A.R. Rahman: Bollywood movie soundtracks are like motherless child

AR Rahman

Oscar-winning Indian music director A.R. Rahman, who is coming up with Amazon Prime Video's new show "Harmony With A.R. Rahman" -- which celebrates the musical diversity of the country -- says the current trend of having multiple composers in one film dilutes the impact of music in a Bollywood film.

Asked about his opinion on the current Bollywood music scene, the "Roja" fame composer told the media here: "There are some very good music composers working very well but the upper zone of film music has gone to a strange zone. I think Bollywood movie soundtracks are like a motherless child where several music composers are coming on board for one film and composing each song of the film."

"What they are concerned is if his/her song is there or not. They are not bothered about the whole story and how all the songs are working in that," he added.

Elucidating on this, Rahman said: "There is no internal commitment towards the whole film or the story, where one artiste is coming on board with his dream, investing his soul and pledging to execute his art through the storytelling. That is missing, I guess. When we look at the overall impact of the music of the film, one would say, 'Oh that's not my song, I just composed one song in the film and that is doing well'. You know what I mean?""

While the 'Mozart of Madras' -- as he is lovingly called -- is constantly striving to find the meaning of life through music and spreading the joy of music to the new generation, Rahman says some of his young students keep him on his toes creatively.

Mentioning his music school K.M. College of Music and Technology, he said: "Apart from educating the new generation musically, now we have some new talents stepping into the world of Bollywood. We have our Shashwat Singh, Poorvi Koutish, Nikhita Gandhi. All of them worked in 'Sanju'. When I listen to them, they bring new energy to me and I feel like doing better music now.

"I think that is how I want this to continue. I want them to become a better musician, and then I want to do much better than them," he said, breaking into laughter.

His "Harmony With A.R. Rahman", which features musicians from four parts of India - Maharashtra, Kerala, Sikkim and Manipur -- is starting from August 15 on Amazon Prime Video.

It is a curated exploration of the past and future of Indian music through the eyes of Rahman. The five episodic series will see the Indian musical heritage being viewed through the prism of specially curated instruments - Rudra Veena, Mizhavu, PanthongPalith and Khuilang Eshei vocal traditions.

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