MUMBAI: Jai Ho - a documentary on music maestro AR Rahman, which has been screened at a few international film festivals earlier this year, is all set to have its television premiere in India on Discovery Channel. The channel will air the documentary on 26 October at 9 pm.
Jai Ho, which has been directed by Umesh Aggarwal, will take viewers through the unseen and unheard story of one of the finest musicians the world has ever known.
Speaking to Indiantelevision.com about the documentary, Rahman says, “It’s an understated documentary. It’s not the kinds that makes a big fuss and that’s what I like about it. It has its own humour. It is about the music and its making and not just about me. Jai Ho has eminent people taking about me and it is fascinating to listen to them. I am lucky to have done a song on Jai Ho (for Slumdog Millionaire). It’s like a mantra for India, which has always been there. It fell in the place at the right time and the whole world has a portrayal of it. I am very proud of it.”
Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific EVP and GM - South Asia Rahul Johri adds, “We are always looking for content that has the ability to surprise the audience. That’s our primary criteria and first preference when deciding on the channel’s content. We want people to acclaim, ‘Ohh wow, where did they get this idea from?’ And this show has that. It is different from all our other shows.”
The documentary enables a window for the viewers into the personal life of Rahman from him leaving his education at a tender age to support his family to winning an Oscar as well as a Grammy. The programme depicts Rahman’s journey from working with Mani Ratnam forRoja to his first commercial break in Bollywood with Rangeela to his outstanding work in award winning movies.
Throwing light on how he was on Rahman’s trail for almost six months to pitch the documentary idea to him, Aggarwal says, “I was in touch with his staff and I was told that Rahman would call me at 2:30 am. It was frustrating because I wasn’t getting an answer from him. So one fine day, I went to his office and met his sister. I explained the concept of the documentary to her. Precisely after five minutes, I met the man that I was trailing all this while. It took me six months to reach him and less than five minutes to talk to him about my content.”
The documentary imparts details about Rahman’s personality, career, life, his love for music and his past life from the perspective of formidable personalities who have worked and observed his work and growth.
The factual is shot across the world including Los Angeles where Rahman resides, London, Mumbai and Chennai which is his birthplace. When questioned about casting Rahman as the centre point of the show, he says, “He being the glory of India is just one peg. Whatever is spoken about him, it’s always a third party outlook. Rahman himself has never shared much on his own. This entire story comes from him as he narrates it and you get to know him as a person. This was my prime motive behind making this film. I think people should know that those who have reached to the top, don’t do so overnight. It takes time and that is what inspired me.”
The channel has unleashed various promotional activities across its bouquet of 11 channels as well as created buzz on social media platforms.
“We had started with eight channels in five languages. That is the trajectory we are on and we will speeding up our growth process. There has been a lot of localisation on our channels and going forward there will be more local and relevant content on the channel,” adds Johri.
As was reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, Jai Ho was recently screened at the 20th Busan International Film Festival (BIFF). It was also screened at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) in April this year.
