It’s not the instrument. It’s how it translates from an artiste. I love the voice - it’s the most perfect instrument ever heard. It’s God given.
A.R. Rahman. Filmfare, July 2001
I mostly don’t write to specifically defined cues. I just watch the film a couple of times, stop watching it, then write something that comes to my mind from the film. This way, when I try to sync the music, the results are that much more wholesome. You get something extra that you don’t get when you’re looking at specific points in the timeline. The music is much more organic this way, not jumping cue to cue.
A.R. Rahman, interviewed by Divanee, 24th Dec. 2010.
I try to make the music work independently from the movie I’m scoring, with pieces that are musically independent and make sense even without the movie.
A.R. Rahman interviewed by The National on 15 Dec. 2010
What we were trying to achieve (with the score for 127 Hours) was immense energy, not self-pity. We wanted something constantly uplifting. That’s the primary emotion. But it is very easy to pump it up and go. We thinned it out to get the right temperature. Instead of going more, the music takes a back seat. That’s unusual. Usually you go high, higher, highest. But not here.
A.R. Rahman (Interview for variety.com, 17 Nov 2010)
I like to see a film and then start scoring it in my mind, while doing something unrelated. The mind, the more active it is, the more productive it is.
Outlook India, Feb. 22, 2009
My favourite musical instrument changes from time to time. Eighteen years of composing and finally it comes to vocals because it is a God-given instrument. Of course, any instrument player who connects his soul to his instrument is great and that instrument becomes great. The instrument itself is ordinary, but the people who play it make it special.
The Journey Home Concert Interview for Darshan TV, June 2010
I respect people’s tastes. I don’t say that I’ll only do high society music, because that would be condescending of people who want something simple. You can make music that appeals even to a child or an infant.
The Journey Home Concert Interview for Darshan TV, June 2010
In India we love melodies in the background of scenes. In the west there is a sense that soundtracks should not distract, and hence there is a greater preference for ambient sounds and plain chords.
Interviewed by The Guardian, April 2010
If music wakes you up, makes you think, heals you…then, I guess the music is working.
Jai Ho Concert Tour, 2010
To make music, you must have a stable mind, and to have a stable mind, you need practice, you need a way of life.
Interview by Matthew Islam, March 2005
My music comes from somewhere deep within me. I am a within man more than without. It is the language of the heart and the soul together that makes my music.
Citation pending.
If it’s a dance number, you have to dance to it. If it’s a soft tune, you have to cry. That deepness should be there in music.
First Interview after winning the National Award for Roja (1992)
When you ask a traditional player to play a note, he plays it in a very traditional way. To break this off, I play it myself (on the keyboard) and he interprets this in a very different way. That is how each instrument is done, and when it’s mixed together, it sounds like…like what you hear (in my music).
First Interview after winning the National Award for Roja (1992)
