sung other numbers for me, like in the Tamil film Jillunu Oru Kathal. The music became very popular and the film did well in cities.

As for Madhushree, she is growing in strength from film to film. She is one of those few singers who are capable of taking a good composition to the next level and make a big difference.

On the Mayya Mayya number

I was on hajj and I heard a man saying mayya, mayya, mayya. I heard music at once. Later, I realised he was selling water and saying the word in Arabic. So I told myself that one day I would record a song mixing Arabic, Turkish and Indian music. That is how the song was born.

The singer Maryem Toller lives in Toronto and sings in a band. I think she is from Yemen. I was working there last year on the stage musical The Lord of the Rings, and got her to record her part of the song there. I added music to it in Chennai.

Maryem's voice is also heard at the start of Rang De Basanti.

On Aye Hairathe

I was listening to the music of Amir Khusroo and his song Yeh Sharbati Ashiqui. I loved it. But most of the song was in Persian and that was going to cause us a problem. So Gulzar saab wrote the lyrics inspired by Amir Khusroo. I would say it is one of the best songs that have come out with my association with Gulzar.

On making Hariharan sing in Aye Hairathe

It was very important that he sang the song. It is the kind of song Mohammad Rafi would have sung four or five decades ago. It is a traditional kind of melody with lots of feelings but Hariharan makes it sound modern. He has done an astounding job. The song has a lot of masti in it. You feel it especially when Alka (Yagnik) joins in. It is a romantic and fun song. It is the most popular song in the album after Tere Bina.

I am surprised universally people are going to listen to Tere Bina after listening to all songs in the album. Such a thing (like most people returning to one song) does not happen often.



MANI RATNAM

We have often lent an ear to the Mani Ratnam – A R Rahman magic. Is it magic? If not, how does it work?


Ah, I think, both of us are willing to experiment, both of us are not scared to fall down, and so we tried to do something which the story demands. It should be different from what we had done before. It sounds very different from the previous films that we have done. And Rahman is somebody who is willing to do that, who is willing to think laterally, who does not have to be in the same grain as the film. The idea of his composition can go away from it, it can be a counter point and he is very good at developing such concepts. So I think its just that we both know that we can take drastic steps, you know, think against this one, and may be get something different. The fact that you want something different is what makes you get something different.


Composing music is almost like reliving the script of the movie. How did it happen for Guru?

Guru spans over 30 years, you know, somewhere starts around the 50's and goes up to the 80's. So the music also can very easily flow from the same concept. But we didn't want it to be just that. We wanted it to evoke the 50's or evoke the 60's at that correct time, but not be a replica of a 60's song. I mean it is an interpretation of the 50's as it is done today. So there will be a certain amount of modernity in it. But still, somewhere, it will have the ambience of the music of the 50's and the 60's. The only concept that we picked was that it should not be an exact replica of that 50's period. It should evoke and not recreate.


You must have had to strike a delicate balance between the script and the music.

A – Ya, ya. It is a balance that you strike. I think its not just about capturing the period. I mean, anyone can capture the period. What is critical is to capture the period within the confines of the script, within what would help your script to breathe. So you take both of them into consideration and then try to get what is best out of it. Like the script moves, the music also changes from the 50's to the 60's to the 70's.

How do you and Rahman work the magic? Is there a pattern... or is it spontaneous?

I think I go on drastic route, I go yo yo this way and then ask him for a countering point of view. He is used to this, so I think we just hit off well together. We can think in one way for a moment when we are thinking on a particular picture and then we can drastically change around and look at it in a totally different fashion. Sometimes you take a song which is composed for a lullaby and then go ahead and convert it into a dance number. Those are kind of things Rahman can do very very well. So that is what he tried to do with Guru. He tried to push in a tangent and see whether we can get something fresh.


What is the repertoire of Guru? Please give us a glimpse.


There are five songs. And then there are a few smaller songs, which would form the background score.


What does the song to do your story telling? How do you look at it?


The way I look at songs is that it should be something that you are not trying to hide. You are not trying to be shy of the songs. It is a kind of celebration; it is a liberty that a filmmaker gets in a film. A film is more or less logically driven, and this is an abstraction which helps you to take that parabola, and gives you a kind of freedom to be away from being conventional, being logical and dramatic. Each of the songs in Guru has given me that kind of a freedom. The song that is set in Istanbul brings an ambiance which has the intrinsic feel of Turkey. It has a middle-eastern sound to it, it has a flavour to it, it has a belly dance to it and a kind of youthful joy to it at that point of time. The way Rajiv Menon has lit the place and the way it is choreographed, the architecture, everything, gives you the buzz of the early 50's in an exotic land. So that is what and from there we come to rural India, where it is earthy, where it is raining and where it is green and lush. And this fresh and earthy rural India gives you a chance to establish your female lead into the film. Each song helps you progress the story in a fashion which helps the overall screenplay.


Tell us something more about the Turkey song.


The Turkey song is called 'Mayya Mayya' and Mallika Sherawat dances to the song. The singer of the song was recorded in Canada. We shot it in Turkey, in Istanbul. It is really a fantastic place, huge architecture, and that gave us the setting for the entire thing and we enjoyed it immensely.


Nanarae seems to more than a protagonist singing in the rain. What was the concept behind it?

Nanarae signifies the transition to India. The song is set when we move from Turkey to India. It is raining in India, it is monsoon time, and there is a girl who has matured, has grown independent. It's a time where India just has gained its Independence and this girl who is educated, smart, thinks she should be as liberated as her country is and has a mind of her own. Nanarae sets the character of the girl, her decision, her step in life and it is a transition point for her, she now faces life. So it uses the song as a platform to define Sujatha's character in the film.

You are haunted by the Tere Bina melody. A love song, a ballad - what is it?


Tere Bina is the love song of the lead protagonists and it is a theme that we have used from the time they meet. It's a love theme which then develops into a full-fledged love song and it is about the joy of two people who had forcefully gotten into marriage under circumstances and then slowly, develop a rapport and then fall in love. It is that phase of the late 50's. It's the kind of music that evokes a certain kind of period, certain kind of kavalika and adds flair to it. It is something fresh, something new and it brings their relationship to a peak.


And what about the Guru theme song?


The other one is Jagae, which is a theme right through the movie. It's a lullaby. It comes through as an instrumental version, as a musical version and as a song towards later 80s. It kind of defines Guru in his growth and his path through the film so that it becomes the soul of the film. It is the central element on which the entire music is built and I think it is a composition which is from the heart. It has got an open quality to it. It forms the soul of the film.


And the novel 'ek lo ek muft'?


The other one is actually Gulzaar Saab's song I should say. It is called "Yammo Yammo". It is featured when twin baby girls are born to Guru. The song goes as EK NAHI DHO, EK LO EK MUFT. The concept of the song and the setting is in Badami, it is a really wonderful place. The backdrop for the song is huge rock cutting structures that are just on the outskirts of Badami. The song is set in celebration, there is Bhaang flowing, and Guru has just grown in his life and has reached a stage where he's become slightly larger in life. It is a kind of celebration of all this that fits into the film.


How does Rahman react to new experiments?


Rahman never stops value adding. Sometimes I wonder whether he will add even after the film is released. He keeps polishing. I think I can identify with that, because that is exactly how you do it as a filmmaker also. You will never finish and never will you say that it is finished because it is never finished. You keep trying to get it a little better all the time. Rahman too is like that. He gets it fine-tuned all the time. Sometimes I would shoot with a bare track, and he sees the output and adds on more and blends it into the film. It is a two-way thing, that as long as you understand what he can do and he understands what you are giving him - it works very well.


And what was it like with the poet himself, Gulzar saab?


Gulzar Saab and I are working together after 'Dil Se'. He is a fantastic person to work with. He is a great asset because he is also a film-maker, a writer and a lyricist. When the brief to him is that the lyrics should not be literal to the situation because the situation is already telling the story and the lyrics should add a layer which is lateral and not be something which repeats itself, Gulzar Saab is the man. If I want to shoot in a slightly different fashion which has an additional layer to it and if I need lyrics which are more poetic than literal, he loves it. I think we get along very well in that sense. Also it is a huge advantage for him that I don't know Hindi very well, so I can only tell I want these kinds of words. I think he is relieved that nobody is watching him, putting his nose into each and every word of his. It's really very good to work with him. He is very enthusiastic and very anxious about every song that he writes. He is there all the time, he understands you and tries to get the flavour of the thing. He never gives up and never tries to please me or Rahman by just saying okay. He wants it to be very good – so it turns out to be fantastic.



What is the one quality of A. R. Rahman that you admire the most?


I think, the thing about Rahman is that, he is exactly the same. There is no difference between the Rahman of 'Roja' and the Rahman of 'Guru'. Yes, he has tremendously grown, but he has always had that simplicity about him. For me and Rahman, it is as difficult or as easy as it was then. We still go through the same kind of searching and trying to find how to get the music right for the film. We try and work the story along with the music. We try and get to something that works for the film. For me and Rahman, therefore, nothing has changed.


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