99 Songs movie review | A. R. Rahman’s exclusive interview with Yashraj Mukhate

Yashraj Mukhate, a famous indian youtuber took A. R. Rahman’s interview for the Rahman’s first production film “99 Songs”. 99 Songs is a 2021 Indian musical romance film directed by Vishwesh Krishnamoorthy, and co-written and produced by A. R. Rahman (in his maiden production banner YM Movies), who thus makes his debut in both roles, apart from composing the original score and songs.

I listen to you ( Yashraj Mukhate). Because sometimes we need fun and and you are giving that fun.

Maestro A.R Rahman said to Yashraj

A. R. Rahman got this story in his mind while travelling in a flight. 99 Songs movie got released on 16th April 2021 in India. This movie has received a great positive response from the audience and critics both. Find below the interview in details :

Key Highlights

List of things that you will come to know about Maestro A.R Rahman. Read the complete interview below.

1. What turned A.R. Rahman into a story writer ?

2. Did A.R. Rahman think of directing it himself ?

3. What is that one piece of music that changed A.R. Rahman’s life?

4. How does A.R. Rahman maintain objectivity until the final product is ready?

5. How did A.R. Rahman come up with his craft for writing?

6. Why was learning piano a prerequisite for Ehan?

7. A.R. Rahman has an edge with new instruments. So, is he fascinated by technology?

8. Who are the artists A.R. Rahman listens to?

9. How is the experience of film promotions? How A.R. Rahman is handling it?

10. What does A.R. Rahman think about the direction of upcoming talent in music industry?

Complete Interview : Maestro A.R.Rahman with Yashraj Mukhate

Conversation begins ……….

Yashraj Mukhate : Hello Sir ! Good Morning. It has been my life long dream to be here in front of you. And i can’t express what i am feeling right now but thank you for giving your time.

A.R. Rahman : Hey ! My pleasure man. You are making a lot of people happy and they are all smiling. And i think it is very good thing to do.

Yashraj Mukhate : Thank you so much sir. We have seen your journey from making music to film making it is very fascinating . And i would like to know what inspired you to turn into an actual story writer. Because you have been telling stories through your music for decades now and what made you turn into an actual story writer?

A.R. Rahman : I think combination of many things. In 2001, when i went to London, i met Andrew Llyod Webber. Thanks to Shekhar Kapur who introduced me. Then he said “AR do you have any story?”. I said “Why is he asking, he is a composer, i am a composer..why should i write stories? “. And then i realised that he is also part of story telling, theatre and all that stuffs. And we had shared an apartment with Shekhar Kapur and he used to come up with stories sitting on a chair. I asked to Shekhar Kapur “When did you think about this ?”. He said “Just now”. (laughing) I felt wow.

So when you mix with great people, you also tends to. And then Dave Steward is another example he comes with ideas. So this happened and i kept travelling. When you travel, you meet people. You see different culture, different lives and then you realise stories are very important. And perspectives are very important. And stories through your eyes, through your perceptions is also very important. Because if we don’t have different narratives, then only single narrative will be there. Because you know you take a camera man. A normal person can shoot something but a camera man’s perspective is different. Same storyteller perspective is different. And that led me to write story.

I was going in a flight. 2010 was a very heavy year. My daughter’s open heart surgery happened, Grammy’s happened, Commonwealth game happened and then this tour accident happened. It was pretty devastating year good and bad. So i finished the tour as promised. Went back to U.S and performed.So i was coming in the flight and felt that kind of lightness. And i was thinking “Now i should write a story”.

And the story is about how does one guy has to write 100 songs to win a girl like a fairy tale. I has to learn so many things. Because it’s never advisable to go on to something you don’t know. And if something wrong happens, then you are left in the road. So i wanted to learn everything. Something goes wrong. how do you fix it? Storytelling and colour correction and camera and lenses, i bought camera, lenses and i built a big studio. So this is just probably the foundation for film making, not just for 99 Songs.

Yashraj Mukhate : Then you didn’t think of directing it yourself ?

A.R. Rahman : That is where the catch is. If i have to direct, i need to give 2 years of my life time. That means i have to leave all the music. If i leave music, i think first of all i will be devastated(laughing). Not leave music, i felt like get a director, dump all the stuffs on his head and be light. So boss over him, bully him(laughing) . He is a very sweet guy Vishwesh. We have nice rapport(Smiling).

Yashraj Mukhate : So the film’s story revolves around that there is one song and then music can change everything. And last year during the lockdown exactly same thing happened with me. One of my videos got viral. That one video changed everything for me. What is that one music piece, video or film that changed everything for you?

A.R. Rahman : Roja.. and then its get better and better and better. I think for you it’s not just that one song. It’s your whole being, your whole intension. Your’s emotion, soul everything comes out at a particular time. Because you are destined. Nobody can take it away from you. If this had not come, something else would have come. So you never feel like “Oh! it’s gone”. What’s meant for you will come. I have seen that happen. Because inherently that whole…is like oil under the ground.

Yashraj Mukhate : All this while…Because film making is a very long process and there are multiple people involved, it’s not just you. How do you maintain that objectivity till it gets to it’s final product?

A.R. Rahman : Yeah i thinks. Ultimately no in my life i always look at the end result. Where it is going to be shown? Who’s gonna hear it? Who’s gonna watch it? And i will try to become that person. So i will do a song and sit in the car thinking i am not the composer will i like it? I am not the producer, i am not the writer will i like it? So what does it take ? Because people have these choices, why should they choose to watch my films? Then i go like we don’t have this kind of a scene. But also not spoil the integrity and purity of the movie or the song. Its very simple to check what i have.

I tell my engineers also, when you do all the stuffs play another songs and play this song and compare where this is ? So it’s very very easy you know you don’t have to put the thousand plugins and do all the stuffs. Finally it’s yes or no.

Yashraj Mukhate : That’s why your all songs also sound different from what is going in the market.

A.R. Rahman : That i don’t know. That is may be because of my taste.

Yashraj Mukhate : So there’s is one part is conveying emotions that is the art part of it. The other part of the craft writing. So, writing a story requires one should have knowledge about the characters. There are sub characters. There is climax. There is everything. How do you come up with that?

A.R. Rahman : In my composition, where i look at my song always have a. Like once Mani Ratnam Ji told me like “You know AR…story writing is nothing but like how you create a song”. You have a melody, you have a surprise and you have BGM. Then you have antra and finally the end. Wholesome there is an experience, an emotional experience and it leaves you an impact. So in my opinion of song writing, i mean story should have these pillars. If something also sags here. This other pillar will come and save it. So these points are there.

And then through that go deep and have something which is bigger than the movie which has to say not preachy, not moralistic. But also at the same time we all have this sense of humanity . We all react to human things act of kindness, act of love. You know when something happens, something disaster happens and also surprises. Also karmic thing which happens like you do this, this happens. Not in a formulaic way but that’s the truth we all see that.

If someone does lot of bad you see that. You are doing this stuff and this happened to you. So it’s a combination of many layers. It’s not just can’t say it is a love story, it’s not just a musical story . It’s philosophical in a way but it’s also edgy. It’s young and i am very proud of the cast.

Yashraj Mukhate : Talking of the cast, we got to know that Ehan has to learn the piano from KM Conservatory. Was it a prerequisite for this role?

A.R. Rahman : Yes because you have seen great actors in the past in hindi films where they do guitar poses. But they were charming, people accepted that. But you know younger people now learn guitars, they’ve learned pianos. You can’t just do that stuff. Because being a musician if i cast somebody and they just mime, it’s not a good idea. You know even if some of the stuff is miming but he knows all the keys he has learnt for one year. We sent him Hollywood for four weeks for workshop, all that happened.

Yashraj Mukhate : So we saw the trailer, looks amazing. And right from the first logo, YM movies logo came in , we see that you have this fascination for technology right from your first album also. Whenever a new sound comes in you try to integrate it in your music. And we see the most newest instruments in your live show also which we haven’t seen anywhere else. So have you always been fascinating by technology?

A.R. Rahman : It’s not about technology. It’s about doing things which emulates more organic things. Like if you take a keyboard, it can play you know definite pitches. But he’s doing so much of gamakas and harkats. I was not able to do it on the keyboard, i was very frustrated. Then the Continuum came. I said yes Srinivas i got the Continuum. So even i told him like you know that it was very basic version. Now it got a much better version. So the Continuum came again. It’s an instrument where you can’t suddenly play the Violin. Violin takes like 15 years to get in tune. So, Continuum is like 3-4 Violin together. Because you can play with two hands and the pitch is completely fluid. So, your mind has to be if i play for one hour, i can play something decent on the Continuum.

Yashraj Mukhate : So when we are sad or we are feeling low or when we are feeling happy or feel energetic, we hear to your music. And we feel this spiritual connect with you and your music. I have heard people saying that when they hear Kun Faya Kun they know that there is help around. That gives them hope and that happened with me also. I also have very spiritual connect with you. What do you listen to? What are the artists you listen to?

A.R. Rahman : I listen to you ( both laughing ). Yashraj replied “I am going to frame this forever, the little clip i am going to put everywhere”. Because i think sometimes we need fun and you are giving that fun. And of course i have this app where i get classical FM where i listen to symphonies. And when i am down i listen to Nusrat Saab . Then i listen to Kumar Gandharva . Sometimes, i don’t listen to anything. Sometimes silence is better, just meditate , get everything out of your head and feel peaceful. Because so much of noise. Noise means not literal noise but noise of information or noise of everything.

Yashraj Mukhate : So what we know from your other interviews also, you are a very private person. And now you are promoting a film. And all that requires is going out and telling people and being in the limelight. How is the experience and how are you handling it ? And what is the favourite experience in the film making process? And what is that part which you don’t like?

A.R. Rahman : Film making is cathartic you know because you write something and it becomes true. And it become larger than life with music and visuals and action. And you feel like and literally you get tears like it’s manifesting into reality. And there is also scare. If you mess it up, you’ll lose everything. You can get humiliated by millions of people. So i have been playing the movie, tweaking it.

We are really getting the cut which we need. And i think we all are proud of the final product. Because it’s not just me, so many people the cast, Vishwesh, the producers and all of them believing in it. And also people who are waiting to see what’s happening. So this movie is an experience. From storytelling to an experience like it goes back and forth. And that’s when music can shine. Because music is becoming a wallpaper now. Like even in Hollywood when you look at it. You’re like if that’s music but you could not remember anything, It’s just a textural thing. So if i like, unless you write things on the script, like this is how this piece gonna be shot. This is how it is going to be executed. There can’t be any music moments in the movies.

Yashraj Mukhate : What do you think about future in the music industry ? Because of the internet penetration, everything is accessible to everyone. There are independent artists coming up. There are established artists who coming with their own label companies. What do you think in which direction this is going ? Is this going to be good for the music industry ?

A.R. Rahman : I think there is a burst of amazing things happening and it will all settle down. It’s like survival of the fittest. You know everybody comes up with great ideas. How much can somebody fuel it again and again and again to survive? How to reinvent yourself and make yourself more appealing ? For the next generation, the needs are also there. Sometimes you give what they want and sometimes you give what they need.

The people with power should do that. “wait wait wait what you’re listening is nice but you know listen to this one”. But if you listen to this you get more soul satisfaction. Till Kun Faya Kun it just existed. After that is when you get all this reaction. Before that nobody knew that a song like that can exist. It is a combination of Imtiaz Ali, Irshad Kamil, Mohit and me and all of us trying to do something which is right for the movie and at the same time giving something which will last long. Not just a movie material but we wanted to make like every song we all try to make it timeless but it has it’s own taqdeer.

Yashraj Mukhate : So experimenting is the only thing one can do.

A.R. Rahman : Yeah, just give your fullest to it. Even now in this, the hindi version released a year back 99 Songs. And i saw the movie and i felt like Humnava needed a beat. So we saw the screening and then i put the beat after. Just a week back, we added a beat and string arrangement so that it has that interest.

Yashraj Mukhate : So after the song is done you go back to it.

A.R. Rahman : Yeah, we go back to it. Even if the movie releases tomorrow and i have an option, i will do something(Both laughing).

Yashraj Mukhate : So on that note sir. Thank you so much for giving your time. And i hope this become a great success. And this is my lifetime dream to meet you. And it has come true today. So thank you so much.

A.R. Rahman : I am wishing you the very best and make people happy. And Yeah great! God bless!

99 Songs movie trailer

99 Songs movie review

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Thank you for reading ! Let me know your opinion for two simple question in the below comment box.

Q1. What is the best thing that you found or learnt from the the interview ?

Q2. Which is your favourite video of Yashraj Mukhate ?

1. Rasode Mein Kaun Tha
2. Tauda Kutta Tommy, Sadda Kutta Kutta
3. Pawri Ho Rahi Hai