A.R. Rahman - The Mentor

For the celebrated composer, picking India’s most promising young artists for nationwide talent hunt NEXA Music came from a personal space

- Riddhi Chakraborty

A few artists are seated comfortably on the ground while a bunch of them are positioned atop multi-tiered stools. Some daring ones are balancing their carefully crafted stances on high ladders and it’s quite a sight to see. The group of 44 young musicians in an assortment of postures is here to shoot the most ambitious cover for Rolling Stone India yet and the mood is electric with what’s about to come.

Test shots are underway, the set is silent and the musicians are almost statue-still when the large studio door finally creaks open and A.R. Rahman walks in. Dressed in a red-and-black plaid blazer, tie-dye trousers and dark glasses, his entire look screams ‘superstar.’ In the next second, the tower of artists breaks into an assortment of emotions there’s gasping, whispering, loud cheering and eventually, thunderous applause as the Grammy and Oscar-winning composer says hello and joins the group. He casually hops over to his designated spot (a space no bigger than one square foot) and asks everyone how they’re doing. The otherwise boisterous group is at first a little awkward, shy even—they’re all still reeling from the well-known ‘Rahman effect’—but soon enough, a selfie epidemic begins and loud bantering takes over.

The 44 artists gathered around Rahman are part of 24 diverse acts (a mix of solo artists, duos and bands) hand-picked by the composer as part of the nationwide talent hunt, NEXA Music. Presented by the partnership between the digital media firm Qyuki and NEXA, it was conceptualized as a unique initiative for independent artists and aims to spotlight creators of English language original music across the country.