AR RAHMAN SINGS MONEY
The double Oscar-winning composer has just released a song about demonetisation
The first anniversary of one of the biggest economic exercises in India — the November 8, 2016, declaration of demonetisation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi — is round the corner. AR Rahman has a song for the occasion. The Oscar-winning composer has released a 19-minute track, the Flying Lotus, about demonetisation and its impact on society. The 50-year-old insists that he isn’t criticising the move; he adds that the song is open to interpretation.
“I don’t see any politics in the move,” says Rahman. “I believe that historic moments like these need to be recorded artistically. For example, the initial motif of Beethoven’s (German composer) Fifth Symphony is credited with symbolic significance as a representation of fate knocking at the door. When the Prime Minister made the announcement, it was a big moment for India, similarly, and I felt like talking about it through my music.”
Though Rahman says that he wasn’t directly affected by demonetisation, he turned to the common man to gauge their reaction. “I thought the common man felt extremely good about the move. I like to live a very normal life; I live in a normal neighbourhood. For this song, my voice is [the common people’s] voice,” says the composer. “Sometimes, I travelled economy class to understand what people thought about it. You can’t live a comfortable life and then have an opinion about something. You have to see both sides of the world, and derive your opinion from it.”