AR Rahman and Hans Zimmer are finally working together, but their musical partnership could have started many years ago. The Oscar winning Indian composer has set aside his rule of not collaborating with other musicians to join Zimmer for Nitesh Tiwari's Ramayana.
Three songs have been released so far and they're receiving a positive response from listeners. However, Rahman has now shared an interesting story about how he almost worked with Zimmer more than a decade ago.
Hans Zimmer, the composer behind Inception, Interstellar and Pirates of the Caribbean series, among others, had invited AR Rahman to work together years ago, but the musician was taking a break from work at the time and did not accept the offer.
Rahman recently recalled the missed opportunity, in an interview with Hindustan Times, saying, “He had actually invited me to work together 14–15 years ago, right after the Oscar (he won for Slumdog), but back then I was in chill-out mode.”
AR Rahman claimed he usually prefers to work alone because he does not like to interfere too much when working with others. He feels that working with Hans Zimmer on Ramayana is a special opportunity.
Rahman believes Zimmer's name can attract viewers from countries such as New Zealand and across Europe. People who don't watch an Indian film will become interested in Nitesh Tiwari's project because of Zimmer's involvement.
Directed by Nitesh Tiwari, Ramayana, scheduled to release on November 5, features Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Ram, Sai Pallavi as Sita and Yash as Ravana. The cast also includes Ravie Dubey, Sunny Deol, Vivek Oberoi, Lara Dutta, Arun Govil, Kajal Aggarwal, Anupam Kher, Kunal Kapoor, Sheeba Chaddha, Rakul Preet Singh and Indira Krishnan.
Although the film is still 10 days away from its release, Ramayana has already earned Rs 11.81 crore through advance bookings in India, according to Sacnilk. Around 2.15 lakh tickets have been sold across 4658 shows in 157 cities.
The Hindi version is leading ticket sales, while bookings for the Kannada and Telugu versions are also growing. The NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Pune are the biggest markets for the film.
Also Read: Ramayana: Is Yash's Ravana Vs Ranbir Kapoor's Ram The Most Expensive Face-Off In Indian Cinema?
