A R Rahman is a man of few words and says he gets bored easily, occasionally, even of his own compositions. And he’s clearly in the mood for reinvention. Rahman and Phat Phish, an entertainment company have plunged into the reality show brigade with The Big Band and will soon tour 15 cities searching for that one magical group of musicians. “Bands in our country are highly underestimated. And if there is one thing that reality shows have succeeded at it’s discovering great talent,” says Rahman. Formatted as a travelogue, the show will move to neighbouring countries including Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Nepal and is expected to go on air by December on Doordarshan. “It’s about the content not the channel,” insists Rahman. On the personal music front, Rahman has two feature releases— Subhash Ghai’s ‘Yuvvraaj’ and Danny Boyle’s ‘Slumdog Millionnaire’.
“Yuvvraaj’s music is classical and if you enjoy Beethoven, you’ll love this,” he says about the Salman Khan-Katrina Kaif starrer. And Slum Dog..? “It’s about multi-culturalism which is bridging gaps across the globe,” says Rahman.
But if there’s one project that Rahman gets animated about, it is the rap version of the English translation of ‘Thirukkural’, the classic Tamil work , which he is creating. Rapper Blaaze will be singing it. “Akon has expressed interest in singing a Punjabi song and talks are on with his manager. But one has to understand that bhangra is not the only flavour of India,” he signs off. Since it’s Rahman, point well taken.
