AR Rahman: Music composer to film director
A.R. Rahman speaks about his debut as a director with the world's first virtual reality multi-sensory episodic movie.
As soon as A.R. Rahman entered a multiplex in New Delhi for an interaction about his latest venture, his attention veered to the loud music playing at the adjacent movie screen, and he laughed and said, “Baahubali!” recognising the melody in a few seconds. The entire crowd shared a good laugh with him before proceeding to business.
The 50-year-old music composer is all set to make his directorial debut with the world’s first virtual reality (VR) multi-sensory episodic feature film, Le Musk. Written, directed and scored by Rahman himself, the film stars Nora Arnezeder, Guy Burnet, Munirih Jahanpour and Mariam Zohrabyan in lead roles. Set in Rome, the film revolves around the protagonist Juliet, played by French actress Nora, who has a smell fixation.
‘Filmmaking is tough’
With the making of a film taking up to two years or more, Rahman feels filmmaking is a tough job — “For me, music has always come first, it’s been my first love. Even through this, I have simply reinvented the application of music vis-a-vis an unexplored platform and a narrative. I didn’t have to give it two years of my life. I was able to finish it in 13 days.”
Actors turning singers, directors turning composers, composers turning actors — a fad?
Kailash Kher and Armaan Malik criticised the idea of actors turning playback singers. Quizzed if he has any opinion about such trends, he says, “I feel one can do anything. One just has to delve deep into it with passion and focus. Nothing is impossible. Everything in this world belongs to everyone, and not just one or two people. Just do it with all your heart and passion. And if at all someone is judging, then one should judge the other on the basis of sincerity, loyalty and honesty towards a job. Also, always aim for excellence.”
What’s next?
Asked if he would like to explore making something as grand as Baahubali on virtual reality, the music composer said, “My next project is even more exciting. I am going to explore different Indian dance forms through virtual reality,” he signs off.