A music studio is probably where A R Rahman feels most at home, and the stage, a close second. The Mozart of Madras is preparing to take to the stage again with his highly anticipated The Wonderment Tour, which kicks off at DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on May 3. Even for someone as shy and quiet as him, the composer and singer’s excitement is palpable, when we meet him days ahead of the concert. 

We begin by asking him if he follows any dos and don’ts before getting on stage. “You need to save energy. You need to save your voice. I shut off. I meditate or try to be silent,” smiles the Oscar winner.

Tension, planning, rehearsals, sound check — all of that happens before. When it’s time to perform, the maestro turns inward, seeking stillness. But outside, it hasn’t been quiet. The country is mourning the loss of innocent lives in the recent Pahalgam attack. While many artistes, including Shreya Ghoshal and Arijit Singh, called off their concerts in the wake of the tragedy, Rahman remains resolute: the music must continue.

“Bad people want the country to stop. We don’t want the country to stop. The country is unstoppable. God willing, we will make this a success for WAVES [World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit], for the government of India, the government of Maharashtra, and for all the people buying tickets,” he states.

But there is much noise on the work front too. Last week, the Delhi High Court ordered Rahman and filmmaker Mani Ratnam to pay Rs 2 crore for copyright infringement after their Ponniyin Selvan - Part 2 (2023) song, Veera Raja Veera, was deemed ‘identical’ to the classical composition, Shiva stuti, by the Junior Dagar Brothers. When releasing the song, Rahman and his team had attributed it to a “traditional composition created by Narayana Panditacharya in the 13th century”.

“Even at the risk of getting sued, we gave the credit, and we [got] in trouble for that. But it was worth it. It gave a new vibe to the movie,” he says, before adding, “Ultimately, we don’t want to deny any credits. If you fear everything, you can’t do good things. You need courage.”

Courage and grace underpin Rahman’s professional life. He displayed grace last year, too, as his personal life came under scrutiny when his now-estranged wife Saira Banu and he announced their separation. Did the attention on his personal life over his work get to him?

He reflects, “We are all human. Everybody goes through [difficult phases]. I went through my mother’s death, and my father’s death. It’s all part of life, and everybody has the right to express their views — but be respectful. That’s it.”

Does he ever get angry? The musician breaks into a smile at that, before saying, “Getting angry and not showing it is the art I’m learning slowly. Peace is a choice you make every morning. I want to be peaceful. I don’t want to be angry today.”

The Delhi High Court issued an interim order on Friday in a copyright infringement case filed by Ustad Faiyaz Wasifuddin Dagar, noted classical singer, against Oscar-winning music composer A R Rahman. Dagar claimed the song Veera Raja Veera from Ponniyin Selvan 2 was nearly identical to his father and uncle’s composition, Shiva Stuti, with only minor changes.

The court directed Rahman and Madras Talkies to correct the song credits, acknowledging Nasir Zahiruddin and Nasir Faiyazuddin Dagar as the song’s original creators. The duo was not initially credited, despite the song’s resemblance to Shiva Stuti.

The court also ordered Rahman and the production company to deposit Rs. 2 crore in the court registry and Rs. 2 lakh as costs to the Dagars. The revised credits on OTT and online platforms will now read, “Composition based on Shiva Stuti by late Ustad N Faiyazuddin Dagar and late Ustad Zahiruddin Dagar.”

Justice Prathiba M Singh emphasised that Hindustani classical music, as long as it is original, is protected under copyright law.

India saw the third highest box office collection worldwide in 2023 with around $1.5 billion (12,400 cr) behind only US/Canada and China. The business was almost 20% up from 2022 but there was much higher growth in Hindi cinema due to some huge blockbusters.

Last year had seen the overall business driven by films from the South but this year it was Hindi cinema which will form around 43% of the all India business when it was only 30% (this is taking out the dubbed films from South) in 2022. It is still well short of the 60-65% business Hindi cinema had before the advent of video but those days will never come back. Also, 40% plus is a huge market share in terms of business today though it will be hard to maintain.

The share was around 45% before the pandemic in 2019 also. So, we can say the status was back to normal in 2023 but as mentioned above, the issue is maintaining this and if Hindi cinema can be around 40% of the all India market share, it will mean it is a healthy state as far as the box office goes.

The top fifteen collecting nations across the world in 2023 were as follows.

1. US/Canada - $9.07 billion (75,300 cr)

2. China - $7.71 billion (64,000 cr)

4. Japan - $1.48 billion (12,275 cr)

5. UK/Ireland - $1.36 billion (11,290 cr)

6. France - $1.35 billion (11,200 cr)

7. Germany - $1.01 billion (8400 cr)

8. South Korea - $0.97 (8050 cr)

9. Mexico - $0.94 billion (7800 cr)

10. Australia - $0.67 billion (5550 cr)

11. Italy - $0.55 billion (4550 cr)

12. Spain - $0.54 billion (4475 cr)

13. Brazil -  0.47 billion (3900 Cr)

14. Netherlands - $0.36 billion (3000 cr)

15. Russia - $0.33 billion (2750 cr)

The top ten films in India (all formats and versions) were as below and these films gave 38% of the all India collections as they gave a combined total of 4750 crore apprx with JAWAN leading the way the with a GBOC of 733 crore on all versions and formats..

1. Jawan

2. Animal

3. Pathaan

4. Gadar 2

5. Salaar

6. Jailer

7. Leo

8. Tiger 3

9. Dunki

10. Ponniyin Selvan - Part 2

The pandemic has been over for more than one and a half years and we have seen just five Hindi films cross the 300 crore mark worldwide. Two of these are THE KASHMIR FILES and THE KERALA STORY which have have not done the business due to the films being cinema but other reasons.

The have been seven films reaching the 300 crore mark from the South which is actually a benchmark for most of the films for South barring the likes of RRR and KGF - CHAPTER 2 which have a wider market due to the scale and branding be it director for the former or the franchise for the latter. For Hindi cinema the benchmark should actually be 500 crore now which only PATHAAN has crossed and by leaps and bounds.

Tamil cinema has got a big boost in overseas business due to heavy migration from Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu over the past few years. The numbers of big films from the Tamil film industry in the overseas market are really pushing this industry in terms of worldwide numbers. Tamil cinema had a 300 crore miss by a small margin with VARISU which hit 208 crore (GBOC) in India and 85 crore Overseas for a worldwide total of 293 crore. Hindi cinema also had a very near miss with SOORYAVANSHI which got 299 crore as India contributed 237 crore (GBOC) and Overseas was 62 crore.

The total of 12 films have crossed the 300 crore worldwide mark across India post the pandemic. The difference is that many Hindi films crossed 300 crore before the pandemic and only five have managed post the pandemic. While in South seven have reached post pandemic when before the pandemic there was only ENTHIRAN, KABALI, BAAHUBALI: THE BEGINNING, BAAHUBALI 2: THE CONCLUSION and 2.0.

The films to have crossed 300 crore post pandemic worldwide from different industries is below.

The Kashmir Files

Brahmastra

Drishyam 2

Pathaan

The Kerala Story (Expected)

Pushpa: The Rise - Part 01

RRR

Vikram

Ponniyin Selvan - Part 1

Ponniyin Selvan - Part 2

KGF - Chapter 2

Kantara