‘I WAS BORN IN A CRADLE OF CRITICISM'
Reproval doesn’t deter AR Rahman. To be confident of his work is what is most important to the maestro
One would think that for a musical maestro like AR Rahman, the level of confidence must be skyhigh. But that is not always the case. Even legends, apparently, do have apprehensions about their work. “When I am working on something, I know if it will work or not, and 90% of the times it does, so I feel good. The most important thing about making music, for me, is that I should be confident about my work. If I feel that something about my work may not click with the audience, and if it ends up working, then also I feel uncomfortable (laughs),” says the singer, who is set to be seen on the musical show, Jammin, on Sony TV for the finale episode. The show will have YouTube stars and mainstream artistes collaborating and singing some of their popular songs and also, an original will be composed on stage. This is the first time that such a format is being used on a mainstream medium. About the merging of the digital world with the mainstream mediums, Rahman says that it is great that the crossover is happening now. “Recently, Vidya Vox, I, Clinton Cerejo and Shaan were on the cover of Rolling Stones and some people said why is Vidya on the cover because there are people who don’t like Vidya’s work, but there are also people who don’t like me. But I feel she has proved herself and she is doing what she is doing, and there is nothing wrong. Anybody who has worked hard in life, and earned their name, should be respected. And I have my respect so that’s the whole idea,” says Rahman.
COMPETITION IS NECESSARY
The digital medium has become a huge part of all our lives now, and the creators on the mainstream channels somewhere feel threatened because of that. But Rahman feels that there is no reason to be afraid of competition. He says, “Competition is always good. If there is no competition, no criticism, our lives will get boring. So, India reforming inch by inch is a great thing. And it’s being done with a lot of respect and not in a way as Twitter works (laughs).”
In an industry where there is so much competition and stress, criticism is very common and people don’t refrain from calling a spade a spade here. And Rahman is not new to criticism. “I was born in a cradle of criticism. When I came in, with my first movie, they said ‘he will be finished in three months’,” he says.
CAN’T LET ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TAKE OVER ART
Apart from being one of the most prolific music composers of the industry, and winning a Grammy and an Oscar, Rahman has always tried to spearhead a change in the music industry in terms of the infrastructure available. He has been very vocal about the need for art centres in our country. So, ask him though not a tangible one, is an art centre in the digital format possible? And he says that he would still want more “physical” art centres around. “I feel like the live format has something to it. There is some kind of a spiritual connection when you sit in front of a person and they sing or when you look at a person. We are humans and if that human connection goes away, it’s not good. Even for our kids, they should have an opportunity to see real things. We don’t want AI (artificial intelligence) Bharatanatyam dancers, or AI actors in the future. AI is taking over but it should be countered with beautiful things. I feel our country is so blessed that we should expand the necessity of art so that our population can get more diverse. It must not only constitute of just IT professionals, doctors or lawyers, because many jobs in the future are going to be taken over by artificial intelligence but only creative jobs will be safe. These jobs of singers, composers, artistes and symphonies should be nurtured now,” he concludes.
Competition is always good. If there is no competition, no criticism, our lives will get boring. So, India reforming inch by inch is a great thing. And it’s being done with a lot of respect.
AR RAHMAN, MUSICIAN