AR Rahman said he spent three and a half years developing the music for Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana. He called it his biggest film yet and enjoyed collaborating with Hans Zimmer. “This is the most exciting project I’ve ever worked on,” he said. The team worked across many global locations.
AR Rahman has opened up about his experience working on Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana, revealing that he has spent nearly three and a half years developing the music for the upcoming film. The composer also spoke about collaborating with Hans Zimmer and the extensive process involved in creating the soundtrack. The film stars Ranbir Kapoor as Ram, Sai Pallavi as Sita and Yash as Ravana. Rahman and Zimmer have worked together on the music, with the composer describing their collaboration as a positive experience.
AR Rahman calls Ramayana his biggest film yet, says soundtrack took 3.5 years to develop; speaks on collaborating with Hans Zimmer
Talking about the project, Rahman said, “This is the most exciting project I’ve ever worked on. I've never done such a big movie ever in my life.”
Rahman also said that the response to the music so far has been encouraging. With several songs already released, including Jai Jai Ram, he said there is more music to come. “It's a good time now, because we worked on this for almost three and a half years. And now, it's nice to see the response. ‘Jai Jai Ram’ is out, and almost 70 percent of the album is released. We have some surprises coming up next,” he said.
AR Rahman on working with Hans Zimmer
The composer also discussed reuniting with Hans Zimmer for Ramayana. The two have known each other for several years, with their association going back to 2009. “There was a very friendly vibe when I went back to his studio. He was very excited that finally we were working together,” Rahman recalled.
The music production involved work across several locations, including London, Los Angeles and Abu Dhabi. Rahman said the scale of the project required considerable effort from everyone involved. “Quite a lot of work has gone into this movie. When you see it, you’ll understand,” he said.
Rahman recalls intensive music production
Rahman described the process of developing the soundtrack as demanding, with several versions of the music being revisited before reaching the final version. “Sometimes we had to go through 13 different iterations to come back to the second or the first iteration,” he said. “It's a process which was a bit exhausting, but gratifying in the end.”
The composer also spoke about the challenges of working on different versions of the film, including multiple languages and changes to the visual effects. Rather than seeing these as obstacles, Rahman said he wanted to contribute to the process. “Because there are so many different levels of creative things being done in the CG, different languages and different versions of the movie,” he said. “I remember thinking that I should be a part and help this whole process rather than become an obstruction and complaining. I'll help to ease the process.”
The final months of production were particularly demanding, with Rahman recalling frequent travel between Los Angeles, London, Budapest, Mumbai and Chennai. “Sometimes we slept for three hours, four hours. We've been traveling to Los Angeles, London, Budapest, Mumbai and Chennai—these five different places constantly scoring,” he said.
AR Rahman on taking Ramayana to a global audience
Rahman also expressed pride in being part of a project that aims to present Indian mythology and culture to audiences internationally. “I'm really proud of the fact that this is probably the biggest movie I've ever done in my career. And it looks incredibly good. I'm really proud that we are able to take a culture from this land to present to the world where Sony is distributing 70,000 screens for the first time...and I'm a part of it,” he said.
When asked to describe what audiences can expect from the music of Ramayana, Rahman summed it up simply: “Epic. Really epic.”