Ram Gopal Varma thought AR Rahman had gone mad, found 'Rangeela' music horrible at first: 'It was slow poison'

The music of 'Rangeela' is still popular even 30 years later. The film starring Aamir Khan, Urmila Matondkar, Jackie Shroff is considered iconic and all the songs - be it the 'Spirit Of Rangeela' or 'Tanha Tanha' or 'Haaye Rama', all the songs are classics today. At that point in time, AR Rahman was not as popular in Hindi cinema and he was still trying to make his mark. That's when Ram Gopal Varma showed faith in him and only wanted him for 'Rangeela' music. But did you know that RGV thought Rahman has gone crazy when he first heard the music of the film.

In an interview O2india, as the film completes 30 years, the makers spoke about the film. Varma spoke about the song 'Haaye Rama', and said, "Haaye Rama Yeh Kya Hua”, RGV revealed, “I wanted a very erotic number. At the back of my mind, I had “Kaate Nahi Katte” from Mr India as a reference. I described to him how we wanted to shoot it, and he came up with this tune. I thought he had gone mad. I thought, by mistake, he had sent me something else—some classical Carnatic raga” He called Rahman to confront. RGV added, "I asked him, ‘I wanted something erotic, and you’ve sent me this?’ Rahman told me, ‘Sir, this is made for the same situation.’ I was like, how can we fit this situation with that tune?”


In the same interview, Rahman explained, “If you look at the roots of our culture—including Hindu mythology—songs have always been about ragas. There is a raga for each emotion, and that is the foundation of music. If that is lost and you create a song just for the sake of cheesy lyrics, it becomes too crass and unhealthy for me. I was trying to make it interesting and rooted in our culture.”

However, as he kept hearing the song, it was stuck in his head. “When I had the CD with me, I kept playing it every once in a while, and then suddenly, it got stuck in my head., he said. But Rahman was always sure of his work. He said, I was confident this would work. When we produced it, I saw him getting restless, walking around the studio, and already imagining the shots he wanted to take during that song.” When the track was full made, it blew Ram Gopal Varma away, he admitted, “I had never imagined that the tune could be presented like that, in that format.”

Further talking about 'Spirit Of Rangeela', Ram Gopal Verma said, “When he sent me Spirit of Rangeela, I was with my cousin. We heard it together, and my cousin’s first reaction was, ‘It’s horrible.’ Now I was confused. I didn’t know if it was good or bad. I had something else in my mind and didn’t expect what Rahman delivered. And when my cousin called it horrible, I felt really low.”

He added, “Later, while traveling for a shoot, I asked my driver what he thought of the tune. He also said, ‘Horrible. Very bad. What is this music? I played the song at my shoot location, and by lunchtime, everyone on set was already singing it. The whole phenomenon, which logically I can’t understand, is like the slow poison of Rahman.”

Explaining more on Rahman's style of music, RGV said, “If you look at it logically, I don’t think in today’s time anyone would listen to something so many times in order to like it. I think most people’s first reaction to Rahman’s music is that it’s very unexpected. They always have another hit song in their mind, and when Rahman’s music doesn’t sound like that, they reject it. But eventually, they get used to it.”