Resul Pookutty About A.R.Rahman
MUMBAI: When it comes to music, 2010 has started on a good note for sure.
A R Rahman’s track from Couples’ Retreat ‘Na Na..’ has already been nominated for this year’s Academy Awards. For those who may have forgotten, Slumdog Millionaire’s now famous track ‘Jai Ho’ is also nominated at this year’s Grammy Awards.
Rahman’s friend and Oscar winner Resul Pookutty is escatic about Rahman’s nominations, but more than anything else, the Kerala born sound techinician is confident that this year too, Rahman will reign.
One of the reasons why ‘Jai Ho’ will score over others is because there hasn’t been any other track like ‘Jai Ho’ on an international level, says Pookutty. “This is one of the first original motion picture songs that is being celebrated on such a large scale internationally – no other motion picture soundtrack has done that in the past.. that gives me the confidence that Rahman will bag the Grammys in this category for sure – there’s no doubt he’ll pick up the Grammy.”
Moving to Rahman’s Oscar nomination for Couples’ Retreat, Pookutty says the west is already grooving to the Tamil songs on Couples’ Retreat. “His music is transcending all the language and cultural barriers particularly because “Rahman has introduced ‘language’ as ‘sound’,” he reasons.
In the past couple of years, Rahman has been the only musician giving music that has resonated with the masses at some level and Pookutty too resonates with the same sentiment. “When I hear Rahman’s music, I feel I have heard his music somewhere – it has a quality of triggering a nostalgia at one level,” he adds, saying that even when he works on a masala movie with a big star, Rahman brings in an element of sufism and spirituality.
Pookutty says that the West is in a way discovering Rahman’s music, “but one of the reasons why I really feel proud of being associated with Rahman is beacause he has taught us Indians how to love and respect other traditions – he goes beyond in bringing together sounds from various cultures, and I am sure he is going to bring home the Oscars like he collects Filmfares – he’s going to make the entire country proud,” he adds.