A.R. Rahman is consumed with passion to bring together Western and Eastern musical forms
Danny Boyle almost botched it. The Welsh director had bottled the mad razzle of Mumbai quite brilliantly in Slumdog Millionaire. He just had to cap it well. As Jamal meets Latika at the Churchgate station in a climax that was inevitably Mumbai, everything was perfect – the release of tension, atmosphere of jubilation – except for the sound of joy. “Rahman heard the song that I had put and said ‘Don’t use this song. I have another song for you. Use it’ and I said What!!!” Boyle recalled in an interview to a Web site. Actually, it wasn’t even a song; just a danceable instrumental piece. But he agreed to listen to the song that Allah Rakha Rahman had in mind. Looking back, Jai Ho is what defines the climax. Hell, it is the climax.
Roja would define how music composers all over India change their oeuvre. That’s because Rahman revolutionised the way music was composed for Indian films primarily because he understood technology very well.
(This story appears in the 08 January, 2010 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)