Aadujeevitham Audio Launch—AR Rahman: The dream in Blessy's eyes made me sign up for the film

On Sunday, the grand audio launch of director Blessy's much-awaited film, Aadujeevitham, took place at Adlux International Convention Centre, Kochi. The film, based on an incredible true story, stars Prithviraj Sukumaran and Amala Paul in the lead roles. The music for this survival drama has been composed by AR Rahman. Produced by Visual Romance, Aadujeevitham is all set to hit the screens on March 28.

Along with the film's cast and crew members, the star-studded audio launch function was also attended by actors Mohanlal, Tovino Thomas, Roshan Mathew, Rajisha Vijayan, and veteran filmmakers Sathyan Anthikad, Jayaraj, Rajeev Anchal. The event started with A R Rahman's speech about what Kerala and Malayalis mean to him, invoking his father, R K Shekhar's significant stint in Malayalam cinema as a composer. "My first experience in a Malayalam movie was in 1981 when Arjunan master wanted me to operate a record player and I got paid Rs 50 for it. But the first movie I composed was Sangeeth Sivan's Yodha in 1992," he said, ruminating on how life came full circle for him as he has composed for a Malayalam film after all these years. On what made him sign up for  Aadujeevitham, Rahman said, "The dream in the director's eyes."

Acclaimed novelist Benyamin, whose 2008 novel the film is based on, got on stage next to share his thoughts. When asked why he refrained from writing the screenplay, he said, "I always think it's better not to ask someone who's good at volleyball if they can play basketball too. I know both are entirely different kinds of games; hence, I didn't take up that responsibility. Right from the film's conception, I had decided not to write the adapted screenplay, and I'm all the more glad about that decision after watching the film."

Shortly afterwards, Najeeb, whose life the film and novel was based on, was invited onto the stage. The Alappuzha-native expressed his gratitude towards Benyamin and the film's team. Next on stage was the Academy Award-winning sound designer, Resul Pookutty, who also released the 251st edition of the novel alongside Benyamin and Najeeb. Pookutty shared his experiences of working with the film over the last five years, while also revealing that he is still working on the film's final mix.

Rafeeque Ahmed, the Malayalam lyricist of the film, joined AR Rahman on stage to share how the tunes were composed after writing the lyrics—an unconventional process in today's times. The speech was followed up by a performance of the song, 'Periyone',  a poignant melody crooned by Jithin and the composer himself. It was also revealed that the first two lines of this track were written by AR Rahman himself.

Sanaa Moussa, a Palestinian singer and a regular vocalist at AR Rahman's Sufi concerts, performed a folk composition from the northern part of Palestine. Speaking about his discovery of this gifted singer, AR Rahman, who was also a part of this song, added, "This lady! You know when all that stuff happened, I didn't know if she was alive or not, When this October thing happened, I was so worried, but she is a rockstar. Look at the kind of courage. She has not even mentioned all the stuff that has happened," he said, referring to the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict.

A gorgeous romantic duet, 'Ninne Kinaavu Kaanum,' was then performed by Chinmayi Sripaada and Vijay Yesudas. The final song of the album, an Arabic Sufi number, was performed by Murtaza, Raja Hassan and Faiz along with the composer. Blessy revealed that this track comes up at one of the most crucial junctures in the film.

Talking about his journey of making the film, Prithviraj said that it was nothing compared to the sacrifices Blessy made. Thanking AR Rahman's work for the film, he added, "I wish I had the score with me when I was acting. Thank you for what you've done for the film. You are as big a character as Najeeb is in the film." 

Speaking about the reason why he chose Prithviraj Sukumaran for the role of Najeeb, Blessy said, "For realising such a demanding portrayal, both physically and mentally, it requires an immense amount of dedication, which I saw in him." About spending around 10 years of his life around this one film alone, the director added, "I'm reminded of Benyamin's adage from the book, which says that the lives we haven't experienced are just tall stories for us. In the same way, I would like to remember this journey as one such tall story."