Mumbai: A R Rahman signs onto the record label that has Sting, M.I.A., 50 Cent, Gwen Stefani and the Black Eyed Peas amongst others on its roster
At about 2.30 am, A R Rahman walks on to Floor No 1 at Filmistan Studios. His all-white look for the music video that he's shooting is in place. In a couple of weeks from now, the video for Vellai pookal, his National Award-winning track from the film Kannathil Muthamittal will be a part of a webcast that will include videos by artistes such as U2, Peter Gabriel and Shakira amongst others for a project called Moving Earth and Stars For Water to campaign for water conservation on a global platform.
The shoot will carry on into the next morning. Rahman fights sleep, yawns a lot and rubs his eyes open when there's a pause in the shoot, but bobs on his feet, and comes awake when the camera rolls. This is the second all nighter for Rahman in a row.
"The first night I'm ok, I just fall ill if it's two days in a row. My immunity drops," we overhear Rahman telling Deepak Gattani, who's making the video for One Drop, the Canada-based foundation that kicked off Moving Earth and Stars for Water.
Guy Laliberte, the founder of One Drop has in fact taken on a space mission and was at the time of the interview gearing up to travel into space to spread the message of saving water.
We pin Rahman down between shots and find him cautious as always, surprising you with an informal tone suddenly, but lacking in his usual humour and spirit as sleep nagged away at some part of his head. Excerpts from an exclusive interview to Sunday
MiD DAY:
What's your take on this space mission?
I used to be fascinated with thoughts about space and galaxies as a teenager. I think definitely all my early music was influenced by these thoughts. I was also more interested in space because I worked a lot on synthesizers and it was easy to produce these sounds on the synthesizers.
Which other music personality in your opinion has been able to make a global impact by supporting a cause?
I like Bob Marley a lot. I was watching a documentary and was astounded to see how he got two rival politicians together. I think Michael Jackson did a lot too.
What's the cause that you feel most strongly about?
Education. Education in turn wipes out poverty. Even if one person in the family is educated or knows an art, a lot of things can change. So in a subtle way KM Conservatory is a way to facilate that.
What's new at KM Conservatory?
Oh, a whole lot. There are new courses, new teachers and some subsidised/free courses in string instruments for deserving candidates who may not be able to fund themselves or who are underprivileged.
When did you know you could affect change?
I think that happened even before I became a film composer. Even with Roja when I composed Thamizha thamizha and that worked out very well in the film.
Then I realised that you could sent out a message in an interesting way and not bore people out at the same time. Of course, after the success of Roja a lot of things followed Vande mataram, Pray for me brother that helped me realise this better.
There must be many other projects post the Oscars.
Too many things coming in. Lots of it is good but I have to pick them carefully.
More international collaborations? You have met a whole lot of people in LA
I met so many people Mick Jagger, Gwen Stefani, Usher, Akonâ¦I signed onto Interscope Records but there are no new developments. It's like work in progress.
Have you ever thought about an anthem that included all these big international musicians?
It's something that always keeps popping up. But there's nothing concrete as yet.
So what do you talk about when you meet say Mick Jagger or Gwen Stefani?
We always say, 'Hey we should work together,' but that's all. There is no other new collaboration as of now. All sorts of stories spread there's talk of Vince Vaughn and me collaborating! He's not even a singer.
Tell us about your score for your first Hollywood film Couples Retreat. You've also sung a track in it called Kuru kuru kan in Tamil
It's a romantic comedy set on an island. It's an island where a lot of cultures coexist, which is why there's scope for even a Tamil track. It's also why the soundtrack has a range of sounds.
Are Raavan and Endhiran your only other big projects this year?
Yes. There's also Blue. I'll be travelling quite a bit for my shows as well so there isn't too much time for more projects.
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