AR Rahman on Thug Life and his creative bond with Mani Ratnam: ‘Common purpose drives us to excel’
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "AR Rahman on Thug Life and his creative bond with Mani Ratnam: ‘Common purpose drives us to excel’")
AR Rahman and Mani Ratnam Photograph: (WION Web Team)
With Mani Ratnam's Thug Life gearing up for its theatrical release, Oscar-winning musician AR Rahman, who has composed the album for Thug Life, opened up about his decades-long friendship.
With Mani Ratnam's Thug Life gearing up for its theatrical release, Oscar-winning musician AR Rahman, who has composed the album for Thug Life, opened up about his decades-long friendship with Mani Ratnam and creative relationship.
AR Rahman's music for Mani Ratnam's films has a separate fanbase of its own. The first movie Rahman ever composed for was Ratnam's 1992 blockbuster Roja. Since then, they have worked together on 17 films, such as Bombay, Guru, OK Kanmani, and most recently, Ponniyin Selvan 1 and 2.
‘That’s the freedom we have’
In an interview with India Today, AR Rahman spoke about their long working relationship: "We feel the same even today! I discovered myself in the jingle industry. He has seen my growth. When I was based in Chennai, he was there. When I was doing Bombay Dreams, he used to come to London for music. He didn't come to Bollywood, though. When I'm doing my virtual reality stuff, he's seen it and commented on it."
He went on to add, “Our relationship is to serve the audience and the cinema. That is our common purpose. That common purpose drives us to excel. In fact, the final mixing of Thug Life was happening day before yesterday. And he asked me if we could make the music a little aggressive in a particular scene. I went to the studio, and we changed it one hour before the engineer left the studio. That's the freedom we have.”
Kamal Haasan and Mani Ratnam reunite after 37 years
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The Thug Life album, which was released recently, has been a major success. The album consists of nine songs. Speaking of the iconic duo, the movie also marks Kamal Haasan and Mani Ratnam reuniting after nearly four decades. They last worked together in the 1987 crime drama Nayakan.
The film boasts an ensemble star cast that includes Silambarasan STR, Trisha Krishnan, Sanya Malhotra, Pankaj Tripathi, and Ali Fazal. The script for the film was co-written by Mani Ratnam and Kamal Haasan.
Thug Life will be released in all major Indian languages and hit theatres worldwide on June 5, 2025.
