The dream in Blessy’s eyes made me sign up for 'Aadujeevitham': AR Rahman
On Sunday, the grand audio launch of the much-hyped Blessy-Prithviraj film Aadujeevitham was held in Kochi. The survival drama, based on an incredible true story, has music by AR Rahman. Along with the team members, the event was also attended by celebs like Mohanlal, Tovino and Sathyan Anthikad. AR Rahman set the ball rolling with his speech on what Kerala means to him, invoking his father, RK Shekhar’s significant stint in Malayalam cinema as a composer. On what made him sign up for Aadujeevitham, Rahman said, “The dream in the director’s eyes.”
Benyamin, whose 2008 novel the film is based on, got on stage next to share his thoughts. When asked why he refrained from writing the screenplay, he said, “I always think it’s better not to ask someone who’s good at volleyball if they can play basketball too. Right from the film’s conception, I had decided not to write the adapted screenplay, and I’m all the more glad about that decision after watching the film.”
Speaking at the event, Najeeb, whose life the film and novel was based on, expressed his gratitude towards Benyamin and the film’s team. Lyricist Rafeeq Ahammed shared how the tunes were composed after writing the lyrics—an unconventional process in today’s times. His speech was followed up by a performance of the song, ‘Periyone’, a poignant melody crooned by Jithin and the composer. It was also revealed that the first two lines of this track were written by AR Rahman himself.
Sanaa Moussa, a Palestinian singer, performed a folk composition from the northern part of Palestine. “This lady! You know when all that stuff happened, I didn’t know if she was alive or not. When this October thing happened, I was so worried, but she is a rockstar. Look at her courage. She has not even mentioned all the stuff that has happened,” AR Rahman said, referring to the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict.
While talking about his journey with the film, Prithviraj said that it was nothing compared to the sacrifices Blessy made. Thanking AR Rahman, he added, “I wish I had the score with me when I was acting. Thank you for what you’ve done for the film. You are as big as Najeeb is in the film.” About spending around 10 years of his life for this one film alone, Blessy said, “I’m reminded of Benyamin’s adage from the book, which says that the lives we haven’t experienced are just tall stories for us. I would like to remember this journey as one such tall story.”