Sonu Nigam

This is a very big event. We have so many people in the music and filmindustry who have great talent but we have no platform to present them in frontof the world. We never could make it internationally. With Rahman getting twoOscars, Resul getting an Oscar, it shows that given the right projectwhich is properly presented in front of the world there is no difference betweenthe calibres of artistes in this country and the west.

I do not judge Rahman only through his music. I judge him through his entireattitude, through his persona. He is a person who lives life on his own terms,who has got a lot of self-respect in him and who, at the same time, probablywill be a difficult person to sign for a movie -- but when he takes it on, hegives it his heart and soul.

It may be a Pappu can't dance, saala or a Saathiya --anything he does, he sees that it is not similar to the rest of what ishappening. His sound was different in Roja and 15-16 years later, hissound is still different. We all have access to the same software, thesame craftsmen as he has, but this guy gets something else from it. And thatsomething else is soul -- he puts a lot of soul into his music.

People have probably not noticed it yet but he never compromises on thequality of his talent. This is something I’ve been saying repeatedly, time andagain, and people like Rahman have proved it. A lot of people live in their ego.They don’t want to work with the best because they want to singthemselves and do shows but Rahman knows what to sing. He will not sing a songwhich is meant for Sonu Nigam or Hariharan. He will choose a song like Dil Sewhich will not sound good in my voice or Udit narayan’s voice but only inRahman’s voice. He chooses those songs, makes them for himself and sings them.

He is very honest with his craft. He likes to work with the best of thetalent -- he likes to work with Hariharan or Sukhwinder, withsingers which the industry has forgotten. Sukhwinder has been there but he getshim to do a Chhayyian chhaiyyan. He gives Sukhwinder the respect that hehas always deserved. He doesn’t mess with people’s minds or manipulate them,he doesn’t play mind games. He wants to work with Chitra with Shreya Ghoshal,with everybody who is good in their craft.

His honesty has given his music a certain ingenuity, a certainsimplicity. And the better the talent, the more I see God influencing his work.I see the differences between him and other composers and why they are not wherehe is today. Till today, I have seen his absolute loyalty towards talent, hewants to patronize talented people, he’s been working with me for so manyyears yet he is not bored with me. I’ve sung such good songs for him.

One song, Guzarish, which I had sung, was later sung by Javed Ali andRahman apologized for 40 minutes sitting in my car: "I want to clarify, Idon’t like to do this to you but Aamir was interested because Aamir hadalready shot for the song. I was in America because my son was about to beborn so I couldn’t come to India to record so they got the song done by JavedAli with different lyrics because the song belonged to me. So the song could notbe mine but he retained my humming, my aalaaps in the entire movie and theentire song and that too got me accolades.But the thing is when AR Rahmancomes to me and clarifies, it shows his honesty -- he didn’t take me forgranted. He could very well say, "What does it matter if Sonu didn’t singit?" It shows his goodness in not wanting to hurt people. When you takecare of quality about not making people feel inferior -- us se insaan badabanta hai [one becomes a better and bigger human being]. He respectsmy craft, my art and felt the need to clarify.

He is very well versed in Indian sounds. He’s worked with the likes ofIliayaraja, knows Carnatic and classical music and that gives him an edgeover most of the music composers.

Art is the reflection of your personality, of your attitude, of yourcharacter. As a human being, Rahman is a very enlightened human being. He is asuperior human being than most of the other composers. And thatsuperiority, as a person, gives him that edge, gives his music that edge.Because there is no other way I can explain his talent, because for methere is no way that the true character will not be reflected through his art.

My favourite Rahman composition is Satrangi Re -- it’s a very finesong. It’ll be remembered for centuries to come the way it has been composed,the way it was written. I sang this song so I like it anyway but thearrangements were fabulous. The response that I get for this song ismind-boggling. It came in 1997, 12 years back, and you can see how superior itwas, even today.

Rahman is very shy. A man of few words. Lately he has started opening up. Ifhe wants to praise you he’ll say, "Very good, very good.. mindboggling".That's the extent of his expression.

As told to Lata Khubchandani