AR Rahman not interested in biopic on himself

He has been a subject of several documentaries, books and musicals but Oscar-winning composer AR Rahman is not keen on a biopic on himself.

“No, I won’t waste my time,” Rahman said when asked if he will be interested in a biopic on him.

The 48-year-old “Tamasha” composer, however, says he is experiencing a “whole new shift” in working process with his maiden production venture “99 Songs”, directed by Vishwesh Krishnamoorthy.

“There has been a whole shift in my thinking. Since past four years, in filmmaking process, I am doing new things which I’ve never done in my life. Like casting… This is very fascinating and a complete shift in the way I work. And it’s very important to the movie making process,” he said.

Rahman also plans to turn the making of the film into a book, apart from considering writing one about himself.

“I am thinking, the first movie I am producing could become a book later as there is so much of information and detailing going into it. It might be an interesting book.

“There’s already a book with Munni Kabir, we might write another book, but she said don’t write too much about yourself. Just wait for five years because your life is changing. So she might write another book in another couple of years,” he said.

The “Mozart of Madras”, who has bagged two Academy Awards for Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire”, feels more Indian movies should become global hit to put the spotlight on the country.

“I think more movies like “Slumdog Millionaire” should happen. It’s a question of success…it is the best revenge.

If more movies from here become hit worldwide then the whole world will look at it and say ‘Oh let’s go to India. Let’s make more movies there’,” he said.

Rahman said the quest is not only to go global, but to also retain the culture and make it accessible to the people.

“Respect comes from how you place our culture in the world and make it accessible to everyone, that’s very important. I can see lot of young people discovering themselves. Explosion of talents will happen,” he said.

The composer is elated with the response to his upcoming international project “Muhammad: The Messenger of God”, directed by Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi.

“I watched the film ten days back in Hamadan festival…

It was very fascinating… This whole new audience who do not speak my language, I can’t even relate to them, but the language which was common was music,” the musician said.

“They were crying, I went down from the stage and they were all clapping and it looked very surreal to me,” he said.

Inputs by PTI