AR Rahman is set to make his presence felt on the digital streaming platform with his new show ‘Harmony with A.R. Rahman’ which will be launched on Amazon Prime on Independence Day (August 15). The five-part series will see Rahman travelling to four different parts of India, namely Maharashtra, Kerala, Manipur and Sikkim, to discover four new instruments and collaborate with four unique voices in the season finale.
Rahman will play host to artistes Ustad Mohi Baha’un-din Dagar from Mumbai, Kalamandalam Sajith Vijayan from Thrissur, Lourembam Bedabati Devi from Imphal and Mickma Tshering Lepcha from Western Sikkim. The show promises to be a ‘blend of tradition with modern sounds.’
The show’s trailer promises emphasis on travel too. “Explore your country like never before” is what Rahman says at the beginning of the trailer. Similar to the template of the 2011 MTV show ‘The Dewarists’ hosted by Monica Dogra, Rahman too takes up a journey to discover rare sounds. The trailer also features amazing montages of the different places that he travels to.
Known for being camera shy, Rahman, upon being asked during a recent interview as to how he mustered the will to host a show, he felt things changed as he got older. He said, “After Oscars and having lived in America, I think I have learned to articulate myself a bit more.” Rahman had won the Oscars for the best original song and original score for his work in the 2008 Hollywood movie Slumdog Millionaire.
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About the show, Rahman told Firstpost, “The one thing that we really wanted to do was to take these instruments and put them in a very contemporary perspective. I wanted it to be dangerously improvised, where even if it goes completely wrong I knew I could fix it later. It was more like, do whatever you enjoy, I will be a fly on the wall listening to you, but I also have something which won’t disturb you in the process.”
The show is produced by Kavithalayaa, a company founded by the director K. Balachander in 1981.
Here’s the link to the trailer: