Chordsmaestro movie#

I could see him in another movie and becoming bigger. In case (god willing) this movie becomes a success I can see this guy grow as a star. “Initially, we had a more younger-looking almost nineteen-ish guy in mind. Bhatt had something in his eyes that spoke multitudes about his character. They went to Mukesh Chhabra, the casting director, and held around 600 auditions with the sole specification being that the main character had to be Indian. Rahman and team did not compromise on the process. The answer, according to Rahman, is Bhatt’s personality and his soul. Why would he pick nobodies when, let’s face it, he could have his pick of the best actors in India? What’s so special about the leading man, Ehan Bhatt? All the lead actors that were picked for 99 Songs are debutants. Sometimes it seems like he is in a conversation with himself, and I am just the moderator, leading with the questions. He makes numerous references and his speech is almost devoid of punctuations. He speaks as he thinks - there’s no clearly formed sentence. Rahman doesn’t make eye contact frequently and tends to stare at his hands and the table in front of him, I notice. It’s almost hypnotic, but I push myself to focus. These are expressive, conductor-like movements. So, sometimes, you’re in the right mood and it falls together correctly and sometimes you feel there’s some colouration,” he says, gesticulating with his hands. After a while, when you’re a professional, you surpass all the technicalities and it’s just a feeling, and how purely it can be translated into action, that is, your keys and melody. The more you keep narrating it, telling the story over and over to yourself, the better are the chances of being able to churn out ideas.” he says, adding that storytelling is a natural process, and just how the right people enrich a melody after it is put to paper, similarly, the right director enriches an idea while preparing it for screen. I’ve always been intrigued as to whether he first visualises the music and presents it to the filmmakers? “When you create music, do you also see visuals?” I ask. It is the same with the Oscar winner of namma Chennai. It doesn’t take an Anupama Chopra or a Rajeev Masand to know that it is a Sanjay Leela Bhansali film even before the credits flash on the screen.

I’m no music expert but this, I believe, is a uniquely Rahman phenomenon. You can see the drops of rain hit the scorched earth in slow motion and see the smell of hus while relieved villagers dance all around you. You can see the train slowing down as it approaches a station, you can see the plumes of smoke it emits. The thing with a Rahman song is that you can see it the minute you hear it. These stories made me wonder if there’s a possible narrative that can be strung together from all of these experiences? So, what you see in the film are stories which is my perspective of the world around me and what I’ve gone through,” he says. “I started thinking about what the world is going through right now, I see stories, around me, of redemption and self-discovery. “I’m a big fan of visuals,” he tells me, and goes on to narrate how he started thinking about using the power of music and storytelling and transcending the roadblocks that people (read: producers) put on musicians (“We need an item song, we need this song and that song”). What set him on the path to creating something visual? As an artist, Rahman’s creativity has always found manifestation in music. He’s turned producer and writer with his debut film, 99 Songs, that is set to release this year, and stars newcomers Ehan Bhat, Edilsy Varghese and Tenzin Dalha. I almost start out by saying “You’ve got big dick energy”, but restrain myself to gushing over how honoured I am to meet him. Rahman’s won six National Awards, two Academy Awards, two Grammy Awards, a BAFTA and a Golden Globe, and - here, I take a breath - he’s also a Padma Bhushan awardee. I start counting the number of awards he’s won on my fingertips in a bid to kickstart my brain. I am told that there are only three other journalists who’ve been invited to interview Rahman and none of them are in their twenties. To a young journalist like me, this is a big deal. But does that really matter? Does anything really matter when you are AR Rahman? This is the first time I’m meeting an Academy Award winner and when he walks into the room, I notice that he’s not very tall. I notice how they complement his blue kurta-shirt that he is wearing when we meet. His eyes are dark and deep, almost like tunnels that suck you in. It’s like the Medusa effect, except that instead of turning into stone, you go into deep introspection and start questioning what you have done with your life till now. You cannot stare directly into AR Rahman’s eyes.

Chordsmaestro