Subhash Ghai has given Hindi film music followers a personal account of a crucial casting choice. In a note on Instagram, the veteran filmmaker described A.R. Rahman as “a blessed talent from our universe” and said the composer did more than score his films—he altered the way Mumbai’s film industry heard itself.
The hesitation before Taal
Ghai wrote that he was nervous about offering Taal to Rahman. The composer, he recalled, hardly knew Hindi lyrics and was not deeply connected to Hindi filmmaking at that point. The doubts eased when Rahman mentioned that he used to play the “Hero flute” linked to traditional Hindi film music. That detail, Ghai said, let him relax and enter a collaboration on Rahman’s own musical terms.
Taal, released in 1999 and starring Anil Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Akshaye Khanna, became known as much for its soundtrack as for its story. It began a partnership that continued with Kisna: The Warrior Poet in 2005 and Yuvvraaj in 2008.
Scores that shifted the mainstream
Ghai’s tribute looked beyond his own films. He credited Rahman with changing the film music culture with three later scores, each of which pushed a different set of influences into the centre of Hindi cinema:
- Lagaan (2001): folded Indian musical idioms into the demands of a period narrative.
- Rang De Basanti (2006): gave a young ensemble a contemporary arrangement shaped by Indian sources.
- Rockstar (2011): placed rock alongside Indian classical and other traditions.
Ghai also noted Rahman’s international recognition: two Academy Awards in 2009 for Slumdog Millionaire, including Best Original Song for “Jai Ho” and Best Original Score.
Why the story still resonates
This is not only a warm tribute from one collaborator to another. It puts the Taal decision at the centre of a larger change. A composer who seemed unfamiliar with Hindi cinema’s language became one of its defining voices, without losing his own musical signature. Ghai’s point about Rahman’s adaptability—learning the sound of any land or culture and responding to any director—captures why his influence reached beyond a single hit.
For readers who follow Hindi cinema with memory, the moment described here is worth holding onto: a successful filmmaker setting aside his initial fear because a musician knew the details of the tradition he was entering. That trust became three films, a run of era-defining scores and an Oscar-winning crossover that made the rest of the world listen, too.
Source: INDIA New England News
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