India Masala
Bollywood and culture in an emerging India
Is an Oscar next, Mr Rahman?
His voice is soft over the phone, almost inaudible. He has just done a lot of interviews, and the tiredness in his voice is clear.
There are no niceties, no formal hello; instead he plunges straight into the agenda of the day — that’s a typical A. R. Rahman interview for you. The 43-year-old music composer is as humble as he is talented, as unaffected by success as he is successful.
“Unbelievable,” he said as he stood on the podium with a Golden Globe statuette in his hand. And it was. That an Indian composer could win such a coveted international honour for what is essentially such an Indian soundtrack — and do it all with a minimum of fuss, is a matter of pride for all Indians.
“If I win it, it will be a surprise,” he told the media the day he was leaving for Los Angeles. “But if I do win, I want to win for India.”
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The Wall
