A. R. Rahman: The Spirit of Music

The book contains A. R. Rahman's extensive conversations with the author Nasreen Munni Kabir. It opens with the sentence "எல்லாப் புகழும் இறைவனுக்கே" ("Ellap pukalum iraivanukke", Tamil for "All praise to God"), and is followed by they talk on his influences to Indian music industry and modern-day Indian people's interest in songs. The book later focuses on his birth to the Malayalam composer R. K. Shekhar and his wife Kasturi in Madras (present-day Chennai) on 6 January 1967. The book also chronicles on his cinematic debut, composing songs for Roja (1992), which became the first of his many collaborations with the filmmaker Mani Ratnam, and his conversion from Hinduism to Islam. Rahman's 1995 marriage to Saira Banu, with whom he has three children, continues it. The book ends with his discography, his list of accolades, and notes for the 1995 film Bombay's theme song and Roja's "Cry of the Rose".

A. R. Rahman (pictured) at the launch of the book in 2011

Nasreen Munni Kabir, who had written several books on Indian cinema throughout her career, often used the question-and-answer style for her works and A. R. Rahman: The Spirit of Music is one of which. In an interview for The Hindu, she said she actually could write the book narratively but she would feel uncomfortable doing it and choosing this style since it is the best way to keep the book's readers "connected to the subject".[1] She said, "I like primary research and people speaking in their own words, from their own experience. That does not mean narrative biographies aren't needed, yes they are. But considering how busy [Rahman] is, this was a good format."[2] According to Kabir, she first met Rahman while she was interviewing him at his studio in Chennai for Channel 4 in 1999.[1] However, their earliest discussion on the idea of the book was in 2003, which later met with approval from Rahman.[2]

They started the conversations in 2007,[3]^:6 but Kabir stated the "actual work" began in the next year. Asked by a Reuters interviewer, Rahman believed most facts in it have been said by himself in other interviews with the media. "But what she ... wanted to do was to have a completeness in the whole thing, and that's what is special about Munni and what makes it work", he revealed.[4] She recounted the process was slow, attributing it on his busy schedule.[2] When Rahman was not on his mood to talking, they would take a walk while Kabir thinking of questions she would ask to him. Describing him as "very spiritual", Kabir likened working with him with doing an adventure and took note of how free-spirited he was.[2] She also found the musician to be more confident when she interviewed him for the book, believing that his older age and the success of his works have influenced him behaviorally.[1] The conversations ended in 2011.[3]^:6

A. R. Rahman: The Spirit of Music was published on hardcover by Om Books International on 29 March 2011;[3] a CD containing Rahman's eight unreleased songs is also included in the edition.[5] A launch event was held in Juhu, Mumbai on 6 April,[6] with several of his contemporaries, including Mani Ratnam and Ram Gopal Varma, attending it.[7] The book was the second work on Rahman, after Kamini Mathai's A. R. Rahman: The Musical Storm (2009), but was the first one authorised by Rahman himself; he explained that Mathai's book is unathorised because he has not read it.[8] Ajay Mago from the publishing company told Bollywood Hungama it was an honour for him to publish the book as "A. R. Rahman's journey, like that of most great artists, is one that moves and inspires."[6] Emerging as a commercial success, A. R. Rahman: The Spirit of Music debuted at and peaked the fifth position in The Hindu's non-fiction bestsellers on 19 April.[9] Its Amazon Kindle version was released on 7 July 2017,[10] followed by the paperback edition twelve days later.[11]

Critics were polarised in their reviews, receiving positively its question-and-answer format while panning Kabir's effort in collecting information of Rahman's Tamil songs. Charmy Harikrishnan of The Indian Express summarised, "... while Rahman holds your attention for the most parts, the way in which the Q and A has been arranged does little to give the book a structure or the narrative any kind of coherence. Kabir's exploration of Rahman's Tamil film music is meagre and unsatisfactory."[12] A writer of Bollywood Hungama suggested Kabir to divide the book in several chapters and felt "there is a distinct sense of incompleteness that one gets mid-way into reading it",[13] while the magazine India Today's Kaveree Bamzai called it "a remarkable insight into a magical mind". Bamzai added that "Rahman is an anomaly. Sometimes the more he's written about, the less he seems revealed. Kabir's patient listening pays off. Rahman seems at ease here, talking as openly about his faith as he does about his wife."[14]

Writing for the Emirati newspaper Gulf News, Mythily Ramachandran found the book "easy-to-read" and concise. She said it "does whet your appetite interspersed with pictures from Rahman's albums, hitherto unseen", concluding her review with praising Kabir for doing a well job.[15] The editor Jitesh Pillai, publishing a column in Filmfare, observed of the book, "Trying to capture his thoughts and songscapes cannot be an easy task and Nasreen Munni Kabir ... does manage an enthusiastic job. It's in interview format and we get to know the maestro up close and personal and there are anecdotes there, priceless ones that intrigue, overwhelm and stay with you."[16] Kala Krishnan Ramesh from Indiaplaza recommended it for those who are fans of Rahman, complimenting Kabir's thorough and perceptive questioning style.[17] The Hindustan Times' critic described it as "a close, fascinating insight" on him, adding, "What makes Kabir's book such a delight is that it is replete with fascinating insights about Rahman's music."[18]

• A. R. Rahman: The Spirit of Music at Google Books