Trust A.R. Rahman to reinvent himself, time and again. When he Facebook-ed a week ago: “Remember when we asked all of you to suggest some funky ideas for rearranging Take it easy Urvasi.... Well, we had a lot of great ideas flowing and it was tough to pick and choose.” The exercise has resulted in an upgraded version of Urvasi Urvasi which the man will perform on MTV Unplugged (Season 6) tonight at 8pm. The song now talks about taking it easy in the time of Trump and demonetisation.
The 50-year-old Oscar-winning composer spoke to t2 on the phone...

For a man whose music comes across as complex besides being dependent on digital production, unplugged must be a completely different challenge...

I don’t think I treat electronics… digital that way. I always look for an organic output from everything. So for me, in a way, even electronic is acoustic.

MTV Unplugged has been around for decades. Any memorable episode for you?

I think in India the Colonial Cousins episode (in 1997) with Hariharan and Leslie (Lewis) was beautiful to watch. I never had the courage to come on board for many years. (Laughs) Because when we produce a song, we have the luxury of putting in all these elements. And my songs, I felt, were complicated. But it’s not. I had this big band (SuperHeavy) with Mick Jagger (besides Joss Stone and Dave Stewart) and that opened me up a lot... to have the confidence to come and perform. So, we have Ranjit Barot as music director and co-producer. It’s a great help to have someone like him. The confidence to pull it off is much greater.

Everyone’s talking about Urvasi Urvasi, which you’ll perform on Saturday...

We had 10 days to decide on the set list. Urvasi Urvasi came to mind instantly. Everyone felt like… let’s do Urvasi again because of the song’s vibes. I agreed but said that this time we should upgrade the lyrics and ask people to contribute about what they feel ‘take it easy’ means. This is interesting because the world is going through a very interesting stage. And we took those in.

The song remains as funky as it was in 1994 (as part of the soundtrack for the Tamil film, Kadhalan)!

I think the concept is interesting, which is about taking it easy. Songs like this always stand the test of time because it asks people to worry less and be happy. It’s a simple concept that was made interesting musically.

What about the other songs on the set list?

The others are less famous, one in fact was on an album and one was more of a background song. I thought it would be beautiful to perform these songs and enhance them. So we had Aise na dekho (Raanjhanaa, 2013). Then there is a track (Mann chandre) from the Connections album (2008). Ranjha ranjha (Raavan, 2010) is a song we have recently started performing live and it goes very well with the vibrations on the stage. So, we have a special guest... Shruti Haasan.

From being a music director-singer you’re moving towards writing a script and producing movies... more like becoming a storyteller. Is this an interesting phase?

Yes. Growth is very important. In 1992 my state of mind was different, my exposure to the world was very different. From 2000 I was half-living in the West. And I was seeing all the conflicts happening in the UK and the US. As an artiste, you keep thinking what would be good to speak about. The side people don’t know about. The side people would like to hear about. Being a big fan of movies and music, I am always satisfied by a different voice. It’s important to have voices from the East, expressing things in a very universal way. Otherwise we would be stuck with just one tone in the whole world. That’s what makes our movie industry unique. Hollywood has replicated itself... it has been dubbed in France and Spain and.... In India we love our culture, we have our own stories and we have our own points of view.

You are once again in the Oscar race (in the long lists for Original Score and Best Original Song) with Pele: The Birth of a Legend. Looking forward?

For Oscars, there are many factors at play... the success of the film, the momentum created during its promotion. Though everyone loves the song Pele and people keep saying, ‘You should promote it out there...’ I am in the midst of so many other projects... let’s see.

You’re also working on the soundtrack of Sachin: A Billion Dreams (directed by James Erskine)...

Working on the Sachin film is an honour because he’s what he is. And for me writing the music for a film... a real story with a documentary-ish narrative, it’s definitely an honour.

Finally, do you have any message for the young Rahman who grew up on Habibullah Road?

I think my life is a testament for people who lose hope. If I had lost hope back then with my family situation, I would have lost out on everything I’m doing now. People should never lose hope. Keep the faith and be passionate about what you are doing. That way everything else will automatically follow.

Mathures Paul
A.R. Rahman is my hero because.... Tell t2@abp.in

Watch MTV Unplugged (Season 6) with A.R. Rahman tonight at 8pm