When a typically reticent AR Rahman gets the occasional urge to express himself on camera, it is always a matter of excitement for his admirers. The Oscar-winning music composer, who recently surprised his ardent fans by shaking a leg to the peppy ‘Jigu Jigu Rail’ track in Mari Selvaraj’s Maamannan, seems to have now decided to maintain the streak, this time by indulging in some tongue-in-cheek humour with lyricist Snehan and singer Shuba.
On Wednesday, June 21, Shuba posted an Instagram video featuring the trio, recreating a hilarious video by team Vikkals, and taking even the original creators by surprise. In the original video, content creators Vikram Arul, Hari Muniyappan, and Sibi Jayakumar appear as Shuba, Snehan, and Rahman respectively, enacting to comedic effect their imagination of how the recording of the song ‘Raawadi’ from Pathu Thala must have gone down in the studio.
In their recreation, Rahman and his team too can be seen performing with utmost dedication, all three looking suitably amused and entertained. “Had to recreate this masterpiece with the OGs [original gangsters]. Yes yes, I did get AR Rahman to act, [laughs out loud], make sure to stream our song Raawadi,” Shuba wrote in the caption of her post.
The comment section of the post was soon abuzz with Rahman’s fans, calling the video “epic” and “a masterpiece”. “I am going to watch this in a loop for the rest of the day,” some said, while others cheekily speculated that the video was a hint towards Rahman’s upcoming career turn as an actor. Several fans also took to Twitter to share their excitement about the maestro’s brief but hilarious acting stint.
How cute @arrahman is nowadays. ❤️
— Rukshanth Ram (@rukshanth_ram) June 21, 2023
The “ARR introverted era” looks a different thing now. https://t.co/A4qSZaqlua
Even after multiple watch I’m laughing at Rahman’s expression and reading “She sang what?” In his voice #Raawadi
— Sree V (@_sreev) June 22, 2023
Man once deemed most difficult to interview is making cover reels. I never dreamt of this happening ..
@arrahman sir this is super sportive . I loved it @KavingarSnekan @shubamusic #PathuThala @StudioGreen2 @SonyMusicSouth https://t.co/DmQhVdgwDa
— Obeli.N.Krishna (@nameis_krishna) June 21, 2023
This is so sporting and fun! Amazing @arrahman sir! @shubamusic @KavingarSnekan #Raawadi https://t.co/rUlKSiCzhO
— Sayyeshaa (@sayyeshaa) June 22, 2023
Shuba had also tagged the video’s original creators, who in turn reposted the video on their own page to share words of gratitude and disbelief. “We merely recreated your song, but you took that and turned it into something even more special. We have never seen AR Rahman sir like this. Thank you so much sir,” Hari said in the video. “We never thought we would experience a moment like this in our lives. We are very happy,” Sibi added.
Vikram quipped that he was going to get married in a few days, and he did not expect to receive such a wedding gift from the universe. “This means a lot,” he further stated.
With their quirky and creative ‘behind-the-scenes’ videos, team Vikkals has gained significant popularity on Instagram over the past few years. In an earlier interview, Vikram had explained to TNM how the team took to Instagram with several creative ideas in mind, and arrived at the hit format. “We started making reels as a last resort. We had a YouTube channel where some videos had raked in over a million views, while some did not even cross 10,000 views. We could not figure out why, because the way content goes viral can be pretty random. So, we decided to post a reel on Instagram everyday for a hundred days, come what may. We had different templates or types of video ideas, and this recording studio video was one of them. We started with a reel about the ‘Jolly O Gymkhana’ song from Beast,” said the stand-up comedian.