1999 (Part 1)

1999 is a turning point year for A. R. Rahman—not just in output, but in sound, ambition, and the scale of collaboration.
In this episode of Brothers in Music: The A. R. Rahman Edition, we dive deep into four albums that capture Rahman at his most expansive and experimental: Takshak, Mudhalvan, Kadhalar Dhinam, and Sangamam.

Joining us is Arvind Murali—jazz bassist, music arranger, podcast host, and someone who encountered Rahman and his close collaborators professionally in the late 1990s. That lived proximity gives this conversation a different texture: part listener’s deep dive, part practitioner’s reflection, part oral history.

Across a long, free-flowing conversation, we move well beyond album rankings. We talk about:

• how arrangements were conceived and layered in the 90s
• the changing role of musicians, arrangers, and technology in Indian film music
• Rahman’s working style and studio culture during this period
• what has changed—and what hasn’t—as music production shifts toward software-driven and AI-assisted workflows

The result is an episode that sits at the intersection of music listening, music making, and music history—using Rahman’s 1999 catalogue as a lens to think about craft, collaboration, and change.

As always, this one drops straight into conversation. No preamble. Just three people in a room, listening closely.
 The episode was edited by the remarkable Nihar Mamidipudi.

Podcast Insta: @brothers.in.music

Swaroop: @tnagartornado on X and Instagram.
Sharan: @sharanidli on X; M R Sharan on LinkedIn.