Rahman, composer of countless Bollywood scores, won for his transporting soundscape in Slumdog Millionaire, Danny Boyle's crowd-pleaser that is part potboiler, part fairy tale.
Rahman started writing music for Indian TV ads in the early '90s, eventually switching to film and composing dozens of soundtracks a year. In 2002, Andrew Lloyd Webber commissioned him to write the music for the play “Bombay Dreams," which ran in London's West End. Rahman also collaborated with London musician M.I.A. on the film's acclaimed soundtrack.
Original song: 'Jai Ho' from Slumdog Millionaire, by A.R. Rahman and Sampooran Singh Gulzar
“Jai Ho" was one of two songs composed by Rahman that was nominated for original song from “Slumdog Millionaire." It beat out the other song, “O Saya," which was punctuated with stylish vocals from M.I.A., as well as Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman's “Down to Earth" from Wall-E.
“Jai Ho" was the more accessible of the two Slumdog songs, an uplifting theme also threaded with tension. With lyrics by Sampooran Singh Gulzar, who often goes by the singular name Gulzar, “Jai Ho" was one of eight awards for “Slumdog Millionaire" and Rahman's second Oscar of the night.
Rahman swept up by worldly influences
It was only fitting that Slumdog Millionaire," a British film graced by Bollywood stars, would feature India's star film composer, A.R. Rahman. At 42, the modest maestro has been credited with a staggering number of achievements: scoring more than 100 movies, selling more than 200 million albums and making traditional music cool to Indian youth.
Because his songs and soundtracks effortlessly blend Indian and Western influences, Rahman has had a string of hits, making him as well known as, say, composer John Williams (though Williams probably doesn't have a league of obsessed Japanese fans following his concerts). Rahman says that the dramatic, sweeping nature of Slumdog Millionaire and its rags to riches story spanning about 15 years led to the wide variety of music composed. “We had everything from the typical Indian '80s music to more futuristic sounds . . . in one sequence, we wanted it to sound like a space shuttle taking off."
Normally based out of his home studio and music conservatory in Chennai, India, Rahman composed Slumdog in a whirlwind two months in London. Using the Apple-based Logic Pro digital audio workstation to lay down ideas for director Danny Boyle, he spun notes together that spring to life in the film's emotional arcs. Sunlight on a face or a panoramic city view elicits the spare, singing notes of a sitar. During a mad pursuit through the slums, his violins slice like Bernard Herrmann's in Psycho. Another heart-stopping sequence called “Escape" pulses with energy, in step with the sound of a rapidly approaching train.
“Danny was very specific in his ideas. He wanted to hear percussion, a singing voice," Rahman says. For a sequence featuring two young boys running from the police, Rahman collaborated remotely with British-Sri Lankan artist M.I.A., e-mailing vocal and instrumental takes back and forth, resulting in the song “O . . . Saya." And Rahman's “Jai Ho" (May You Win) gets the whole cast dancing.
“I take music very seriously. If it's not done, it doesn't leave the studio."
