AR Rahman on social stigmas around musicians

Seoul: Oscar-winning composer AR Rahman says that there are lots of social stigmas around musicians, which is reflected on the big screen.

Rahman is attending the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) with the team of "99 Songs", which is produced and co-written by the Grammy and Oscar-winning musician.

"It's like a fairy tale, where a guy has to write a 100 songs to win the girl, but it's not that simple," variety.com quoted Rahman as saying.

"We have all the social stigmas, musicians are always drunk and dead at the end," he said.

"If you look at most of the iconic movies, they are all losers, like ‘A Star Is Born', or they commit suicide. ‘Inside Llewyn Davis', he gets thrown out by his sister. Why is that stigma, which is reflecting in the movies? Why can't we make something about a success story? Not just success story, but also the internal war which a creative person faces," Rahman added.

Rahman performed live to the music of "99 Songs" at BIFF, leaving the audience spellbound. The film's team also walked the red carpet and also took a selfie with over 3,500 audience members.

The film, directed by Vishwesh Krishnamoorthy, played as part of the festival's Open Cinema strand.

Rahman has worked with the best in the industry, but he chose newcomer Krishnamoorthy to direct the project.

"I know that if I worked with anybody like that then I'll be intimidated to tell them any of my ideas. I wanted somebody who's like a friend, who is also a musician. We found Vishwesh and we shared the same vision," he said.

It took the duo a year to come up with a draft they were satisfied with. The team then went through an extensive auditioning process with casting director Mukesh Chhabra and finally chose debutant Ehan Bhat and Edilsy Vargas as the leads.

"To write was the easiest, to produce was difficult," said Rahman.

Jio Studios is handling international sales and is looking to release "99 Songs" in the first quarter of 2020, after its festival run.

The composer is returning to the Hollywood scene with the Netflix series "Pashmina". In India, he is working on "Bigil" and "Dil Bechara," the Indian remake of "The Fault In Our Stars".