MUMBAI: 'Jai Ho'- a documentary film on multiple award winning musician AR Rahman, will finally be released in the next few months in India, confirmed the film's director, Umesh Aggarwal. He further added that the film will be soon available on digital platforms, followed by DVD release. 'Jai Ho' will also be screened at The White House on 29 May.
Speaking on the development of the film, Aggarwal said, "It is the first ever definitive documentary feature on Allah Rakha Rahman. The film takes an in-depth look into the life of the musician and his music that is known to have reached beyond borders."
He also added that the 90-minute feature revolves around Rahman's musical journey, while also giving audiences a glance into his personal life which includes the loss of his father, conversion to Islam and his mother's ambition to see him as a musician. 'Jai Ho' has been produced by the Public Service Broadcasting Trust (PSBT) and is financed by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs.
Aggarwal also stated that AR Rahman was extremely difficult to get in touch with, but once things feel in place everything went very smooth. The film was shot between 2012 and 2013 in various cities across the world, with footage being shot at Los Angeles, London, Mumbai and Chennai. The documentary features film and music veterans such as Danny Boyle, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Shekhar Kapur, Alka Yagnik, Ram Gopal Varma, Mani Ratnam, Ashutosh Gowariker, Gulzar and Subhash Ghai, talking about the two-time Oscar and Grammy Award winning musician. 'Jai Ho' features Rahman's first ever commercial dating back to the nineties music and hits from his recent films like 'Highway', 'Rockstar' and 'Raanjhanaa'.
So far, 'Jai Ho' has been screened at the Museum of Moving Image in New York, at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles and at the Stein Auditorium, Habitat Centre in New Delhi. "On 29 May, 'Jai Ho' will be screened at the White House in Washington, D.C.," said Aggarwal. On the film being released on digital platforms, Aggarwal said, "The film is not meant for theatrical release, and will only release in India across digital platforms."
Right now, the film is making rounds across film festivals, which have "a mandate of only accepting films that have not been released publicly .Therefore, once the festival season is over, 'Jai Ho' will be released for the Indian audiences," said Aggarwal. He further added, "On digital platform, negotiations are on with Google-owned video-sharing website YouTube for exclusive premiere on the platform."