AR Rahman is close to pulling off another musical scoop by signing up Kylie Minogue for a promotional video for the movie Blue, which stars Akshay Kumar, Sanjay Dutt and Lara Dutta. She would be paid the astonishing sum of 5 crores ($1m) and with on-costs this would add 10 crores to the budget bringing the total up to around 140 crores. This would suggest the movie will need to take around 40-50 crores at the Indian box office alone to be a hit.
“We are negotiating with an international artist,” says Rajnigandha Shekhawat of Nine Winds, the PR company for the movie, “Within two to three weeks, we’ll make a formal announcement.” Kylie recently starred at the opening of the Atlantis Resort in Dubai alongside Bollywood superstar Priyanka Chopra, for which Kylie was apparently paid 10 crores.
Chennai-born AR Rahman, sometimes called the Mozart of Madras, is one of the world’s top 25 selling recording artists of all time. After travelling the world with various orchestras, he won a scholarship to Trinity College of Music. On returning to India, he founded his own company and after meeting with Mani Ratnam, his career in Bollywood began to gather strength. His music has been an integral part of movies such as Lagaan, Rang De Basanti, Water, Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, Yuvraaj, Slumdog Millionaire, the Chinese movie Warriors of Heaven and Earth and the upcoming Ghajini.
