AR Rahman battles nepotism in Bollywood as a debut film producer

Bollywood is often called out for being nepotistic while casting for lead roles, but Oscar-winner AR Rahman, who takes his plunge into film production and script writing with his debut romance ‘99 songs’, has fiercely bucked that trend.

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Transcript

00:00I can't afford to be afraid. I'm the leader. I take responsibility for the whole world.

00:07If something goes wrong, it's my fault. Nobody's fault. And if something goes well,

00:13it's my team's, you know, goodwill and the talent. And it's important to say that now,

00:19because you've taken a risk. And without courage, there's no life.

00:23Mr. Raman, is he your discovery? I know you went through 1000 faces apparently. Is that

00:30the right statistic? Or is it just for better headlines? Is it true?

00:35No, no, it's true that I mean, not 1000, I think around 700-800 auditions I got from,

00:41you know, South Asia. And then we were like, because we had the stick marks, he has to sing,

00:48he has to play, he has to be good looking, he has to be a good actor. And so we didn't get all

00:53the stick marks in the auditions. And then so we went back and said, okay, so let's invest in a

00:58person. Let's take somebody. And so I think he came into my, like, we just skipped through and

01:03boom, wait, who's this person? And then both Vishvesh and I were like, he was looking at me,

01:09he needs to be nurtured, you need time. I said, you are a great actor yourself. And you're the

01:14director, who was even taking great things from kids. So you can easily shape up

01:21Ihaan. So, Ihaan was open, hardworking. So he came, he studied music in our conservatory for a

01:30year. We sent him to Hollywood, to my friend's acting classes. So he was there for like a month.

01:38And so he did all the hard work before.

01:40Ihaan, I have to tell you, it's like the master class for you, right? I felt you were almost

01:44groomed because A. R. Rahman, I'm sure he's exacting, he knew what he wanted and you were

01:49kind of bounded to what he wanted. What was that like? Did you feel like you got a crash course in

01:54everything at one go under his tutelage?

01:56Completely, completely. You know, like starting as a new actor in the industry, being nurtured

02:02under the guidance of Rahman sir, it is like a dream debut for me, you know. And being in Chennai

02:08which never felt like home away from home. He's an amazing human being, you know. And it was his,

02:17he believed in me so I had to work really hard to somehow make him believe that okay, I can

02:23carry forward his dream.

02:25Why didn't you choose an established actor though? I mean, tell me, here is the thing,

02:29why are you, it's a leap of faith for you, right? Why did you take a leap of faith on a newcomer?

02:34I think I was crazy. Like, in Tamil there's a proverb saying the calf is more fearless than the

02:41cow. You know, I'm a new writer so to feel, you know, I have great director friends but I'll be

02:50intimidated to tell anything to them because they're so good that if me saying something

02:54about direction is like, just mind about your music, you know, who are you to tell me about?

03:00So, I wanted to go with people I'm new in writing and new director, new cast. So, we all felt like

03:08we were all discovering something together and bringing out a new voice.

03:12How has coronavirus actually impacted this movie? Has it? Because it started quite a long time

03:17ago. It's taking time. It is not like a quick thing, you know. This is no cinematic cookie.

03:21It took time to come on its own. So, has that played a small sport or are you glad it's coming?

03:29It's a blessing in disguise for us because for our movie, there are a million things thrown at

03:34people, you know, like there's Instagram posts and YouTube posts and this post, that promotion and

03:39multiple, you know, things are thrown up. So, I was thinking like will this movie get lost in all

03:44these attacks from, you know, things good and bad happening and I got worried and then we released

03:52the soundtrack and it released, Dolby was kind enough to release it because Dolby Atmos movie.

03:58And when corona happened, like if people went quiet, they went internal and the soundtrack

04:04actually kind of resonated with them much more than what it should have. It could have if there

04:08was a normal life. So, for us it was a blessing in disguise that they are now immersed in the

04:13soundtrack and they've listened to the Tamil and Telugu versions and they've seen this whole,

04:21you know, war which happened last year, we will see on TV and bring everybody down and so I

04:28think this movie brings a breath of fresh air.

04:31I can't believe a boy from Kashmir is now going to be on All Eyes Are On You.

04:35What a wonderful time to be around. Both of you do well. I really, I'm really hoping all

04:41good wishes and goodwill coming from my end.

04:44Thank you so much.

04:51you

AR Rahman battles nepotism in Bollywood as a debut film producer

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