Hindi → English transcript

What is the difference between you and A.R. Rahman? Look, A.R. Rahman, you know,

I personally respect him a lot, and Lalit does too.

He is a very good technician and he has a lot of knowledge of sound.

Many times we do not find his work right. Because his orchestration

I feel that many times… … gives the song a different form.

That is one of his assets that he has really made use of. Whereas we… …

what we bank on is melody, a strong melody. So the way A.R.… the main thing,

that is the tune… … that A.R. Rahman sahab is working on… … he is playing

around with the treatment and the sound. That is also a good thing,

in today’s times it is necessary because we have such good sound available.

But the main thing is melody and that is what will work and that is

what will remain.

You see, right now I am not badmouthing anyone and even A.R.

Rahman sahab, I am also…

… saying this with a lot of respect, very respectfully. You see, take a song like…

I do not give my own song as an example… …

people will think I am conceited.

I give the example of a Salil Chowdhury song, like…

“ Aaja re…”

“… pardesi…” If you listen to this song even today,

you will really enjoy it.

But take some song from today which is a very technically advanced song… …

you listen to it twice, listen to it three times, then you start to feel that I…

… sometimes even turning the music off feels nice, you start to feel that way.

The reason for that is that technology is involved in it, and the technology… …

reduces the amount of soul in it.

In all the songs that are heavily electronic, the soul goes missing in them.

So you might enjoy it,

people up to a certain age may enjoy it for a short time… … but in the long run,

that song will fall behind. From what you are saying,

it sounds like you are trying to say… … that in Rahman sahab’s songs,

there has been a loss of soul.

See, where he has given a good melody… and the technology is dominant.

Where he has given a good melody and combined it with technology,

those songs have turned out very good. And I also like those songs.

But if you base it only on technology, you play on a sound and make a song…

… then that song will only hit your ears as sound, it will attract you… …

but it will not have that duration of longevity. I mean, you people are from

the old school of thought… Let me give you this song as an example.“ Chaand Taare…”

“… tod laaun, saari duniya…” “… par main chhaaun, bas itna sa

khwaab hai.” See how modern this song is,

but the thing is that in the beginning it has a purity.

So that purity is why the song sounds good and even five years from now,

ten years from now, it will still sound good. If technology starts to

dominate the melody, then the song… … will not have a life.

Let the melody stay in its own place…

… and if technology gives it a push, then things can become correct.

That is what I mean to say.

Now you people get accused that your melody,

the one you speak of with so much pride… … its basic structure is based on bhajans.

It is always a bhajan- type tune and you keep fitting songs onto that. For example,

tell me the name of one song.“ Tum Paas Aaye…” It is so easy, its tune is so easy.

Easiness is a different thing.

Shankar- Jaikishan have gone through life because of easiness. Let me give you

their example.“ Zindagi Ek Safar Hai Suhana…” …“ Yahaan Kal Kya Ho

Kisne Jaana.” This song has a total of six notes. Ta ra ra, ta ra ra… …

Ta ra ra ra… … Ta ra ra, ra ra ra,

ra ra ra ra. How beautiful it is. Look at the verse too. La ra ra, ra ra…

… Ra ra ri ra ra, ra ra…

He always did simple work and the simple work that there is, it is very difficult.