A. R. Rehman: "I Am Not A Good Father"

Ashwini Deshmukh meets the monk who sells melodies..AR Rahman

- Ashwini Deshmukh

I can’t stop beaming ever since I heard the news that the prestigious Berklee College Of Music, after conferring an honorary doctorate degree on AR Rahman in 2014, has now announced the Berklee AR Rahman Scholarship in the maestro’s honor. It makes you happy that Rahman, the humble composer, a follower of Sufism, whose music has touched millions, will now be able to help talented Indian artistes move in the right direction. The global music world, time and again, has applauded him for integrating Eastern classical music with electronic music sounds, world music genres along with traditional orchestral arrangements. The genius back home has also earned the title ‘Mozart of Madras’ and the nickname Isai Puyal (musical storm), given his unique musical sensibilities. But the maestro takes all the accolades including the recent scholarship named in his honour with humility.

Rahman reveals that he too wanted to learn music at Berklee but couldn’t do so because of economic constraints. “I missed going to Berklee when I was young. At that time I was the sole earner in my family. The bigger reason was also because I got Mani Ratnam’s Roja (1992). So I chose Roja over my wish to study.” And now the same college, which was a farfetched dream for him, has honored him in such a huge way. “It’s an interesting phase of my life to be a bridge to do greater things for the next generation. So when I see these kids going there with the scholarship in my name, it gives me immense happiness. I hope they come back as amazing musicians and are able to bring change and spread the knowledge that they’ve gathered,” he says.