Music maestro A.R. Rahman, director Kishore Pandurang Belekar and producer Umesh Kumar Bansal (Zee Studios) were the heroes last evening at the musical event of silent film Gandhi Talks. Rahman and his large team of musicians live-played the background music for several scenes from the silent film. Since the silent scenes (without the background score) were often shown on the big screen before they were shown with the live background score being played, in Jasmine Hall at the majestic Jio World Convention Centre, the genius of A.R. Rahman got underlined in every single scene replayed with the live background music. As if that weren’t enough, songs from the film were rendered live — some by the original singers who’ve lent their voices to the songs, and the balance by other singers.
All the songs are so melodious that the invitees at the event couldn’t stop singing their praises. Rahman revealed that he put in great efforts in finalising the background score for the film. “We recorded the background music, then scrapped a good part of it, then re-recorded fresh music, then scrapped part of it, then re-recorded fresh music again… and this process went on and on,” said Rahman, adding, “I had to make the score outstanding. The director never said ‘no’ to me.” The music composer then joked, “Perhaps, he steered clear of the responsibility so that if people had to abuse the background music, I would be at the receiving end, not he!”
For director Kishore Belekar, the film is special because it has been close to his heart for 25 long years. “I faced rejection from wherever I went and whoever I approached.” Almost everyone told me that nobody would be interested in watching a silent film. But I did not lose hope because I was sure of my script.” Belekar recalled the time he met Zee’s head honcho, Punit Goenka, and told him that the reason Zee Studios should back the project was because it did not have a silent film in its repertoire. “That did it,” informed Kishore Belekar, “because Punit ji said, ‘Yes, that is right. We should produce the film because we need to have a silent film in our list of films produced.'”
Also present at the musical night were Vijay Sethupathi and Siddharth Jadhav, who play leading roles in the film.
Gandhi Talks will release on 30th January in cinemas.