TWO things one must know about A R Rahman: Don’t push him to talk and don’t utter ‘Kollywood’ within his earshot unless you want to irritate him.

When I made this mistake, I was promptly corrected. “It’s not Kollywood. It’s the south Indian film industry,” he says with eyebrows raised.

At the release of friend Hariharan’s album, Waqt Par Bolna, the young maestro was unusually forthcoming about his love for music. “I am a musician, but you will never hear me preach it, there is simply no need,” he says.

But there is a need to constantly challenge his musical sensibilities, to create a unique melody for every new storyboard, admits the shy wizard of sound, who has quite a few exciting new projects in his kitty. There’s Aamir Khan’s Ghajini and Shekhar Kapur’s sequel of Elizabeth—The Golden Age. Rahman is also lending his magic touch to Mani Ratnam’s Lajjo, Rakeysh Mehra’s Dilli 6, Ashutosh Gowarikar’s Jodhaa Akbar and Rajkumar Santoshi’s London Dreams.

At nearly 20 films per year, Rahman is the Indian film industry’s most-wanted music maker. “It’s tough to say no to such great stories and such great people,” Rahman smiles, “I get fascinated by what technology can do to a simple music wave. It’s like magic. ”However, his most fruitful effort, feels Rahman, was his tryst with the stage-Andrew Llyod Webber’s Bombay Dreams and last year’s musical The Lord of the Rings . “These musicals brought the world to India,” says the Padma Shri recipient.

Music apart, his success has not affected his love for social service. He worked with legendary musicians Cat Stevens and Yusuf Islam for his number Indian Ocean and contributed the proceeds to help orphans in Banda Aceh, one of the worst hit areas of the Tsunami. “If you can’t give something back at the end of the day, what good can you do,” he says.