AR Rahman never imposes anything on his singers and lyricists, says Javed Akhtar

Among the many collaborations, AR Rahman and Javed Akhtar also collaborated on Sapnay, the Hindi version of the 1997 Tamil film Minsara Kanavu, starring Prabhu Deva, Kajol, and Arvind Swamy. While the Tamil lyrics was taken care by lyricist Vairamuthu, Akhtar took up the responsibility of penning the film’s Hindi lyrics. In a recent interview, Akhtar recalled his experience of working with Rahman and called him a very easy person.

In an interview with O2India, Akhtar said, “AR Rahman, who is regarded as one of the most successful music directors, is very adjusting when it comes to collaborating with his singers and lyricists. Mostly, others are very particular about certain things. They bring a lot of ifs and buts and interfere when the singer is singing. But, in AR Rahman’s case, he gives his singers a lot of freedom. He just tells his singers, ‘I have given you the tune, now you tell me how do you want to sing.’ He saves everything that a singer has added to his creatives, and later uses whatever he likes.”

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Recalling a incident regarding the change in tune of Sapnay song “Chanda Re”, the veteran lyricist said, “Similarly, when he gave me the tune to write a song. The line ‘Baithenge baatein karenge’ was not on the exact note. So, I told him, ‘Can you please make a minor adjustment in your tune because I write note to note? But, if I will do that here, the line will be wasted. Then I won’t be able to write it. ‘Baithenge Baatein karenge is a very informal conversation with the moon in the song. So if you will adjust it a little, people will love it.’ He easily agreed to it and was like, ‘Sure, I will do it because it is a very beautiful line. We must use it.’ That way, he is a very easy person. He doesn’t impose anything on his singers and lyricists.”

AR Rahman and Javed Akhtar have collaborated on projects like Swades, Lagaan, Zubeidaa, Mohenjo Daro, Sapnay, among several others.