Director Mani Ratnam is like my brother:A.R Rahman

It started little late but the launch of AR Rahman’s book in a Juhu hotel was worth the wait. Rahman’s mother Kareema, wife Saira, sister Raihanah and bro-in-law flew down for the occasion - release of a biography by Nasreen Munni Kabir and published by Om Publishing House.

Others who came to wish the two time Oscar winner were Rahman’s mentor Mani Ratnam, showman Subhash Ghai, Ram Gopal Varma, Ashutosh Gowarikar, Imtiaz Ali, Govind Nihalani, Shyam Benegal, Javed Akhtar and Shivamani to name a few.

Mani Ratnam opened the lovely evening recalling his association with a `shy young’ child called Rahman who invited him to his so-called studio - a small shed with a swing outside it.

"The music he made me hear that day is as good as his music is today.

I am his big fan, but I am a greater admirer of him as a humble human being", declared Mani Sir. We briefly chatted up with Rahman post the event. In place of the shy and reserved music maestro is a suave and confident person who’s beaming with positivity.

AR Rahman is in the race to win his second Golden Globe

Oscar winning Indian musician AR Rahman is in the race to win his second Golden Globe after being nominated in the Best Original Score category for his music in the Danny Boyle directed film ‘127 Hours’ today.
The 44-year-old singer-composer had won his first Golden Globe in 2009 in the same category for ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, the Mumbai based potboiler which was again directed by British filmmaker Boyle.
Rahman’s music in the film, starring James Franco as real-life mountain climber Aron Ralston, who cut off his arm to escape from beneath a boulder after being trapped for more than five days, had received good reviews for it’s “haunting tracks” and “wonderful crescendos.” The soundtrack includes ‘If I Rise’, a collaboration between Rahman and American popstar Dido.
The nominations to the coveted award were announced here today and Rahman’s competition includes Alexandre Desplat who was nominated for ‘The King’s Speech’, Danny Elfman who was nominated for ‘Alice in Wonderland’, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross who were jointly nominated for ‘The Social Network’ and Hans Zimmer who won a nod for his score in ‘Inception’.
The musician, known as the ‘Mozart of Madras’ had won two Oscars for his score in ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ at the 2009 Oscars, taking the film’s total haul to eight.

His song ‘Na Na’ from his Hollywood debut venture ‘Couple’s Retreat’, was longlisted in the ‘Best Original Song’ category at the 2010 Oscars but failed to win a nomination.

Rahman, who was honoured with a Padma Bhushan this year, had enjoyed a golden run at the 52nd Grammy Awards, where he had again bagged two gramophones for his music in the ‘Slumdog Millionaire’.

AR Rahman rocked in South Africa

AR Rahman rocked South Africa with his mesmerising tunes on November 20 at the Sun City Superbowl.

The music maestro’s performance was part of the 150th anniversary celebration of Indian presence in the country. Rahman was performing in SA for the first time and he was given a great welcome by the people.

It is also reported that Rahman would be performing at the 17th Annual Nobel Peace Prize Concert on December 11 in Oslo, Norway. This would be another feather in the cap of the musical genius. He would be joined on the stage by tgreat musicians such as Barry Manilow, Jamiroquai, India.Arie, Florence + The Machine, Herbie Hancock, Robyn, Elvis Costello and Colbie Caillat.

Rahman had won Oscars and Grammy for his score in Danny Boyle’s ’Slumdog Millionaire’. Now, his score for Boyle’s ’127 Hours’ is the talk of the music world.

Rahman is back again in Chennai

Music composer A.R. Rahman’s international career which has taken off in a biggish way after "Slumdog Millionaire" keeps encountering snags, thanks to long-pending assignments back home.

According to sources, Rahman has to keep interrupting his international plans to be home for various pending assignments. The harried composer is now seriously thinking of putting all home-made assignments on hold to concentrate on building his career abroad, or else he feels he would lose the international advantage he obtained after "Slumdog Millionaire".

Says a friend of Rahman: "The Indian assignments after ’Slumdog Millioniare’ have been very time-consuming, especially ’Raavan’ where Rahman not only had to do two versions of the music in Hindi and Tamil, but director Mani Ratnam also asked him to give three to four tunes for every lyric before one was selected. The music of ’Raavan’ took more time than Rahman could afford, with the result that other Indian assignments primarily Abbas Tyrewala’s untitled John Abraham-Pakhi starrer got left behind."

At the moment Rahman is back again in Chennai for mixing the music of Abbas’ film. But the background score of the film which releases in October is still be done.

No one is admitting it, but one of the primary reasons why Tyrewala’s film got delayed is the music score which Rahman has been serving up piecemeal, for no fault of his, since the composer was committed to be out of the country for half the year for his world concerts.

Says the source: "Rahman had to continuously keep breaking his international tours and other projects to be home for various reasons, like the music release of ’Raavan’ and other things. He has begun to feel that his international career would never take off if he has to keep returning home."

Abbas Tyrewala, in Chennai with Rahman for the mixing of his film’s music, jumps to the composer’s defence. "Yes Rahman has been a little tied up and therefore unable to deliver quickly. But that’s because he has to be constantly moving back and forth between India and the US. ’Raavan’ took much longer than Rahman thought. I’m not worried about my music. It’s almost done. Whatever time Rahman takes is finally worth the while."

In the meanwhile, Rahman has not signed a single new assignment in Mumbai or Chennai in the last few months.

After completing Abbas Tyrewala’s music, Rahman will now focus on consolidating his career abroad.