Sister prays for AR Rahman's Oscar Victory

Chennai: She is hoping her brother will bring back at least two Oscars for Slumdog Millionaire. Music maestro A.R. Rahman's elder sister Reihana, a well-known Tamil music composer and singer, says the family is very excited and deliriously happy at his super success.

“We are hoping he will win at least two Oscars. We trust in god and have surrendered to him,” Reihana told IANS in Chennai.

Rahman has been nominated for three Oscars - Best Original Score, for the song Jai Ho and for O Saya.

Though Rahman's bagging awards is nothing new for the family, an Academy Award will of course be special.

”Awards may have become commonplace for Rahman, but we are deliriously happy on every occasion. The mood now is similar to that on the eve of his maiden honour for Roja. We are excited, but not nervous about the special honour," Reihana said.

Reihana has yet to wish her brother luck. “I will, when everybody else has finished doing that,” she said with a chuckle.

Tanvi Shah, who crooned the Oscar-nominated Jai Ho is optimistic and proud of her mentor.

”When Rahman Sir wins the Oscar, it would be for the whole nation,” Shah told IANS.

”Two weeks ago when I congratulated him breathlessly, he replied, 'Congrats to you too!' This shows why we have a proud sense of belonging as he values our team work. He may be thousands of miles away, in a different continent, but to us he is virtually next door,” Shah said.

Shah has also rendered another number Gangsta Blues in the movie.

Young Madhumita, another singer in Slumdog, is sure Rahman will bring home at least one Oscar.

“I have a very strong feeling that he will come home with an Oscar. I want to catch every second from the moment when Rahman's name is announced,” Madhumita told IANS.

Already in celebration mode, Madhumita is all keyed up to watch the big event and the man who, according to her, ‘unleashes the creativity in every singer’.

“I will always be grateful to Rahman Sir for the Slumdog... opportunity. I only came to know how big it was when I saw the album with Mia and Sukhvinder's names on it too,” she recalled.

“The Liquid Dance number was a challenge because Rahman asked me to rap with jathis (notations), which are normally used only in south Indian classical music,” Madhumita added.

PA Deepak, one of the main sound engineers for the movie and its songs, other than Jai Ho and Dreams on Fire which were done by the late H Sridhar, has expressed his 'wish' already to Rahman.

“He called me from LA for some work and asked me what I wanted from the US. I said to him 'I want an Oscar'. With intricate knowledge of the pluses of each technician and singer, Rahman brings out the best in us without pushing us too much. Working with him is indeed an inspiring pleasure," Deepak told IANS.

If Slumdog wins even one Oscar, its Tamil dubbed version Naanum Kodeeshwaran may get a windfall, according to Sunil Narvekar, who is currently exhibiting the movie here.

”The publicity generated during the run-up to the Oscars is a win-win situation for the movie. And when Rahman is given the gold-plated Oscar statuette, it would be our crowning glory,” Narvekar said.

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AR Rahman's date with the Oscars!

That Indian music maestro A R Rahman always coveted the prestigious Oscars is further borne by writer-director Krishna Shah.

Remember Shah, he made the first Holly-Bolly film in 1978 called Shalimar that starred Dharmendra and Zeenat Aman with Rex Harrison, John Saxon and Julia Miles? Well, unknown to many even in Bollywood is that Shah is an Oscars jury member.

And that he met Rahman three years ago in LA when the latter was doing shows. Shah, who has made several low budget films abroad since Shalimar, wanted Rahman to score the music for his script Baiju The Gypsy. “But Rahman was short of time,” Shah told BT. “Yet, he made a deal with me; if I took him to the Oscar Awards, he would give me three hours to narrate my script. I convinced my wife (who had bought a special gown for the evening) to stay home and instead took Rahman along for the event!”

The story doesn’t end there. For Shah revealed, “Rahman had smuggled in a camera and kept clicking away during the awards presentation. I was mortified. I feared we would be caught. Then, during the intermission, Rahman spotted a huge statue of the Oscar. He stood next to it and asked me to take his picture. Which I obliged.

And Rahman remarked, even while mailing this picture to his family in Chennai, that one year he would take the real Oscar home.” Now that Rahman has actually been nominated for the Academy Awards for his music in Slumdog Millionaire, Shah is delighted to see the India music genius’ secret ambition bearing fruit. “It took him three years and now he has the opportunity to take three Oscars home,” added Shah.

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AR Rahman & Sukhwinder to perform at Oscars

While we are all glad with AR Rahman receiving the Oscar nominations for Slumdog Millionaire, here’s the icing on the cake. Rahman and singer Sukhwinder Singh have been invited to open the eighty first Annual Academy Awards night, scheduled for Feb 21 at Los Angeles. The duo will perform their super-hit number ‘Jai ho’.

Giving us the great news, our source, who is close to Sukhwinder, says, “Rahman had called up Sukhwinder, telling him that the authorities of the Academy Awards had asked him to open the ceremony. Rahman asked Sukhwinder to prepare himself for another live performance. Nothing new in that, except, this time, it would be for the Oscars! Gulzar, who has written the song, is likely to make an appearance on the awards night too.”

Adds the source, “Rahman will work on the song and modify it to set it in sync with the live orchestra and make it suitable for a stage presentation. Rahman and Sukhwinder are looking forward to it. Sukhwinder is of the opinion that the Slumdog nominations have raised India’s bar in the international market and hence, they would now have to be extra cautious about the quality of work they deliver.” An ecstatic Sukhwinder tells us, “I’m waiting for an official confirmation, till then I cannot comment on it.”

Interestingly, the trio of Rahman, Gulzar and Sukhwinder had earlier worked together on ‘Chaiyya chaiyya’ from ‘Dil Se’, which was included in the Denzel Washington starrer ‘Inside Man’.

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