Mahalxmi Iyer

Enough has been said about Rahmanbecause he’s truly a genius. I think Roja showed what he was capableof. That was just the tip of the iceberg; in that first album he revolutionisedthe sound, the style and the content of Indian film music for the future, all atonce. Before that, we were all very happy to hear the dholak-tabla, mukhda-antaraformat. He changed a lot of it by experimenting with the whole style andstructure of the Indian film song.

Plus, musically also, initially he wascriticized as being just a keyboard man but, I think, to his credit he has added alot of percussion especially, which had become a little obscured in Indianmusic. He brought all that back into film music. Some of his Tamil films, I know,have a lot of percussion which had been left by the wayside by the play-safekind of music that happened.

Also having worked with him, I can say he is very conscious ofwhat goes into his songs. I’ve heard from sources that he does not let a songpass through unless he is happy. He has many times asked sound engineers tobringthe song back, to add or delete something or delete something. He wont let evena single song just go by. Quality control can sometimes become acasualty but he is meeting that quality level even now. His dedication and hisperseverance is to be seen He once told me when I was sitting in hisstudio, "The more you give it, the more you get back". Not just in terms ofsuccess and stuff but even in terms of your musical knowledge.

I think Rahman’saward is going to make a lot of difference for Indian music and musicaround the world arena. All this while, only classical stalwarts have been given a lot of credit but now I think mainstream Indian music -- whether it’sfilm or pop or Sufi -- will get a little more recognition now. I am very happy thatas an Indian musician we’ll all benefit from that.

I think he revolutionised the way welook at Indian music. Earlier there were just 4 or 5 singers and now there areso many more. Earlier there was just a particular way of looking at a filmsong but now there are so many more options. Even the younger music directorsthese days are always thinking of "arre, if not this way, how can I present thissong?" and I give him credit for that. For letting people realise thatthere are different and more creative ways of doing a song.

Right from thebeginning he has pushed for new voices not just to give them a break but to seewhat a new voice can lend to a song. So, take a ballad which could be sungby a very typical sweet ballad-ish kind of voice, but he’ll also use a very rough-edged rock kind of texture to sing aballad. He doesn’t believe in the typecastsyndrome at all. After him a lot of Bollywood composers have had the guts or the will to ask a producer or accompany to use a new voice. Earlier, they’dplay safe because of market considerations. Post Rahman that changed quite abit.But in India, film music is so important that you say "Hrithik Roshan sangwell" so he gets stuck with one playback singer unlike the west. Not manypeople know that I am also a part of Jai Ho, I’ve sung two lines in it.Sukhwinder, Vijay, myself and Tanvi Shah have sung it. I have 2 lines in it. Eventoday it’s about Dev Patel and Frieda Pinto.

Rahman, in a nutshell, is very daring.Hewill not stick to a routine. He will not give up. He will constantly ask peoplefor their advice. He asks me, whose knowledge is not too great: "Is this songgood? Does it sound cheesy? Should I retain it?"

He is open to new ideas. I read himsaying somewhere that I do not want to limit myself. People might have pooh-poohed the idea of that Armenian singer singing thatmaiyyamaiyya song two years back but the way he used the girl's voice, it all makesa lot of sense when you see it in perspective. For me Rahman Sir is someone whohas risen up to challenges. I’d really like to say that it’s not nowthat he has won the Oscar. He’s going to do astounding work, he always has doneastounding work.

Favourite Rahman composition: I am a real fanof his but definitely Kehna hi kyaa from Bombay. When itcame itcaptivated us like anything -- the Sufi quality with a classical edge, it wasunheard of in the entire, typical Hindi film music scene. But there are many songs which are brilliant, purely for their melody.

As told to Lata Khubchandani