This Independence Day presents with it an opportunity to talk about AR Rahman's iconic composition 'Maa Tujhe Salaam' once again. In the recent past, Shridhar Subramaniam, Sony Music India's President Corporate Strategy and Market Development - Asia and Middle East, spoke about the time Rahman came up with the song that impressed the company executives.
Rahman first presented the song at a Sony Music event in Manila, the Philippines. Recalling the presentation, Shridhar told O2india that "maybe around 200" senior executives of the company were in attendance for the song, including some who are "critical, cynical, as they typically tend to be". However, Shridhar said that when the lights came out and Rahman started singing it, his magic really came through to the audience.
The Sony Music representative added that Rahman's first rendition of the song left all the executives "flabbergasted".
Interestingly, he revealed that despite the lack of understanding among them, they all admired how Rahman composed it.
"It's just a big song. You don't even need to be told it's a big occasion. And to Rahman's credit, nobody understood the lyrics, nobody understood the words, nobody understood anything, but they just understood the quality of sound, and that it sounded so big and so fresh," Shridhar said.
He added that Sony's music labels Epic Records and Columbia Records fought for the release rights of the song, thanks to the quality with which Rahman composed it. "It finally went to Columbia," Shridhar shared before adding that Rahman became a global sensation after the release of 'Maa Tujhe Salaam'.
Shridhar also recalled how he toured Paris with Rahman to promote his music there that made the composer realise a fact about himself. "That's when he realised that he has fans and the world is his playground," Shridhar said about Rahman.
