The Exchanges

Q Ok, this is on the work side. Tell us what's going on in the personal side. By personal, I don't mean like some controversial thing or anything like that. Where is your headspace at? How are you looking at society, at music, at what is occupying mindshap?

A I think what's beautiful about the past, uh, I would say, uh, 18 years is starting the foundation, starting the music school, and, uh, watching miracles happen there. You know, kids, Um, demolishing the whole stigma, saying that this caste is intelligent, this caste is not, demolishing all that stuff. If any kid who's created by God, this, the light of God is in every kid, and the knowledge comes from God, it's not that they are worthy or not. If they're taught properly, and we find those kids, they shine, they become an orchestra, and they all play together as one voice. It was one emotion. So that's what we discovered, and it's a phenomenal breakthrough, which we are proud as a family. My sister runs a school, I go there, I'm the mentor, I'm the principal. And then recently we went to Canada for the Glen Gold Foundation. They invited us, and they all played. It's such a great moment to see kids from corporation schools taking your flight, going to Canada, And playing for, you know, billionaires sitting there. And that itself is a great statement. And that keeps me going. If I'm the principal of that kind of kids, I need to be shining more. I need to be working more. And that keeps me going. Like people ask me what keeps me going is that I need to inspire my, my school children there, my students, where we are teaching incredible artistry. Right? To sing or to play the piano, …

AI assessment note: “starting the foundation, starting the music school, and, uh, watching miracles happen there.”

Q Do you still feel that way about movies?

A I always, I always, that's one of the reasons why when other composers were doing 30 movies a year, I felt I would do two. I started with two, and then three, and then four, then became 12. Then I, I escaped to resist people coming to me. I went to England and sat with Henry Lloyd Webber doing Bombay Dreams. The reason is to resist And grow. Because I'm giving away all the stuff I learned, but if I don't have anything new to offer, I'll be thrown away. So it's important to evolve artistically as a musician, composer, is when I think the, the, the foundation of what I'm doing now is probably my time in London, my time in Hollywood. Not doing music, studying, going for short courses. You know, unconnected with music, but to understand art, art in a very different way.

AI assessment note: “I always, that's one of the reasons why when other composers were doing 30 movies”

Q And then everything changed. People around you treated you changed. How did you change?

A How did I change? I was like, okay, this will be the last movie. I don't want this. I don't want movies because I've been in movies and it's so boring, but the Mani Ratna movies are completely different. And he kind of listened to me like, this is what I want to do, or I don't want to do movies. Then I told him, like I said, I'm very satisfied working with you. I don't want to work with other people. Uh, he said, no, no, no, no, you should work with everyone. So I said, I'm very happy working just with you and I'll do jingles or I'll do private albums. I said, no, you should work with everyone. And, uh, so my first 10 years was like, Okay. Enough. After this movie, I'll leave everything. I'll do my own stuff. Even movie was my own stuff, but I have something non-film.

AI assessment note: “How did I change? I was like, okay, this will be the last movie.”

Q Is it a chicken and egg problem? Because the discretionary spending power of Indian audience is limited to a certain number.

A Can you just think about an airport? Oh, the airport is very costly. Let's go on trains. We can't. It's a necessity for people need the, they have a right to have proper infrastructure. It's very important. There should be enough places where, which brings hope, pride, you know, entertainment. If you don't deliver that, they take a flight, they go to Germany, watch Hans Zimmer and Phantom of the Opera in London, and they come and, oh, that's so great. Like, what about the person who can't afford that? Why? They don't deserve that. They also deserve to see, you know, you are influencing minds which can become the next Einstein or Ramanujam or, you know, Steve Jobs. This is the way you should inspire them, not, they don't need to see that only in America or England. Our country is now prosperous enough to. It's important to be in a chorus to say that we need this. This is for future India, for our youth, for our children to experience all this stuff.

AI assessment note: “It's a necessity for people need the, they have a right to have proper infrastructure.”

Q Karma. This is leading towards karma as the answer?

A Uh, I think in, in, in the belief of, you know, Sufism or in Islam, um, You're judged by your deeds, right? Not by how much money you have, what car you have, or how famous you are, but your deeds. The deeds, so that's why we're all spiritual. We call us fuckies, spiritual beggars. We might be rich in money, but poor in spirituality. And that's one of the reasons why, um, I consider myself as a spiritual beggar. So I go to That cause I sit near the beach or meditate just to get spiritually rich. And spiritual richness comes in, and the material richness follows, right? If you need it. If you don't need it, it's fine. And then there is the aura which comes to you, and it is a blessing which comes to you. So your work becomes successful. You, what you do with intention becomes more, um, appreciated, I would say. Yeah.

AI assessment note: “in the belief of, you know, Sufism or in Islam... You're judged by your deeds”

Q So I used to follow Meta now, Facebook then stock for the duration that they attempted to put a lot of money behind the metaverse. They would spend something like eight, nine billion dollars a year if I'm not wrong about the number. And eventually they ditched it. So does that, they didn't ditch it or they stopped the amount of money that was being spent on it?

A I think what happened was for, for making VR movies, you need to unlearn many things for content. So film people come and use their techniques to do virtual reality. It makes people throw up. So because I didn't have any experience in film, I could take the path of what I felt will be right for, for me. So like moving the camera would be like nausea, then the frame rate, global shutter, and what kind of experience would be great for a person who's a, it shouldn't be a replacement for cinema, but an alternate coexisting, right? So what you don't get in cinema, you'll get on this one. In cinema, you get the kind of community feel, like, you all whistle on the same thing. You all, all, all stack. I look at the other person. Oh, that's a great scene. You know, that you can't do on VR. It's very personal. You can't look at your Facebook, Twitter, and.

AI assessment note: “for making VR movies, you need to unlearn many things for content.”