India is varied, has multiple cultures like a rainbow: A R Rahman

PTI

Chennai, August 9

Like there are multiple colours in a rainbow, India has different cultures, languages and film industries and it's time for the world to acknowledge it, says A R Rahman, the artiste whose music covers genres and geographies.

Rahman, who has worked in the south, in the Hindi film industry as well as Hollywood, Broadway and the London stage, burst into the music scene with Mani Ratnam's “Roja” in 1992. As he gets ready to celebrate three decades of music with a series of concerts, the double Oscar winner said the Academy Award for ‘Naatu Naatu’, a Telugu song from ‘RRR’, gave a glimpse into the versatility of talent from India.

"The world believes that the only film industry that exists is the Hindi film industry which we call Bollywood. It's so nice to see 'Naatu Naatu', a Telugu song, winning Oscars. I never use the word Bollywood since it's so convenient and derivative from Hollywood. I keep correcting everyone when they use these terms," Rahman told PTI in an interview.

He won two Oscars for ‘Jai Ho’ from ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ in 2009 – one for best original score and the other for best original song. Rahman also won a Grammy as well as a Golden Globe for ‘Slumdog Millionaire’.

Rahman, 56, said there are many film industries in the country –Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Punjabi, Gujarati and Bengali.

"It's important that the world has to see there are amazing talents there. If they are given money and exposure, they can come up with stunning stuff and that's how it should be as India is varied which is not one culture rather multiple cultures like a rainbow," he added.

Rahman is all set to hold the "Marakuma Nenjam" (loosely translated from Tamil to mean ‘will my heart be able to forget this') concert to celebrate his extraordinary career. He said he always wanted to do "something special" and he got that in his career.

He said he realised just a year before signing for “Roja” that only composing for films would bring the financial gratification “so that you can expand your studio”.

"But I always wanted to do something special and the special thing came, god gave me the thing that I manifested," he said, crediting "friend and mentor" Ratnam, filmmakers Shankar, Ram Gopal Varma and Subhash Ghai.

"It was a blessing to have them," he added.

While he has done many films for Ratnam, including the latest ‘Ponniyan Selvan’ parts one and two, he did ‘Enthiran’, ‘Sivaji: The Boss’ for Shankar, ‘Rangeela’ for Varma and ‘Taal’ for Ghai.

He won a National Award and a Filmfare trophy for ‘Roja’. Going to England and working with Andrew Lloyd Webber on Bollywood-themed musical ‘Bombay Dreams’ was a "real eye opener", he said.

The musical was staged on the West End in London as well as on Broadway in New York.

"Marakkuma Nenjam" will be first staged in Chennai on August 12 before going on to other cities and countries.

The concert will also travel to France, Germany and Switzerland for the first time.