AR Rahman On India's Show At Cannes: Young People Are More Intelligent...

Music composer AR Rahman recently shared that talent shouldn't be restricted to a region and young Indian artists like Cannes winner Payal Kapadia, who are in tune with changing times, play a key role in making stories from India go global. Kapadia, an alumnus of the Film & Television Institute of India (FTII), is the first Indian filmmaker to win the Grand Prix award for All We Imagine as Light at the Cannes Film Festival. The Malayalam-Hindi feature, an India-French production, was the first film from an Indian director after 30 years to make it to the main competition section of the European gala.

AR Rahman lauds young artists

AR Rahman, a multiple award-winning musician feted both at home and around the world with double wins at Oscars and Grammys besides a Golden Globe, said beautiful stories from India deserve international recognition. "The spirit of the young people has changed now. They are more intelligent. They know where to move stuff, what kind of stories to tell. As long as we tell beautiful stories about India and not just poverty, it's a good thing," the singer said in an interview with PTI.

"The art of film is not just for (audience at home), it's international... It’s important to learn certain things, not be happy with, 'Oh we got a great audience here, box office is good here.' Some people are not satisfied with that. So they go for (international festivals), Payal Kapadia is one (of them)," the composer added.

AR Rahman recalls his international achievements

Recalling the time when he earned two Academy Awards for the British film Slumdog Millionaire in 2009, AR Rahman said there were people who said he deserved to win an award for Lagaan (which made it to the final five in the best foreign film Oscar category in 2002) and 1992's Roja.

"We want our stories to be heard, represented and accredited. There's a system to follow. Even when I won Oscars and everything for Slumdog Millionaire, (people said) Lagaan should have won, Roja should have won," AR Rahman told PTI.

"I said, 'First of all, I didn't even enter (these awards at the time), I didn't even enter all the stuff in any of the systems'," said the composer, who won the best original song Oscar for Jai Ho and another one for the original score of Slumdog Millionaire.

(With PTI Inputs)