CHENNAI: When film producer, director and screenwriter Bharat Bala sat down in an attempt to decode the man behind timeless melodies and his long-time friend, A R Rahman, on Friday, he might not have foreseen that the interview would reveal just as much about Bala himself.
From details such as how the last bottle of champagne Rahman ever drank was popped open in Bala’s office and how he would never let him sleep ‘in peace’, constantly driving him to do better, Rahman opened up about aspects of his personality behind the screens amidst friendly banter, in ‘The Soul of Music’, an event organised by the Chennai International Centre in the Madras School of Economics.
Amidst the opening of his concert movie ‘One Heart’ to rave reviews, Rahman said, “Coming from a musical family, I have seen that there’s a lot of stigma attached to this profession. I wanted to give back, to say that there could be a sense of security to this profession.”
In response to a question on his early days as a composer and the journey to a filmmaker, he said that it wasn’t always a bed of roses. “It was all locked at one point- in the studio, in my mind. I even had suicidal thoughts then. So, when the doors opened, I wanted to enter every one of them,” he said. He added that writing a story was not as difficult when he realised it was much like writing a song. “I want to make a movie on Carnatic music that people can watch without wanting to walk away, as is usually the case,” he said.
Talking about how the superhit Vande Mataram came to be, Rahman said that it was a result of his ‘three-year syndrome’ wherein he craves to do something new every three years (except in family life, he clarifies to roaring laughter from the audience) “It was at 2 am on the auspicious 27th day of Ramadan and he (Bharat) was recording the song. When I came out after singing, he was in tears,” he said.
Answering actor Suhasini’s question how he managed to remain sane despite being at the top, he said, “Music is a penance. If anything is impure, it affects the heart and soul. It also involves a lot of sacrifices which are worth all the love that I get.”