A R Rahman concert in Kozhikode

Ace music composer and Oscar winner A. R. Rahman will be performing live at Kozhikode on May 3 to express solidarity with HIV Positive orphaned children. The show titled 'Jai Ho' is the 'first mega music show' by Rahman after winning the two oscars for Slumdog Millionaire.

Over 50 well-known musicians, besides Rahman, will be participating in the show, being organised by the NGO Global Kerala initiative-'Keraleeyam' for rehabilitating HIV positive orphaned children. Earlier the venue of this show was planned at Thiruvananthapuram.

A.R. Rahman who arrived in Kochi on Saturday told the media that he is living his dream – with great opportunities lined up and prayers answered, the learner in him is still awake. He prefers to move on and take the Oscar in his stride. Rahman said his father, the late R. K. Shekhar, who was composer and music conductor of Malayalam films, had given his 'soul to malayalam film music'. Works of music directors like Dakshinamoorthy, the late Devarajan Master, A T Ummer and his father's music are the ones that he like. 'I also adore veteran singer K. J. Yesudas'. Malayalam singers are gifted, dedicated and their foundation is very strong, he added.

“The Oscar gives great respect and world acknowledges the talent. The biggest award is the love that listeners give, but awards like Oscar will expose our music to the common man in Korea, China or Russia.". The song, which fetched him the Oscar award, Jai Ho from the film Slumdog Millionaire, is definitely not the best of his works. But he put it differently, “That is the best song in the film, to communicate the essence of the film."

He has answered this question a million' times, so Rahman had his answer ready when someone pointed out that the film depicts the nation in a poor light and could have an impact on the tourism industry. “Every country has a dark side. So, I think the film is a universal one. It is more important to me that two kids walked the red carpet at the Oscars."

He said that he normally takes more time to score music for films. But for Slumdog Millionaire he completed the song in only three weeks. The Chennai-based star composer said that he would be joining Resul Pookutty, who has also won the Oscar for sound for the same film for a Rs 100 crore film called Blue. Another project is a bond film with David Herold.

On scoring music for Malayalam films, he remarked that it depends on opportunties and timing. "During the 90's I thought opportunties will come. Definitely, there will be opportunties in the future," he said.

This global tour is being planned as part of an awareness campaign on Santhwanam, a project for rehabilitation of HIV/AIDS affected children.

Rahman has decided to join the movement as part of his attempt to fight back “discriminations of all kinds. There is a lot of hatred around, between nations and religions."
The other stop-overs have not been decided for this global tour, but people in different parts of the country have started talking about the Kozhikode concert.