Ace filmmaker Mani Ratnam's magnum opus, Ponniyin Selvan: 2, featuring music composed by Academy Award winner A. R. Rahman is all set to invade screens worldwide on April 28. With only three days to go for the release of the sequel to 2022's blockbuster Ponniyin Selvan: 1, the duo recently sat down with National Award-winning film critic Baradwaj Rangan, the Editor-in-Chief of Galatta Plus, to talk about the songs in the upcoming epic historical action adventure film and its grand scope, while also reminiscing their journey in Tamil cinema.
- Meeting of the three Chola siblings in PS: 2? 'Chiyaan' Vikram reveals exciting new GLIMPSE! Check out the latest pics!
- The much-awaited first GLIMPSE of the 'Aga Naga' song in Ponniyin Selvan: 2 - watch Karthi and Trisha's romance here!
- Ponniyin Selvan: 2 'Chinnanjiru Nilave' song video GLIMPSE - teases the meeting of Aditha Karikalan and Nandini! WATCH IT HERE!
- EXCLUSIVE: Ponniyin Selvan: 1 and 2 background scores - A. R. Rahman and Mani Ratnam talk release plans! WATCH VIDEO!
During the interview, A. R. Rahman was asked about the Ponniyin Selvan: 2 anthem song and how it has a different flavor compared to the rest of the album. The hit composer stated, "He (Mani Ratnam) said that we need a promotional song. And, I was thinking of various things. And also, I felt like, what if we make this song Hindi-friendly? Because we're making for Tamil and its become like a dubbing song for Hindi. So, let's compose it in Hindi and we know how to do it in Tamil. We can interpret very easily in Tamil. So, we approached Arijit Singh to sing this one and it could be used for promotion in Hindi to push it a little more. I then came up with a melody, he liked it and we edited it." He added, "Actually, I'm working on a meta-project and I had done a tune for that. Very Jackson kind of a thing. And, then I said, 'What if we mix these two?' and I took that tune from there and mixed them. He didn't know about that. And, he said, 'That's a great idea!' But, we could never crack the lyrics. We tried a lot of celebrity rappers and they came up with their own ideas and it didn't work. And then, just three days before the release of that, I said, 'Let's sit down and crack this'. So, he liked the idea because of the gibberish. We went back to that meter and Siva (Ananth) again worked till morning 4 a.m. and cracked the lyrics. Then, when we put it together, it sounded right. Of course, the whole orchestra in London, what we recorded is fully-supported by this beautiful cello-playing in the end."
Mani Ratnam then opened up on his reaction to the PS: 2 anthem song and said, "We were looking for it and just needed something that has some modern ring to it. Ponniyin Selvan: 2 has a lot of songs, but a lot of the songs are in the background. The screenplay doesn't have the time to get into singing and dancing. All of them are supportive of the story. So, we just wanted one song which would drive and will give a high when it comes on film that you feel warm about it. That's what we were searching for and he got it." A. R. Rahman then stated, "The construction of the whole thing (PS: 2 anthem) is more Hindi-friendly. Even though with Tamil now, it's locked to Tamil. It was done so that it was more ease for the melodically Hindi-friendly kind of a thing, in my mind."
Watch Mani Ratnam and A. R. Rahman in conversation with Baradwaj Rangan below:
