Filmmaker Mani Ratnam says his music sessions with Oscar-winning composer AR Rahman finish early today and do not go on till early morning as they used to. Both industry stalwarts go back to 1992 when they worked on Ratnam’s super hit movie ‘Roja.’
Ratnam detailed what it is like to be in the studio with Rahman as he quietly works his way. When asked in a recent interview if he adjusted easily from having music sessions during the day to having them at night, the filmmaker replied, “Yeah actually. It is only now that he is nice to me and sends me early, around 10.30-11 PM.”
“Earlier we would do the sessions till 5.30 in the morning. What comes out at that time, sometimes it is so blissful. It is quiet, it’s three in the morning and he works with his headphones on, so when you are there, you can’t listen to a thing. Finally, he gets up, gives you the headphones and walks out!” said the director.
Rahman replied, “But even that (working on headphones) has stopped now. I have become bolder.” The composer said his insistence of working privately finds roots in his early days because of advertising.
“Sometimes I don’t want people to react immediately. This happened (the habit of working with headphones) because of advertising. All those young copywriters would come, and you would play just three notes and they’d go, ‘Oh that sounds like Jana Gana Mana!’ I realised working with my headphones on is the only way. So, I got used to that intimacy, like a mother’s womb. So I create something and then give to people,” Rahman stated.
Rahman and Ratnam have reunited again for 'Ponniyin Selvan: II.’ The epic historical action-adventure is an adaptation of Kalki Krishnamurthy’s 1955 novel Ponniyin Selvan. The film is scheduled to release on April 28.