BANGALORE: What does one really say about a biography that started off with the consent of the principal character and ended up with being the unofficial history of the man?
What can one say about information that has been gleaned from the people around Rahman’s place, while waiting to be called in to meet the big man, the meetings spread over a couple of handfuls of thirty minute sittings which were further spread over a six year period with a globally renowned personage like A R Rahman? Details obtained from aired interviews, from quite obviously what was a one off interaction with the man’s mother?
What can one say about the first book on an icon about whom very little is in the public domain, and yet is a person who seems to be going from strength to strength right from his first award in 1991 for the film â€?Roja’ to the two Oscars last year for the British made film Slumdog Millionaire?
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Rahman is a very private person who values his privacy and reveres, nay worships his mother as he has oft repeated in the rare television interviews that fame has enforced upon him. Mathai tries to enlighten the reader about his early life, breaches the topic of his gradual conversion from Hinduism to Islam, his way of working, his ways creating music, his work with the musical greats and all that is expected of a biography.
But has she really been able to dwell into the mind of the man, about what makes him really tick, is he really a momma’s boy, or is he still bound to do his mother’s bidding about the major decisions in his life, is this a reflection of the Hindu concept of parents being Gods’ on earth? What really makes the man tick?
That Kamini Mathai has toiled hard on the work commissioned to her by Penguin India is quite obvious from the time it has taken to compile as also when one reads the book and has had an interaction with her. The timing of the release of Rahman’s biography soon after he won a plethora of awards with the Oscar as a culmination for â€?Slumdog Millionaire’ is very appropriate and Mathai can expect a good number of sales.
Rahman is still a relatively young man, in his forties and has a long way ahead, with many more awards to pocket. He is planning to write his own biography or maybe commission one later according to Mathai. Till that happens, Mathai has opened a small window into the life of one of India’s glorious son’s, who is definitely larger than life, despite or because of his insistence on privacy. Lets’ wait for others and maybe Rahman himself to one day unravel some more. Until then one is left with more questions than answers! And until then, quite like Rahman, the reviewer wishes Mathai well!
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Bangalore based Tarachand Wanvari heads South India for the Indian Television Dot Com group which publishes www.radioandmusic.com
