I still remember the first time I heard or rather saw Roja's songs in Rangoli and Chitrahaar in the good old DD days. That was the time when it was uncommon for a Tamil movie to be dubbed and released for the North Indian audience. Being a 10 year old kid then, my first and only reaction was 'the songs are so weird and so south-indian-ish'. Of course, one could argue they are indeed weird if you have heard Rukmanni, Rukmanni. Well not just for me, but for the entire Indian Music Industry. Audio-cassette buyers like me and my brother thought the same the first time those songs fell on our ears. It was like a culture shock especially for us living in the north.
It is said about Rahman's music that it grows on you with time. And grow it did. Post Roja, the entire music fraternity was taken by storm with the advent of this prodigy. And then Rangeela happened, the first Hindi movie album by the maestro. The Only difference this time was that it didnt take much time for anyone to develop a fondness for the songs. The first time anyone heard 'Tanha Tanha' or 'Rangeela Re', was forced to listen to it over and over again. And the movie's success and some amazing performances ensured that the other songs became a rage as well. 'Aai yai yo' and 'Yaaro sun lo zara' were playing on every-one's Walkmans. Even a lesser known song , 'Hai Rama' remained on so many Musical Top 10s long after movie was gone. It's Rahman's music, it grows on you with time.
The fact that the soundtrack of Bombay sold 12 million copies worldwide is proof enough of Rahman's growing musical stature. The Mani Ratnam and Rahman combo gave the music lovers and listeners their best time ever, followed by Dil Se. The showman of those times, Subhash Ghai, always had a good ear for music. He spotted Rahman and Taal happened. I was in my first year of engineering when the album came out. Abstract looking posters of Aishwarya on the audio-cassette covers and a long list of songs in the album were really a downer for me (I was not a music connoisseur then, neither am I now. But I did tend to base my decision of buying the audio cassette on the first look. After all, they costed 35 bucks a piece then!) How could Subhash Ghai and Rahman do this? What was going in their heads while making this sort of album? I bumped across a cassette bought by a friend and gave it a try. And my stand of not going ahead with the purchase stood vindicated. This was totally something Ghai and Rahman hadn't done before and was absolute trash. This was till I watched the movie. Its not that the movie was great (except only Anil Kapoor IMHO) but listening to the same songs in a Dolby powered cinema (a new technology back then) and in the grand scale which only Ghai could create, an entirely new character of the music surfaced. I was absolutely blown away and bought myself the album few days later. 12 years from its release, Taal still remains my favourite album. It's Rahman's music, it grows on you with time.
After years of serving the Indian audience, Rahman's work finally got noticed globally in Slumdog Millionaire. There were arguments and counter-arguments floating around if it was indeed his best work and worthy of an Oscar. Never mind, it worked out best for Rahman and he is now tying up with various International artists, even roping them in for his Bollywood projects. This perhaps also took a toll on the number of Indian projects he took up, but ardent Rahman fans never complained. A Fusion of Rahman and the Western world's musical sensibilities; what more could a music lover ask for. He still managed to churn out Raavan, Yuvraaj and few others. Music was always the high points of these movies (and was good indeed, I am a Rahman fan after all!), but the movies’ content let down the music as well. We were left craving for the real Rahman stuff.
Meanwhile about a decade ago, Napster happened. And it catapulted the way the entire music industry operated. Many music companies busted in the wake of this new development of downloading and sharing songs (read piracy). Stacking the audio CDs was also a big concern and the easier option was to download the mp3s and store them on your hard drive. Saves a hell lot of physical space. But interestingly, Rahman mania has started creating another positive development. Whenever a Rahman album is out (specifically a movie album), I hear people around me saying, 'I am going to buy the album, this is the least I can do it for Rahman's music'. Not that the 150 bucks they pay are gonna end up in his pocket, its just the sincerity in his music that brings a change of heart.
After 20 years of literally growing up listening to Rahman, Rockstar lands in the market. My experience of two decades tells me I got to listen to all its songs for few days repeatedly before passing any judgement. So I bought the CD (read, NOT downloaded) and have been listening to its songs in my car audio for about 10 days now. And suddenly I observe, its being played and hummed everywhere around. I can hear it playing loud in my office premises after work hours. Even the lesser known songs, like "Shaher main" have found a permanent place on peoples' lips. And I am pretty sure, its gonna remain the same for years to come.
After all, its Rahman's music. It not just grows on you with time, it stays there as well.
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