Kavita Paudwal

When he started off, he gave a very newsound technically. His music was extremely focused and uncluttered and he usedlimited number of instruments and gave each one equal importance. That itselfwas a different concept for Indian music, because we are used to listening to a lotof music at one time. Rahman is one of the first people to do that.

He has thispeculiar way of working where he records the entire song in the singer's voiceand then he backs it up with music. That way he makes sure that the voice isgiven equal importance and the accompanying music complements the voice.And vice versa. It was a different approach to music.

Favourite composition? I enjoyed his earlierfilms like Roja. My brother had a huge collection of his music -- Gentleman, Bombay,the original of Saathiya. His compositions are fabulous, very hummable andstill funky.

I couldn’t believe it when I got a call from his office. I was thrilledand super excited. It was wonderful. I started off singing for him in Iruvar, then I did a couple of songs in Gentleman in the south Indian version.I did Sapney, Rakshak, Love you Hamesha, Jeans.

I think he’s an extremely niceperson and I think the Oscar was a gift from God to him because he’s such asweetheart and such a gentleman. I was in the States for some years and I met himthere and he called out to me and said, "How are you doing?" He inquires aboutme from my brother too. That's very nice.

To him, a voice is also anothersound--a wonderful sound to which he gives due prominence. He’s willing to givenew people a chance and is very open to experimenting with new voices. Then, hehas a different kind of music where he doesn’t need traditional voices. When hedoes, he uses them. His approach to his work is very focused.

Rahman has broughtback the stature of music in a film. His songs are important to the film andappropriate to each film. They are part of the story. If he does a Taal,it’s a Subhash Ghai kind of direction and you’ll see this in all hisfilms. If he likes what you’ve done, he says so, but not in too many words.

As told to Lata Khubchandani