Mumbai: Music composer A R Rahman spoke exclusively to IANS about his upcoming " The wonderment Tour". During the conversation, Rahman reflected on his 32-year-long career, sharing what he's enjoyed most about his journey so far. He also opened up about the most exciting and wasteful moments of his life. Additionally, Rahman discussed his dressing style during concerts and shared his experience of collaborating with choreographer Shyamak Davar.
#TheWondermentTour #ARRahman #Musiccomposer #MusicLegend #GlobalConcertTour #30YearsOfMusic #IconicCompositions #LiveMusic #MusicFestival #ARRahmanFans #WondermentTour2025
#TheWondermentTour #ARRahman #Musiccomposer #MusicLegend #GlobalConcertTour #30YearsOfMusic #IconicCompositions #LiveMusic #MusicFestival #ARRahmanFans #WondermentTour2025
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00:00first thing first congratulations and the first question that comes to my mind
00:03why so long eight years for the stadium thing I think because we lost three years in court
00:10yeah and no actually I've been had US tours and everything and there were so many other
00:18things which are very challenging so I didn't do much in India so so so you have spent 32 years
00:26I was going through you know the entire research in 32 years I want to know that you know you might
00:34you have done a lot of stage shows stadium shows and of course music we don't we know everyone knows
00:38about it what do you enjoy most like I I do enjoy both songwriting and shows because in the in the
00:50shows you experience energy which comes which is so direct unlike you know comments on Twitter or you
00:55know Instagram or YouTube it's so direct and what when you're singing a song together with us so
01:01their their face sometimes you know I went to Sydney in this new place where they were so close with
01:07the stages like this and like this like even people breathing you could hear you know they're so close
01:13so that's a great experience and we're lucky to witness that one yeah so but can you recall one of
01:21the incidents that like there are all kind of experience for an artist who performs on stage at
01:27times it is a very pleasant at times it is very shocking so I would like to like you to share both
01:32kind of experiences and I mean every time when we rehearse we are rehearsing with the people who have
01:39never been sometimes some of the people who have never been to the shows and for instance this Firdaus
01:43Orchestra they were from Dubai all the women Orchestra they were part of the one of the concerts and they
01:51were like I'll be playing and then on the day of the show they realize what euphoria in Abu Dhabi and
01:56they were all like their face lit up and they've never seen that experience so so that's one thing
02:03which with the audience you know everything lights up when you do it correctly yeah and if I ask you
02:10the adverse ones are when it rains and then you're forced to cancel and it's very very complicated
02:18and that's when infrastructure comes in I hope we get infrastructure where we can go live even with
02:24the trains and people can enjoy the show yeah and so how much do you like dressing up during the concerts
02:32I dress up very very briefly and then I throw all the stuff out and I'm in simple stuff only during
02:39because you know so many people take photographs and all that stuff so my so we have this huge number
02:47of different kind of jackets and you know like almost like a obviously Madonna and everything
02:53they're like multiple wardrobes all over the place now and it's it's fun you you must have seen the
03:00change in these 32 years earlier there was not such it was not done with such fanfare but now it is like
03:06very hyped and you know too much effort it's because people come in for an experience and they want
03:14something special they're spending time more than the money they're spending their time you know they
03:19could do that they could spend time the family somewhere on the beach or anything else and they
03:23come in they don't give that it's we feel bad so you try to find how special can it be it doesn't
03:30have to be just lights and costume and dance it also be interaction it could be some vibe where they feel
03:35one with the artist tell us something about this tour sir we heard that there is going to be
03:42amalgamation of all kind of your compositions so what special can the audience expect from this
03:47the idea of this tour is to celebrate the every breath of life every blessing which
03:55is sharing with the audience or and the blessing of music and blessing of love blessing of relationship
04:02blessing of how this music has become part of their life it's gone out of me and comes back to me
04:08through their vision their love and that's why i named it as wonder man so to be to celebrate the
04:15wonderness so the fans there are fans who you know we have seen you know in case of all the
04:23artists that they request for some particular composition again and again in your case which one is that
04:28they it depends sometimes when they emotionally touch they ask for again but then
04:35our are we are always overflowing with songs so we can't we we try to pack in as much as we can
04:42and these are previous shows in this i want to breathe in a little more so that we can deconstruct some
04:47of the stuff and do and if i ask about you which composition of yours is among your favorites and
04:54you would like to perform it again and again this is the worst question ever because i've done more
05:00than 800 songs and at this point which will be something which can give them because i'm also
05:07seeing what dreams are coming what people are liking and it's hard to say one song right yeah
05:14so you have spent 32 years in industry and this is very cliche question but
05:18uh still you know it comes to my mind that what keeps you going the love of people the love of
05:25wanting more and in in the polarized world where people bring everybody down if people are buying
05:32tickets coming to the show what else we need that's a blessing that's one moment so you're also
05:36participating in the wave summit yeah so tell can you please elaborate and tell us something more so in
05:41the wave summit we have designed a group of inspired by classical music called jala we have six women
05:50and six men and this i'm looking forward to that one it's premiering on the first and second yeah
05:59so you are this time i think shamak davor is you know he is the choreographer so how is the entire
06:06experience with him uh it's a it's a it's fun and it's a gift to have doing this a crazy guy very
06:13passionate and this is not just the beginning i feel like um i want to work with him more because
06:20he's got such great ideas and all this stuff yeah yeah so uh you perform in india though you're
06:27performing after a long time and outside india across the world uh i know audiences are you know crazy
06:34but if i ask you you know what difference you see between the audience of india and the outside
06:41india what would you like to say about that uh it's hard because um outside india the most crazy ones are
06:47malaysia uh canada and the bay area and dubai of course and abu dhabi and yeah these ones are the
07:01crazy ones of course sydney malaysia uh but it's each place has a different flavor because of the
07:08mix of india speaking tamir and telugu or or different so it depends on like one group will
07:17appreciate a lot of a melody song another group will like something else so it's hard to
07:24how to gauge it it depends on it's not the same at all you must have gone through crazy you said the
07:29crazy word you use you have gone through a lot of crazy experience the craziest one if i asked
07:34do you recall do you remember anyone there are many crazy ones um there's one where in 2010
07:43when we had a con car and harshtip car was performing there then shweta pandit was doing opal nare and
07:50then i was doing maula i think and then when shweta pandit was singing opal nare there's one gentleman
07:56who came and did shah shan to her i was like i'm worried she's going to lift her up and take her
08:00so that was crazy but it was i think it was drunk but it was very very emotional to see
08:06somebody who's he was literally in tears and yeah yeah so you have won so many awards in your entire
08:12career after winning so many awards how much does it still matter for you you are only defined by your
08:21last work right other than that you know those days he was good and you have to constantly keep
08:26evolving and constantly there are challenges at the same time you your what you have up your sleeve
08:34is experience and my thing is to how to how much to take the newness of what's coming and how to give
08:41the experience and combine both and and come with something unique so that's how i take life so you are
08:48the greatest composer of our country recently the debate has been going on ai and how you know
08:58music industry is facing huge threat we would like to know your opinion about it i think it's a face i
09:05think it's it's a tool how we use it ethically like how photoshop was used for filthy things and you know
09:12people came to know and then it just passes by and ai is very similar you know it's a frankenstein it's
09:19a devil in a way it's also a gift in a way because it empowers people without tools before costly tools
09:27to do things which they can imagine now you know whether generative video or sound effects or and
09:34sometimes they do they'll call the background music with the ai but definitely when human beings do
09:40there is always a newness in it because we absorb what's we we have the power to
09:47foretell what's going to be the next you know spiritually do you expect any government regulation
09:53regarding ai you know the all this they should be because i also see some vulgar songs being passed
10:00around you know with popular artists and that's uh unacceptable i think that's a violation of
10:06everything you know and definitely that needs to be a rule otherwise it'll be filth all over so what
10:12are uh how long does it take to you know prepare for this kind of a show and it takes months it takes
10:20around six months takes around saying and like from where from the ideation to yeah yeah six months even to
10:28design this poster took took uh took two months because i took the photograph because i went to
10:34the shop in melrose and we just got it for fun and then i put that in oh what about this in the
10:40poster and then we started it took almost three weeks to get this picture and then took another
10:47three weeks to get the promo to make a sense of what wonderment is so but it was fascinating
10:53does it because you are a musician and you are into music so deeply and when someone asks you
10:58oh you should wear this no this is all my choice okay this is your choice so i must say it's a very good
11:06choice so music is something that you know what i understand that it needs happy state of mind and
11:14when you see uh people you know writing things and rumors and news does it affect you about you
11:21your personal life i think every artist tunes to this because sometimes in a very very sad state
11:28and you have to do a chai chai or humma and you're a professional because you can't say no i'm not in
11:33the mood and they'll go to somebody else and then sometimes when you're very happy they want you to
11:38do the most saddest song and you should be ready for it so in music you have to be in a very neutral
11:44condition where you're ready to do anything because you are almost like an actor you might be sad inside
11:50but he has to play happy sometimes but uh as an uh as an artist also and as a human being also
11:57what i understand that somewhere it affects that when you read so much about yourself and you know
12:02it does it does but that's part of the game the ups and downs of fame yeah so uh i i hope you are taking
12:10care of your health properly because yeah fans were worried about so everything is fine now and you are
12:15taking proper care i i expect uh you to give message to your fans about this yeah yeah i thank
12:20thank you for all the love and uh sorry to have scared you the hospital gave something which went viral
12:27and i'm here healthy with all your prayers and love and see you on the third at the white battle stadium