The AR Rahman Quiz20 questions, answers later.

The Fine Print

Please don’t leave answers in comments. Online quizzes are pretty pointless, unless you are trying to show how well quiz questions can be reverse-engineered online. Yes, we all know.

Find out how many answers you get without even thinking.

Find out how many answers were at the tip of your tongue. It’s ok, you can Google for them. Keep a count.

How many questions did you not know the answer to? How many questions made you want to email me

about how stupid it was? Write that darn email. Or talk about it. Vent. Or make

your own quiz. It better be good. How many seconds does it take you to identify a

Rahman song when you hear it? That is your RAT (Rahman Acknowledgement Time). Tell me about it.

If you are going to be linking to it, please use the blog-post link instead of the Slideshare link.

 http://www.beatzo.net/blog/2013/03/the-rahman-quiz/

1

Naveen is the Rahman regular on the flute/wind instruments. Who is the Rahman regular on the solo violin?

2

A very peculiar music sample is associated with Raghuvaran’s character in Kaadhalan (Humse Hai Muqabla). The theme music of which other Rahman film begins with the same sound?

3

Which are the only Rahman songs that have been lip-synched on screen by Amrish Puri Kailash Kher

4

Name the first Rahman film dubbed into Hindi to not have lyrics by PK Mishra/Mehboob.

For additional points, name lyricist.

5

The promotional poster for which Rahman album had the words – “Chinna Chinna Aasai, Grammy vaanga aasai”?

6

Before Sukhvindara Singh sang in Dil Se (1998) and became a Rahman Regular, he wrote the lyrics for song 1 and sang song 2,for two 1997 films . Name both songs and movies.

7

The title of which song came from a Haj visit, where ARR heard a man selling water?

8

Rahman has often spoken of the influence of Peter Gabriel’s Passion: The Last Temptation of Christ, and used the bassline of ‘Of These, Hope’ in Anbae Anbae (Jeans). In which Rahman OST would you hear a sample from Baba Maal’s ‘Call To Prayer’ from Passion: Sources, the companion album to Passion?

9

What is common to the soundtracks of Jeans, Bombay, Taal, Alaipayuthey and Thiruda Thiruda? Hmm, also Vande Mataram.

10

This could be controversial.

Name two (non-pop) male and female singers who have sung only one song for ARR.

I am thinking of four names, there could be more.

11

Danny Boyle recommended song Z for the end sequence of Slumdog Millionaire, but Rahman insisted on ‘Jai Ho’, wchich was originally composed for a situation in film X, where the director chose the song Y instead. ID X, Y and Z.

12

In an interview, ARR complained that this song X used a sample that crashed his software a record number of times (vague memory says 21). The sample was reused by artist Y as the opening song Z of an album released 2 years later. Incidentally, ARR worked with Y’s lead guitarist around that time, so that might explain this. Once again, ID X, Y and Z.

13

What was the first authorized remix of a Rahman track?

Who remixed it?

(Authorized: appeared on the official album)

14

During the opening credit sequence of Rangeela, we hear the sounds of a Bombay street as the cast and production names roll. What do you hear when Rahman’s name flashes on screen?

15

Which AR Rahman OST saw its CD release on a German label known for manufacturing Varese Sarabande releases for non-US markets?

16

Easy: Which OST features Rahman and Himesh Reshammiya together?

17

So, Bappi Lahiri claimed that the Hindi song B was a rip-off of his song A. A however bears more than a passing similarity to a 1974 number C. Strangely, the definitive site on Indian Music copycats mention that a Tamil song by ARR, D was inspired by C.

ID A, B, C, D. Umm, sorry if this is confusing.

18

By Rahman’s own admission (and a mention in one of his biographies), which album did he compose in the shortest period of time?

6 days, if I remember right. And a damn fine album it

is, too.

19

The name of which Rahman song translates to ‘The Chosen One’?

20

“When we did (film) A, we had a song in the beginning and we used (song) B while shooting and editing. We went through HMV and asked for the rights to B and they quoted 1 crore rupees. We said “forget it”, composed a new piece C and it came out fine. Much later, they asked us permission to use (song) D. We quoted exactly the same figure.”

Who, talking about what? (ID speaker, A, B, C and D)