AR Rahman’s directorial debut to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival

According to Variety, the film is billed ‘as a cinematic sensory experience incorporating virtual reality, with motion, music and scent integrated into the narrative’. It follows heiress and musician Juliet Merdinian, who, 20 years since she was orphaned, seeks out the men who changed her destiny with one powerful memory — that of their scent.

The talented music composer said he developed the story from an original idea by his wife Saira. Their collective love for perfumed sparked an idea to have scent as a narrative device for their immersive drama, which sees Gurachi Phoenix pen the screenplay.

“‘Le Musk’ has been several years in the making with collaborators worldwide; we’ve aimed to create an unprecedented, subtle sensory cinematic surrealism. Creating a feature-length cinema VR experience that pushes boundaries of storytelling and incorporates multiple senses was a guiding force for me. Aroma and music together bring warm memories subjectively for the audience,” Rahman told Variety.

The cast includes Nora Arnezeder (‘Army of the Dead’) and Guy Burnet (‘Oppenheimer’) in lead roles, alongside Munirih Grace (‘Pure’) and Mariam Zohrabyan.

“Working on the VR experience ‘Le Musk’ under director AR Rahman has been a beautiful journey where we found new artistic expression. Through ‘Le Musk’, we’ve unlocked a new, expansive frontier in storytelling where we hope to inspire and inquire through the senses. This film is an experience unlike any other,” said Arnezeder.

The film is produced by Rahman’s ARR Studios with Ideal Entertainment and Intel as co-producers and Thenandal Studio and Palani Andavar Holdings as associate producers.

News of Rahman’s feature debut comes days after the composer signed on to work with Emirati filmmaker Nayla Al Khaja for her upcoming movie, ‘Baab’.